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Date	Original Topic
24th August 2005	buttons - zulu war ? By eric I was recently clearing out a deceased estates study and came across an old box containing battlefield relics apparently the items were collected when the owner was in his youth , so around the 1950's i'd guess anyway,what caught my eye was a pile of buttons in fairly good condition,although the condition shows wear and tear of being exposed to the elements the picture on the button face appears to be 2 rampant lions standing over a coat of arms , on the back the name of the manufacturer still exists as there are many battlefields in south africa, its possible that the buttons came from anywhere but i have to ask,is there any way to match a button to a specific regiment? totally of topic i know,but any input would be greatly appreciated thanks
Date	Replies
24th August 2005	Martin Everett Dear Eric, These are known as 'General Service' buttons and were worn by soldiers issued with tunics for overseas service. So it is not possible to identify the regiment. Officers tended to purchase their own uniforms and by and large would have worn regimental pattern button. If the GS buttons have a Victorian Crown above the Coat of Arms then these are generally rarer than later issues.
24th August 2005	Chris Tapster These sound like General Service (GS) buttons which depict the lion and unicorn of the royal crest rather than buttons which can be attributed to any particualr regiment or theatre of operations
25th August 2005	eric thanks for the replies, yes, i see its a lion and a unicorn ,crown is defintely victorian and they appear to have been "ground dug" , or at least been exposed to the elements i'll try take a pic and email it to you just out of interest ! thanks