Help Dating Texas Percussion Cap Pouch and Scovill Button Confusion

[Blakebinford]

Hi all,

I just joined this forum and was hoping to get some help identifying a piece I picked up. I recently came across a leather percussion cap pouch that caught my son's interest, so we decided to display it with our history books. The seller told us it was from the Civil War era, but I don't have any documentation to confirm that's just their word.

I thought the button might help narrow down the date, but I've run into a bit of confusion. This pouch has a brass "TEXAS" star button on the flap, which doesn't seem typical for cap pouches. I carefully unfolded the leather to check the backmark and found a similar photo of it. The back is stamped "SCOVILL MF'G CO WATERBURY" with a dotted line underneath. No outer dotted border or anything between the name/location.

From what I've read, this backmark appears on both Civil War and post-war buttons, and I'm not confident in my ability to tell the difference. I haven't found a good match for this exact combination on any Texas button examples.

Any insight into the likely time period of the pouch or the button would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

[UCVRelics]

Welcome. The cap pouch appears original and I'll let @Package4 give his expertise on it. The button is a post war button. The the apostrophe behind the the F is the tell plus during the CW they did not ship buttons to the South.

 

[captaindrew]

Welcome to the forum, that's a Federal issue cap box and judging by the looks of the stitching it looks to me like a reproduction but I could be wrong. We'll see what the experts have to say.

 

[JOHN42768]

Welcome, enjoy

 

[Blakebinford]

Yeah, the stitching does seem off. Thanks for pointing that out. I think you are probably correct.

 

[captaindrew]

Yeah, the stitching does seem off. Thanks for pointing that out. I think you are probably correct.

Yeah repros are notorious for using the wrong thread and not as tight a pattern. Here's the back of an original for comparison. Again I could be wrong and not a relics expert but being in the reenacting world for many moons I can usually spot the difference.

 

[Trooper "D"]

Hi all,

I just joined this forum and was hoping to get some help identifying a piece I picked up. I recently came across a leather percussion cap pouch that caught my son's interest, so we decided to display it with our history books. The seller told us it was from the Civil War era, but I don't have any documentation to confirm that's just their word.

I thought the button might help narrow down the date, but I've run into a bit of confusion. This pouch has a brass "TEXAS" star button on the flap, which doesn't seem typical for cap pouches. I carefully unfolded the leather to check the backmark and found a similar photo of it. The back is stamped "SCOVILL MF'G CO WATERBURY" with a dotted line underneath. No outer dotted border or anything between the name/location.

From what I've read, this backmark appears on both Civil War and post-war buttons, and I'm not confident in my ability to tell the difference. I haven't found a good match for this exact combination on any Texas button examples.

Any insight into the likely time period of the pouch or the button would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

View attachment 554522View attachment 554523View attachment 554525View attachment 554524

There have been so many reenactors through the years and many have had to replace kit items because of war and tear. The market is flooded with fakes done on purpose and well researched items made as close to original as possible that innocently were ID'd as original pieces. Good luck finding the details out on your piece. Sometimes disappointing and sometimes an amazing discovery. I'm no expert on anything but I have learned quite a bit from other's items and collections on CWT.
Cheers!