The Story and Value Behind Civil War Navy Buttons
Finding authentic civil war navy buttons in an old cigar box or unearthed from a muddy riverbank is like touching a direct line to the 1860s. There's something uniquely personal about buttons; while a rifle or a sword feels like a tool of war, a button was part of a man's daily life, something he looked at every morning while getting dressed for watch duty on a blockade runner or a massive ironclad. These tiny brass artifacts carry so much weight because they tell us about the rank, the loyalty, and sometimes even the manufacturer of the sailor who wore them. ...