This button is missing the shank, which is unfortunate. But still, I'd be high as a kite if I had dug it. It has about 30% gilt and there are no cracks, pinholes or repairs. The back is ever so slightly pushed, which almost certainly happened during the war when the button was lost. The backmark is the absolutely correct Civil War "Waterbury Button Co." marking. Many Waterbury Button Company marks are post war. But this is the variant that hugs the rim, or edge, of the button...dating it to the 1850's and early 1860's.

This nice coat-size button was excavated on private property, with permission, in Berkley Plantation, Virginia.