The only Union button that is harder to find in dug condition and with gilt is the elusive "V" button. You see lots of dug Ordnance buttons but most of them were never gilted and most of the few that were lost the gilt in the ground over the years. This one did not!

 

This is a coat size button probably made in the 1850's and in almost perfect excavated condition. The shank is still attached but is pressed down and the back is ever so slightly concave. This was such a low-dome button to begin with it's pretty hard to tell. I cannot read the backmark but all of this style of ordnance button was made well before the Civil War.

This one was metal-detected on private property, with permission, in sandy soil near Wilmington, North Carolina. It is only the fourth dug ordnance coat button I have ever seen with gold in 35+ years of collecting. One of the four is in my collection and then there's this one. I had to study long and hard before deciding to sell this button, because it has even a little more gilt than the one in my collection. I'm just opting to sell because the other one has more sentimental value.

 

If you're a serious dug button collector, here's one you're going to be proud of for a long, long time!