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Goodyears Best

JOFO17

Full Member
Joined
Apr 1, 2017
Messages
112
Location
Gloucester CO NJ
I want to get some more info on a button I dug. I was able to make out GOODYEARS BEST on the back of the button, but it is not a rubber button. It is the size of a penny but thin like a dime. It was gold plated. Also had no holes in it, just a single loop on the back. The front is to worn to read. Any info is helpful.
 

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Often times a button maker would use a slightly different backmark for civilian buttons compared to military buttons. On your picture I can see an "A". That leads me to Amasa Goodyear (& Sons). The following came form "American Military Button Makers and Dealers; Their Backmarks & Dates".

Amasa Goodyear (& Sons), Waterbury (Salem Bridge), CT. Dated 1805-35 but possibly c.1800. Contracted to make Light Artillery buttons on Dec. 3, 1808. Made infantry white metal buttons in 1812. A letter of April 12, 1812 complained about the poor strikes of the letter "I" on these buttons. In Sept. he submitted samples of infantry buttons he proposed to supply. No b/m's are known to exist on these buttons but "A. Goodyear". (c 1815-c1821), "A. Goodyear & Son" (c1821, c.1826) & A. Goodyear & Sons (c.1826-c.1835) appear on plain pewter (Hard White) buttons. Goodyear was one of the founders of the New Haven & Baltimore Button Co. He also was the father of Charles & Nelson Goodyear, famous for work with hard rubber. (See Just Buttons Magazine, June 1977).
 
In case the "A" isn't for the first name, the backmark may be applying to Goodyear & Brothers/Extra. B/m on GI-54, 1-pc. Apparently the sons of Amasa Goodyear (?).
 
It isn't an A before Goodyears. What I can see is I.V* I'll clean it up better. So far everything from this field has been no earlier than 1860. It would be nice to find something earlier.
 
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