This colored print is an interior scene depicting three men and three women gathered around a table drinking and carousing. The table holds fruit, wine bottles and glasses. One woman is pouring a drink on the head of a man, another woman is seated together with a man with their arms around each other. As the subtitle explains, “He wasted his Substance with Riotous living.”
The parable of the Prodigal Son or the Lost Son is among the best-known Christian morality tales and is found in Luke 15:11-32. The youngest of the two sons demands his share of his father’s estate which the father gives him. Shortly after, he runs off and squanders the wealth “in wild living.” Finding himself destitute, he returns to his father, repents his ways, and begs to be allowed to serve as a hired servant. The father rejoices at the return of his son “who was lost and is found.” Meanwhile, the obedient, older son is angry and refuses to join the celebration. His father pleads with him to forgive and to understand his joy.
This print was produced by E.B. Kellogg and E.C. Kellogg and Kelloggs & Thayer after an engraving by Amos Doolittle. Edmund Burke Kellogg (1809-1872) and Elijah Chapman Kellogg (1811-1881) were brothers of the founder of the Kellogg lithography firm, Daniel Wright Kellogg (1807-1874). After D.W. Kellogg moved west, his two brothers took over the family lithography firm in 1840 and changed the name to E.B. & E.C. Kellogg. The younger two of the four Kellogg brothers, they were responsible for the continued success of the family firm. These two brothers were also involved in the eventual partnerships between the company and Horace Thayer in 1845 or 1846, John Chenevard Comstock (1818-1862) in 1848 and William Henry Bulkeley (1840-1902) in 1867. The print was produced by the lithography firm of Kelloggs & Thayer. Kelloggs and Thayer was the first partnership formed by Elijah Chapman Kellogg (1811-1881) and Edmund Burke Kellogg (1809-1872) after they took over the family firm from their brother Daniel Wright Kellogg (1807-1874). Horace Thayer (1811-c. 1874) was a map dealer and in 1845 or 1846 the men opened a shop in New York. The partnership appears to have dissolved in 1847. In 1848, the Kellogg brothers formed a new partnership with John Chenevard Comstock (1818-1862).
This black and white tinted print depicts one of eight scenes based on George Cruikshank's The Bottle. The series shows the progressive degeneration of a family due to the evils of drinking. This print depicts an interior scene of a man, a woman, and three children. The father sits despondently next to the fire while the daughter hands a new bottle to the mother and the mother hands the daughter what appears to be a bundle of clothes. The cat walks across the table that is now pushed against the wall. Two younger children huddle together on a small table or footstool.
This series of prints is by the English artist George Cruikshank (1792-1878). Cruikshank’s father, Isaac Cruikshank, was an artist who specialized in song sheets and caricatures and trained George and his brother Robert Cruikshank in these arts. George started as a caricaturist for magazines and children’s books. His most famous works included The Bottle and The Drunkard’s Children, designed and etched by Cruikshank to show the wickedness of alcohol. Cruikshank's father and brother were both alcoholics, and he himself drank heavily until he took a vow of abstinence in 1847. The prints were originally published by David Bogue, who published most of Cruikshank’s other works in the 1850s. David Bogue, (1807–1856) was born in Scotland and moved to London in 1836. He began working in Charles Tilt's bookshop as a publisher and bookseller in 1836 and became Tilt's partner in 1840. Bogue bought the shop in 1843. He was the principle publisher of Cruikshank’s short-lived periodicals, brief illustrated stories, and the Comic Almanack 1835-53. David Bogue published The Bottle series in 1847. He suffered from heart disease and died in 1856 at the age of 48.
This print was produced by Francis Michelin (1809/10-1878) and David William Moody. Francis Michelin was a lithographer who was active in Boston from 1840-1841 and soon after moved to New York City, where he continued to make lithographs with various partners. His partners included Michelin & Cuipers (1844-1845), Michelin & Leefe (1852-1853), Michelin & Shattuck (1853-1854) and Boel & Michelin (1856-1858). David William Moody was also a lithographer. He was active in New York City from 1844-1851. He lived in Williamsburg, New York.
In the years following Lincoln’s assassination, lithographic prints depicting the Lincoln family became popular among the Northern American public, often produced as commemoratives during anniversary celebrations. Since the family never sat for a formal portrait, artists relied on earlier photographs of its members to create their compositions, portraying the family members as they would have appeared at the start of Lincoln’s presidency. This black and white print from the late 1860s depicts the family members as they would have appeared at the start of Lincoln’s presidency. At center, President Lincoln sits cross-legged at a table, holding a book on his lap, as he looks up to Mary Todd at his right. Willie, leans against a table, gazing in the direction of his father. At the lower left, Tad marches into the scene, holding a toy drum. At the right, Robert Lincoln, dressed in his military uniform, looks out towards the viewer. Abraham Lincoln was not the only deceased family member at the time of this print’s creation. Willie had died from typhoid fever in 1862, sometime before the publication of this print. The print is “Respectfully Dedicated to the People of the United States.”
Joseph Hoover was the most prominent Philadelphia publisher of chromolithographed parlor prints during the second half of the nineteenth century. In 1856, he established a woodturning and frame-making shop and began selling prints by 1865. Around 1868, he began supervising the lithography production at the firms of Duval & Hunter and James Queen, eventually founding his own printing plants in the mid-1870s. His chromolithographs won a medal of excellence at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition. In 1893, he partnered with his son, Henry, and their firm produced between 600,000 and 700,000 chromolithographs per year.
This black and white lithograph is a 3/4 length portrait of Jenny Lind wearing a formal gown with a lace shawl and holding a handkerchief in her lap. Her signature serves as the title. This print is modeled after a well-known daguerreotype by M. A. and S. Root and is on thin, white paper which has been pasted to heavier cream-colored paper.
Jenny Lind (1820-1887) was an opera singer often described as “The Swedish Nightingale” for the range, purity, and melodiousness of her soprano voice. Born Johanna Maria Lind in Stockholm, Lind trained at the Royal Dramatic Theatre, began performing in her teens, and was soon creating a sensation on tours throughout Europe. When she made her London debut in 1847, frenzied theatergoers set off a stampede as they entered the theater. Queen Victoria was among those who attended that opening night performance. The Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen is said to have fallen in love with Lind and to have written fairy tales with her in mind, including “The Nightingale.” She also won the admiration of composers like Robert Schumann, Hector Berlioz, and Felix Mendelssohn, who became a close friend. In addition to Lind’s vocal gifts, she was greatly admired as a model of piety, simplicity, and generosity. In 1849, although only 29 years old, she announced her retirement from opera and turned to performing Romantic and Swedish folk songs. She resumed her operatic career in 1850, when she launched an American tour under the management of the showman P. T. Barnum. He promoted her arrival with such fanfare that she was greeted by a crowd numbering in the thousands when she sailed into New York’s harbor. She traveled across the United States and to Cuba and Canada in the year that followed, often donating her profits to the endowment of free schools in Sweden and other charitable causes. Lind and Barnum ended their partnership in 1851, but she continued to tour on her own for another year.
In 1852, Jenny Lind married her accompanist, Otto Goldschmidt, and continued to appear in occasional European concerts as Jenny Lind Goldschmidt. She died of a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 67. Although critics have debated whether her talent measured up to her reputation, her legendary popularity lives on in memorials and monuments around the world. She has inspired books, films, and a series of Swedish banknotes, while schools, streets, parks, hospitals, pies, clothing, and cigars all carry her name. Even a clipper ship, the USS Nightingale, and the Gold Rush town of Jenny Lind, California have been named in her honor.
This lithograph was produced by Nagel & Weingaertner and C. G. Crehen. Louis Nagel was born in Germany ca. 1817 and began working in New York as early as 1844. There he was involved in two partnerships, Nagel & Mayer (1846) and Nagel & Weingaertner (1849-1856). In 1857, he moved to San Francisco. Charles G. Crehen (1829-ca 1891) was a portrait painter, lithographer, and printer in New York.
Marcus Aurelius Root (1808-1888) was a photographer and daguerreotypist born in Granville, Ohio. He studied painting and penmanship before turning to daguerreotyping and became one of the early practitioners of the new art. He worked in Mobile, Alabama; New Orleans, Louisiana; St. Louis, Missouri; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and then in 1849 established a gallery in New York with his brother Samuel. The Root brothers were the first to produce daguerreotypes of Jenny Lind. After being disabled in a train accident, Marcus Root devoted himself to writing about photographic history and aesthetics. His book The Camera and The Pencil: Or the Heliographic Art, published in 1864, argued that photographers should be as highly esteemed as artists, and that much more was involved in photography than simply operating a camera. In recognition of his pioneering achievements, Root's daguerreotypes of famous people were included in an exhibition at the 1876 American centennial celebration in Philadelphia.
Samuel Root (ca. 1819-1889) was a daguerreotypist born in Granville, Ohio. He learned the art of daguerreotyping from his brother Marcus and the two opened a gallery in New York in 1849. Samuel Root later moved to Dubuque, Iowa, where he opened another daguerreotype business. He also published photographic books on Dubuque residences and businesses.
This hand colored print depicts an interior scene of a cottage with two men, a woman and four children. The two men are seated, one in an armchair and the other in a basketry chair. The man dressed in black sits in an armchair being served a drink by children. He appears to be a visitor. The other man, dressed in white, holds his head and looks ill. The woman holds a baby while another child leans on the knee of the sick man. A young boy plays at a table next to the man in white.
This print was produced by Nathaniel Currier (1813-1888). Currier was the founder of the company that eventually became the Currier & Ives lithography firm. At the age of fifteen Currier apprenticed with the Pendleton lithography firm in New York City. Five years later, he moved to Philadelphia to work with the lithographer M.E.D. Brown (1810-1896). After a year Currier moved back to New York, where he intended on going into business with one of the Pendleton brothers. Instead he formed a partnership in 1834 with a man named Stodart. Within a year he opened his own lithography company on Wall Street and then moved to Nassau and Spruce. In 1852 a bookkeeper named James Merritt Ives joined the firm. He married Charles Currier’s sister-in-law and brought to the firm a critical eye and business acumen. In five years he had become a partner. Currier & Ives would become arguably the most successful and prodigious lithography firm of the 19th century. Although especially well known for prints celebrating American landscapes and pastimes like sailing and ice skating, Currier & Ives also produced lithographs that featured current events, social issues and political controversies.
This colored print depicts a large camp meeting in a clearing in the forest. Camp meetings were a popular form of Protestant worship throughout the 19th century. Lasting several days, these open-air events often involved ecstatic communal prayer. Hundreds and even thousands came from miles around for preaching and worship, and to enjoy the festival-like atmosphere. A circle of many tents surrounds a vast congregation with a pulpit in the center next to the preacher's tent. On the outskirts are many carriages and people.
The Red Lion camp meeting was held August 6-14, 1853, near Red Lion, New Castle County, Delaware. This religious revival was organized by the Methodist Episcopal Church and was presided over by several of their circuit preachers from the Philadelphia Conference. These included Reverend A. Atwood, P.F. Rev. Thomas Sumption, and Reverend R. Owen and Bishop Levy Scott. Given that the artist was the son of one of the sponsors of the event, this image can serve as a documented eyewitness account. The list of ministers is listed in the caption below the image.
Alfred Thompson Scott (1831-1914), son of Levi Scott, Methodist Episcopal Bishop of Delaware, was the original artist. This appears to be his earliest work. Scott partnered with daguerreotypist Nelson Carlisle, became a drawing and painting instructor for Wilmington’s Wesleyan Female College, and became a minister.
This print was produced by P.S. Duval and Company, A.T. Scott and Cyrus Stern. Peter S. Duval (ca. 1804/05-1886) was a French lithographer who immigrated to Philadelphia in 1831 to work for the lithographic firm of Childs & Inman. In 1837, he established his own lithographic firm in Philadelphia. During the 1840s, the firm's products included advertisements, book and periodical illustrations, sheet music covers, maps and portraits. By the end of that decade, Duval was winning awards for his work in chromolithography. He was also among the first to introduce steam power to the process of lithography. His son Stephen Orr Duval joined the company in 1858. The company headquarters suffered a disastrous fire in 1856 and Duval declared financial insolvency in 1859. However, he was able to reestablish his business, and he continued working till his retirement in 1869.
Cyrus Stern (1818-1891) was this print’s publisher/copyriter as well as an author and composer of other works. He was headquartered on Market Street in Wilmington, Delaware.
Colored print of a large band performing on the steps of the Capitol (south wing), during the inauguration of the president. A row of Honor Guards stands at attention on the steps, to either side of the band. A large crowd looks on. Haverly's United Mastodon Minstrels was a blackface performers created in 1877, when J. H. Haverly merged four of his companies. The group included a brass band and a drum corp. The shows included lavish scenery and often a circus act.
Entertainment entrepreneur J. H. (Jack) Haverly (1837-1901) was born Christopher Haverly near Bellefonte, Pennsylvania. He launched his show business career in 1864 in Toledo, Ohio, where he purchased a variety theater. Inspired by entrepreneurs like P. T. Barnum, Haverly went on to manage other theaters, and he created minstrel and comic performance groups on the East Coast and in the Middle West. In the late 1870s he consolidated his troupes into a single company called the United Mastodon Minstrels which included forty performers, along with a brass band and drum corps. The group continued to grow and at one point had more than a hundred members. Around the same time, Haverly took control of a black performing group called Charles Callender's Original Georgia Minstrels, which he renamed Haverly’s Colored Minstrels. He promoted their performances as authentic depictions of black life, even creating a mock plantation with costumed actors portraying slaves and overseers. Haverly’s troupes toured the United States, usually appearing at his own theaters in cities like New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, and San Francisco. They also traveled to England and Scotland. Featuring lavish stage sets, extravagant special effects, and performers in blackface makeup and exotic costumes, his innovations inspired the creation of smaller minstrel shows during the late nineteenth century.
This chromolithograph was produced by the Strobridge Lithographing Company. The Strobridge firm was founded in Cincinnati, Ohio ca 1847 by lithographer Elijah J. Middleton (cited in some sources as Elijah C. Middleton). Middleton was known as one of the pioneers of chromolithography in the United States. By 1854 another lithographer, W. R. Wallace, along with the bookseller Hines Strobridge (1823-1909) had joined the firm as partners. After the Civil War, Strobridge acquired sole ownership of the company and renamed it after himself. Strobridge and Company became especially well known for circus, theater, and movie posters. After leaving the company, Elijah Middleton established a reputation as a portrait publisher, producing prints of George and Martha Washington, Daniel Webster, and other American historical figures.
This black and white print is an oval full-length portrait of the showman/clown Dan Rice, surrounded by six smaller, full-length oval depictions of him in various roles. The title of the print appears at the top and the word “Clown” at the bottom.
Dan Rice (1823-1900) was one of America's most famous circus clowns, known for performances that included singing, dancing, shows of strength, trick riding, and trained animal acts. He was also a celebrated humorist, whose comedy acts ranged over the years from Shakespearean parodies to biting political satire. Born Daniel McLaren in New York City, Rice worked as a jockey as a boy and launched his performing career at the age of seventeen with a song and dance routine and a trained pig he called Lord Byron. He joined his first circus as a strongman and in 1844 began performing as a clown. By the late 1840s he had established his own one-ring circus, called Dan Rice’s Great Show. Sporting a trademark Uncle Sam beard, he described himself as the “Great American Humorist.” He later entered politics, running for the Pennsylvania State Senate and in 1868 for president of the United States, although he eventually dropped out. Alcoholism contributed to the eventual decline of his circus career, and he stopped touring in 1885.
This lithograph was produced by G. & W. Endicott. George Endicott (1802-1848) was born in Canton, Massachusetts. He worked as an ornamental painter in Boston before turning to lithography around 1828. In 1830, he went into business with Moses Swett (1804-1838), a native of Poland who had worked previously for the Pendleton lithography firm as an artist and draftsman. Endicott & Swett first opened in Baltimore but moved to New York in 1831. The partnership dissolved in 1834, and Swett continued to work on his own in New York from 1834-1837. Endicott stayed on as the head of the company which his brother William (1816-1851) later joined. After George Endicott’s death in 1848, William ran the firm as William Endicott & Co.
This colored print depicts a large revival meeting, with tents in the background and a large wooden pulpit in the foreground. Camp meetings were a popular form of Protestant worship throughout the 19th century. Lasting several days, these open-air events often involved ecstatic communal prayer. Hundreds and even thousands came from miles around for preaching and worship, and to enjoy the festival-like atmosphere. A large crowd is depicted in the foreground. Some people are sitting on benches, while others kneel on the ground or stand listening to a preacher.
This print was produced by Kennedy & Lucas and Hugh Bridport from a drawing by Alexander Rider,
Alexander Rider was a German or Swiss born artist, colorist and engraver. He is believed to have arrived in the United States in the early 1800s and worked for the next two decades in Philadelphia as a book illustrator, miniature and portrait artist and painter specializing in historical themes. By 1830 he had begun doing lithographic prints for Kennedy and Lucas. He continued working in printing in the 1840s and produced plates for a book on American natural history.
William B. Lucas was a Philadelphia gilder who owned a looking glass and print shop. He established what was said to be the first commercial lithography firm in Philadelphia in 1828. Within a few months another gilder, David Kennedy, became a partner in the firm. The company continued until Lucas died in 1833. Alexander Rider was a German or Swiss born artist, colorist and engraver. He is believed to have arrived in the United States in the early 1800s and worked for the next two decades in Philadelphia as a book illustrator, miniature and portrait artist and painter specializing in historical themes. By 1830 he had begun doing lithographic prints for Kennedy and Lucas. He continued working in printing in the 1840s and produced plates for a book on American natural history.
Hugh Bridport (1794-1870) was a London-born engraver, lithographer, portrait painter and architect. He began his artistic career in England, where he exhibited miniatures at the Royal Academy in 1813. He followed his brother George to Philadelphia around 1816, and the two brothers went on to establish a drawing academy and became successful artists. Hugh Bridport was a founding member of the Franklin Institute, where he taught architectural drawing for six years. He worked in the lithography trade with Kennedy & Lucas and other Philadelphia firms. Although mainly a portrait lithographer, he drew the lithograph for "Camp-Meeting" from Alexander Rider's painting, and exhibited paintings at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art and Artist's Fund Society. In the 1860 census he is listed as a "gentleman" with a personal estate worth $15,000 and in the 1870 census, before he died, he was listed as a merchant.
This black and white print depicts a large revival or camp meeting, with tents in the background and a large wooden pulpit in the foreground. Camp meetings were a popular form of Protestant worship throughout the 19th century. Lasting several days, these open-air events often involved ecstatic communal prayer. Hundreds and even thousands came from miles around for preaching and worship, and to enjoy the festival-like atmosphere. A large crowd is gathered in the foreground. Some people are sitting on benches, while others are kneeling on the ground or standing listening to a preacher. The title is cut off. In the upper right corner, a newspaper clipping describing a revival meeting is affixed to the print.
This print was produced by Kennedy & Lucas and Hugh Bridport. from a drawing by Alexander Rider. Alexander Rider was a German or Swiss born artist, colorist and engraver. He is believed to have arrived in the United States in the early 1800s and worked for the next two decades in Philadelphia as a book illustrator, miniature and portrait artist and painter specializing in historical themes. By 1830 he had begun doing lithographic prints for Kennedy and Lucas. He continued working in printing in the 1840s and produced plates for a book on American natural history.
William B. Lucas was a Philadelphia gilder who owned a looking glass and print shop. He established what was said to be the first commercial lithography firm in Philadelphia in 1828. Within a few months another gilder, David Kennedy, became a partner in the firm. The company continued until Lucas died in 1833. Alexander Rider was a German or Swiss born artist, colorist and engraver. He is believed to have arrived in the United States in the early 1800s and worked for the next two decades in Philadelphia as a book illustrator, miniature and portrait artist and painter specializing in historical themes. By 1830 he had begun doing lithographic prints for Kennedy and Lucas. He continued working in printing in the 1840s and produced plates for a book on American natural history.
Hugh Bridport (1794-1870) was a London-born engraver, lithographer, portrait painter and architect, trained at the Royal Academy. In 1816, he joined his brother George in Philadelphia, where they successfully establish a business as artists as well as a drawing academy that operated for 6 years. Bridport was a founding member of the Franklin Institute, where he taught architectural drawing until 1833. He worked in the late 1820’s in the lithography trade with Kennedy & Lucas and other Philadelphia firms such as C. G. Childs and M. E. D. Brown. He became a US citizen in 1834.and exhibited paintings at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art and Artist's Fund Society. In the 1860 census he is listed as a "gentleman" with a personal estate worth $15,000 and in the 1870 census, before he died, he was listed as a merchant.
Sentimental genre prints documented the social image of Victorian virtue through domestic scenes of courtship, family, home life, and images of the “genteel female.” Children are depicted studying nature or caring for their obedient pets as they learn their place in the greater world. Romantic scenes picture devoted husbands with their contented, dutiful wives. In these prints, young women educated in reading, music, needlework, the arts, the language of flowers, basic math and science are subjugated to their family’s needs.
These prints became popular as lithography was introduced to 19th Century Americans. As a new art form, it was affordable for the masses and provided a means to share visual information by crossing the barriers of race, class and language. Sentimental prints encouraged the artistic endeavors of schoolgirls and promoted the ambitions of amateur artists, while serving as both moral instruction and home or business decoration. They are a pictorial record of our romanticized past.
This hand colored print is an interior scene of a family of five seated in the parlor. The father is seated on an ornate red upolstered sofa, his young son leaning against his knee holding a ball or piece of fruit, perhaps an apple. An infant sits in the mother's lap, while the eldest child, a daughter stands alongside the mother, entertaining the baby with her doll. The mother is seated in an upholstered red chair. Heavy drapes, a partial view of a landscape picture in a fancy frame, a patterned rug and foot pillow on floor complete this domestic scene. The couple gaze at each other and compositionally depict a balanced and equal family unit. This is one of several prints with the same title, depicting a contented family. These happy family scenes were meant to contrast with the restless, discontented bachelor prints.
This print was produced by the lithographic firm of Kelloggs & Comstock. In 1848, John Chenevard Comstock developed a partnership with E.B. and E.C. Kellogg. In 1850, Edmund Burke Kellogg left the firm, leaving his brother Elijah Chapman Kellogg and J.C. Comstock to run the lithography firm as Kellogg and Comstock. The short-lived partnership disbanded in 1851. It was not until 1855 that Edmund Burke Kellogg rejoined his brother E.C. Kellogg and continued the success of the family’s Lithography firm.
Sentimental genre prints documented the social image of Victorian virtue through domestic scenes of courtship, family, home life, and images of the “genteel female.” Children are depicted studying nature or caring for their obedient pets as they learn their place in the greater world. Romantic scenes picture devoted husbands with their contented, dutiful wives. In these prints, young women educated in reading, music, needlework, the arts, the language of flowers, basic math and science are subjugated to their family’s needs.
These prints became popular as lithography was introduced to 19th Century Americans. As a new art form, it was affordable for the masses and provided a means to share visual information by crossing the barriers of race, class, and language. Sentimental prints encouraged the artistic endeavors of schoolgirls and promoted the ambitions of amateur artists, while serving as both moral instruction and home or business decoration. They are a pictorial record of our romanticized past.
This hand colored print is a portrait of man, woman and four young children, one an infant in mother's lap in a richly furnished interior setting. The family is clothed in fancy antebellum dress. The room contains an elaborate sofa, foot stools, two heavily framed bust portraits of the husband and wife, heavy blue drapes, an ornate rug, patterned wallpaper and an intricately carved chair rail. The children and father all face the mother as if seeking her guidance. This is one of several prints with the same title, depicting a contented family. These happy family scenes were meant to contrast with the restless, discontented bachelor prints.
The print was produced by Sarony & Major. Napoleon Sarony (1821–1896) was born in Quebec, Canada, and trained under several lithography firms including Currier & Ives and H.R. Robinson. Sarony was also known for his successful experiments in early photography, eventually developing a cabinet-sized camera. In 1846, Sarony partnered with another former apprentice of Nathaniel Currier, Henry B. Major. Together they created Sarony & Major Lithography firm. Joseph F. Knapp joined the firm in 1857. Sarony, Major & Knapp earned a solid reputation for lithography and the company was especially known for its fine art chromolithography. Unfortunately, by the 1870s, the firm shifted focus to the more profitable area of advertising. It also expanded to become the conglomerate known as the American Lithographic Company, successfully producing calendars, advertising cards, and posters. In 1930 they were bought out by Consolidated Graphics.
Plain, flat, circular, single-piece button with loop shank brazed on back. Back stamped incuse around perimeter "TREBLE GILT ST\D/. COL\R/. J.B". From a collection of 15 buttons, 1982.0090.09A-O.
New York Militia "EXCELSIOR" button depicting a spreadwing eagle perched on terrestrial globe. Circular, single-piece button with omega loop shank, possibly on a thin pedestal or plateau, brazed on blank back. No marks. One of four "EXCELSIOR" buttons, 1982.0090.09A, C, N and O, from a collection of 15 buttons, 1982.0090.09A-O.