WONDERFUL CIVIL WAR PERIOD ORDNANCE CORPS UNIFORM & SILVER BADGE.

Inv. 02-15368

Ordnance Corps uniforms are among the most difficult to find from any period in American military history.

This rare uniform is an early war dark blue 9 button frock coat. It has a lg. swell at the elbows. The cloth is a fine grade & quite heavy. The polished cotton liner is a faded black w/ closely sewn quilting as seen on early frock coats. Sleeves are lined in white cotton. There is a mixture of hand sewing & machine sewing throughout the coat as would be expected in a coat of this period. Button holes are machine done. The bottom edge of the coat is unfinished. The coat features 13 lg. Ordnance Corps buttons w/ the early backmark “R & W ROBINSON EXTRA RICH”. The 6 sm. cuff buttons have another early backmark RMDC “SCOVILLS EXTRA”. These 2 backmarks are contemporary to one another & attest to the early date of the coat. A round silver badge approx. 1 1/8″ in diameter & made from an 1858 United States seated Liberty half dollar, is attached to the left breast of the coat. The front is engraved w/ a superb stylized rendition of the Ordnance Corps seal featuring the words, “ORDNANCE CORPS” on a belt around the seal. The face of the half dollar coin is still visible on the reverse along w/ a T bar style pin. It was quite common in the period for silver pins, badges & tokens to be made from US coins w/ 1 face planed off & reengraved.