Material: Gilt brass, convex with fixed shank
Diameter: 23 mm
Description: The uniform component is a classic official military button issued to personnel serving within the French Navy (Marine Nationale). The face layout displays a traditional naval anchor with a thick, prominent stock, intricately entwined by a heavy fouled rope curling dynamically around the central shank and flukes. The central design rests on a background of fine, horizontally incised lines that help catch the light and create a high-contrast shadow effect against the raised golden elements. The entire outer margin is beautifully enclosed by an integrated, continuous twisted rope border edge pattern typical of maritime service hardware.
Circa: 1870-1950s
Notes:
Possible French design. Until i see more examples, and/or get a better understanding of the specific details; id will stand.
The Stock Shape: Notice the thick, flat, heavy rectangular block crossing the top of the anchor shank. This specific structural silhouette is modeled directly after early 19th-century French wooden-stocked anchors.
The Horizontal Background Lines: The backdrop features very fine, tightly packed, perfectly horizontal lines. In military heraldry, this texture represents the color blue (azure). While the German Kriegsmarine also used a lined background, their anchor designs featured vastly different, sharply stylized hooks and a highly textured, pebbling effect rather than a clean, mirrored rope.
The Cable Wrap Sequence: The decorative rope twists tightly down the center shank, loops completely behind the main stock, and emerges to wrap smoothly under the right fluke. This exact geometric looping blueprint was codified by the French Ministry of War and Marine during the Third Republic to standardize uniform hardware across their fleet yards.