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Military/Uniform Button with Cuban Coat of Arms
Object/Artifact
Single domed metal uniform button, gilt/gold-toned, with a relief design of the Cuban national coat of arms — the shield (with the rising sun over the strait, the royal palm, and the diagonal bands) flanked by an oak branch and a laurel branch, surmounted by a Phrygian/Liberty cap. The reverse (image 2) is a plain convex back with a central wire shank (loop) for attachment; no legible backmark/maker's stamp is visible.
2025.11.70
Buttons bearing the Cuban coat of arms were used on Cuban military, naval, police, and government/civil-service uniforms. Such buttons are a common category of Cuban material culture.
2025.11
Purchase
Cuban uniform buttons were supplied over time by various domestic and foreign (notably US and European) button makers.
Front: relief Cuban coat of arms (shield, rising sun, palm, oak and laurel branches, Phrygian cap). No lettering. Reverse: ⚠️ plain domed back with wire shank; no legible backmark/maker's mark visible.
Metal
Gilt/gold-toned metal (likely gilded brass or gilt base metal; possibly two-piece construction typical of shank uniform buttons).
Fair
⚠️ Backmark is the key to this object. Photograph the reverse at high magnification under raking light; even a partial maker's name or city would establish the manufacturer and narrow the date. Without it, neither maker nor date can be fixed. The device is confirmed as the Cuban coat of arms; the button type was used on Cuban military/naval/police/civil uniforms from the early Republic onward — so the design cannot by itself place the button in 1959–90. It was purchased as belonging to a post-1959 uniform.