Script I's

[Scooby_308]

Who (in your opinion) sells the best (meaning close to original) Script I buttons?

[Tennessee Boy]

That's easy

Ben Tart

Ian Smith
55th Virginia

[Jim Mayo]

Who (in your opinion) sells the best (meaning close to original) Script I buttons?


I have a comparison of one of Tart's script I buttons and an original on this page. The makers vary and some are better than others but all I have seen him sell are close to looking like an original.

http://www.angelfire.com/ma4/j_mayo/csequip.html

[Scooby_308]

Thanks Gents!

Mr. Mayo I should have remembered your page. I view it from time to time, and when you posted it for me it was a "duh, I knew that" moment.


Thanks again.

[Scooby_308]

It says his site is under construction and gives no e-mail. Does anyone have one for Mr. tart?

[Ross L. Lamoreaux]

It says his site is under construction and gives no e-mail. Does anyone have one for Mr. tart?
About the only wayto reach Ben is to call on the phone (252)883-5374. He is notoriusly slow in all dealings, but worse through the computer. Its all worth it though.

[Bummer]

No NO NO!!! There IS no reproduction of the script I button! Darn it I hate it when terms are misused (like 'A frame' which is a Swiss chalet--as opposed to 'A tent' which is another term for the military common tent). The button Ben Tart has is the 'Old English' I button. A script I is much more ornate--almost unreadibly ornate, and a totally different button design--and very noticably so. Jim Mayo, you ought to know this, I bet you've dug a bunch of each. When someone ever gets around to making a reproduction script I (or A or C etc.) how we going to term them if 'script' is already (mis)used for the 'old English'?
Come on, we're supposed to be the experts in all this material culture stuff--the least we can do is use good terminology.
Arrrgh~!

[Jim Mayo]

No NO NO!!! There IS no reproduction of the script I button! Dammit I hate it when terms are misused (like 'A frame' which is a Swiss chalet--as opposed to 'A tent' which is another term for the military common tent). The button Ben Tart has is the 'Old English' I button. A script I is much more ornate--almost unreadibly ornate, and a totally different button design--and very noticably so. Jim Mayo, you ought to know this, I bet you've dug a bunch of each. When someone ever gets around to making a reproduction script I (or A or C etc.) how we going to term them if 'script' is already (mis)used for the 'old English'?
Come on, we're supposed to be the experts in all this material culture stuff--the least we can do is use good terminology.
Arrrgh~!


Don't blame me, I didn't start it. Most relic hunters call the lined old english I buttons "Script" and the Manuscript letters "Manuscript".

Maybe we could break new ground here and start calling them Old English I buttons but that just doesn't sound right.

[Bummer]

Jim,
I know you didn't. It's something that's pretty far and wide like "A frames" and other things I dare not mention. But I just wonder what happens when we want to talk about actual (manu)script buttons.
Like the man says; "Words mean things", and we need to remember that we in the 'old time' business mustn't forget what these old things were called--or at least agree on what they are to be called today. That letter I (or C or A or E) is not an 1860's script letter in that it would take a special pen (obsolete flat nib) to actually write one. By the time those buttons were produced (1860's) about the only place you'd see those kinds of letters would be old legal documents--nobody would be writing like that. Yet 1860's high style penmanship produced letters like the manuscript buttons.
If someone were to ask me (and others) about the best repro 'script' CSA button I would think of those squiggly ones and say there isn't any and that miscommunication would be the wrong answer through no fault of mine.
Yes, I know that a lot of folks use 'script' and 'manuscript'; however Old English isn't the same as script. I bow to common usage, but.....

Bah, humbug.
Spence~

PS--Just after typing this I asked Ben Tart (who happened to walk in) what those buttons he had were called and he said, "You mean the Old English ones?" HA!! (but we both agreed that the general presently used term seems to be 'script').

[FloridaConfederate]

Spence great info !!! But dont waste your keystrokes. Know your audience.

A simple gold button will suffice here.

There is a thread on the A/C about EBGK in the Western CS that I mentioned "Script I" and their origins. If you have any pics showing the difference in the two, I would VERY much appreciate learning more.

[Bummer]

Spence great info !!! But dont waste your keystrokes. Know your audience.

A simple gold button will suffice here.

There is a thread on the A/C about EBGK in the Western CS that I mentioned "Script I" and their origins. If you have any pics showing the difference in the two, I would VERY much appreciate learning more.

Thanks, While I have a couple of each in my collection I don't have any photos. But check Alphaeous Albert's Button book (where he does call them 'old English' and 'manuscript') and you will see them both, and the varieties of each. The newer white covered button book also has them and the varieties of course (and also uses 'Old English' and 'Manuscript'). They are quite different buttons and once seen would never be mistaken. It's just that the script buttons (which may actually have been more common back then) have never been reproduced so reenactors are not familiar with them. They are so fancy that that one can hardly tell just which letter (A,C,I,E etc.) is actually on them.

[thpritchett]

Spence great info !!! But dont waste your keystrokes. Know your audience.

Interestly enough, even though this forum has a Mainstreamer flavor in that we allow all to post here regardless of their position on the authenticity scale of reenacting (some of our mainstreamers have argued we have a bias towards campaigners), according to a poll I conducted many months ago, a large portion of our membership do regard themselves as more campaigner than mainstreamer.

[reb64]

Interestly enough, even though this forum has a Mainstreamer flavor in that we allow all to post here regardless of their position on the authenticity scale of reenacting (some of our mainstreamers have argued we have a bias towards campaigners), according to a poll I conducted many months ago, a large portion of our membership do regard themselves as more campaigner than mainstreamer.


I guess someone just called us unsophisticated and that this subject was above our heads. Just goes to show the elitist nature of some.

[FloridaConfederate]

I guess someone just called us unsophisticated and that this subject was above our heads.

Anything to add about the buttons or are you satisfied in proving my point ?