Metropolitan Police D.C. button- ID/info needed

[Diggin]

I dug a button along with other other civil war relics on private property in Spotsylvania VA that I need help identifying.

Button is confederate coat sized, has eagle in center similar to drooped wing eagle in center with a circle surrounding it, bold letters around outside of button read METROPOLITAN POLICE D.C. back markings are undistinguishable. I have dug a lot of buttons and judging by its location and condition and by the surrounding relics everything point to Civil War era, but I can not find any info of this button.

Any help is appreciated, thanks

[PCGeorge]

The good news for you is, according to the website of the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police
Metropolitan Police Department
that organization was founded in 1861.

The bad news for you is, that organization has continued in existence for 148 years after 1861. Therefore, the specific version of button you found was manufactured for use by the D.C. Metropolitan Police for many-many decades after the civil war. As an example, one was for sale recently on Ebay, which had the backmark "S. EISNER CO. RED BANK N.J." - a company which was founded in 1898.

Without knowing what the backmark/maker's-mark on your button is, there's no way to "date" it. Unfortunately, the odds that is was manufactured between 1861-1865 are very slim.

Also unfortunately, the fact that your button was dug at Spotsylania does not automatically mean it was lost there during 1861-65. We relic-diggers know for certain that veterans revisited civil war battlefields long after the war ended - as evidenced by the many Veterans Reunion medals that have been dug on those battlefields ...and also, post-war uniform buttons.

Please do an extra-close examination of your button's backmark and tell us whether you can make out ANY part of the lettering on it. That's the only hope you've got for proving it was manufactured during 1861-1865.

Regards,
Pete [P.C. George]