Update on The Engineers Button I found

[Full Metal Digger]

Hey Diggers,
You may recall I found a really awesome Federal Engineers button a few weeks ago. I got lots of great feedback here on the forum and especially from Del. The back mark is DeMoulin Bros out of Greenville, IL. Funny that I found the button less than 100 miles from there!

It turns out the company is still in business and they even have a DeMoulin museum there in Greenville. I contacted the head of the museum and sent him pictures asking for any background he might have. He wasn't able to find out much except it was made in 1906. I think everyone on the forum was guessing 1910 so we were pretty close.

I have lightly cleaned it with some CLR and in only a few seconds it really shined up nicely. I was surprised at how much gilt still remained! You can even see the cannons in the fortress portals. I'm not sure but is that a letter "I" in the sun? Here are some pics. Thanks for looking and HH, Dave.

[Ill Digger]

Holy moly that cleaned up nice Dave! :shocked04:
And good eye! I definitely see the canons in the windows, and I also see that, what looks to be an I in the center of the sun.
That's amazing! :thumbsup02:

Too bad there isn't much info on the button, but at least he was able to pin down the year it was made! That's what I was curious about.

[Digger_O'Dell]

I agree it cleaned up very well. Glad you were able to at least get a date. Must be a pretty rare piece when even the museum doesn't know much.

[Tony Two-Cent]

Wow, that button cleaned up beautifully, Dave! I would never have expected the gilt to pop like that!

Awesome! :clapping:

[Ken C]

That is a really nice button. I would love to dig one of those!

[wisconsin digger]

Thanks for the follow up photos and nice job on the clean up WD

[MangoAve]

Looks pretty sweet cleaned up. Idr who to attribute for the knowledge of CLR.. as In I heard it from Ol' Dave and from Dan.. and idr which one first. Cool you were able to get an exact date. Weird how some of these companies don't have any records around that time. Same with Schwaab when I tried to contact them. There was no records from the late 1800s to early 1900s. All I could find was the company started 1881 and the name changed to what it is now, in 1888. Def a nice find.

[Full Metal Digger]

Weird how some of these companies don't have any records around that time.

I know what you mean! I was expecting them to be able to tell me things like when the contract was awarded from the Army, how many buttons were made, etc.

[del]

Great cleaning job Dave , that button looked great to begin with but really stands out now :loveit: ! well Done and thanks for the update :notworthy:

Dan

[Digger Don]

That button turned out great Dave.
Did you clean the button with the floral design? I would love to see that one cleaned up.
Think about it, that town has been very generous with the button finds!!
We need to go back and find a few more!!!