Backward Button

[nightstalker]

Hi All,
I reciently bought a shirt from a sutler at a reenactment. After I got home, I found that this shirt buttoned on the wrong side like womens chothes do. I can't find anything regarding this way of buttoning and it's difficult to tell from looking at old photos because of the way some of the old pictures were developed backwards.
Is this correct, or should I have the buttons and holes reversed? Thanks, Nightstalker

[GarrettG1993]

Re: Backward Button

Proably was a mistake in manufacturing. As far as I know, there are no surviving originals that were intended to have buttons on the left side. However, there are several surviving Confederate jackets I know of that have the buttons placed on the wrong side, ie the Redwood RDIII in EOG and the "Mansfield jacket" housed at the Mansfield State Historic Site in Louisiana.
If it bothers you, it wouldn't be too hard to correct the problem. However, if it is a nice shirt, I wouldn't worry with it too much.


Regards,
Garrett Glover

[PieBoy96]

Re: Backward Button

Corner Clothiers owns (and reproduces) an original undershirt which has a single button closure on the "wrong" side.

http://www.cornerclothiers.com/undershirt.jpg

[gfchhdgf]

Re: Backward Button

Maybe I'm totally making this up but weren't the rules for a "right" side and "wrong" side not as set in stone as they are today? I'm not saying there weren't obvious trends in clothing manufacturing but i believe I remember reading/hearing/imagining that somewhere. Maybe someone more knowledgeable than I can chime in and verify or refute this.

[PieBoy96]

Re: Backward Button

Hey Charlie,

Yeah I actually talked to Speedy about this very issue on men's civilian coats. If I recall correctly, he said there weren't real standards like today, such as women's buttons on left, men's buttons on right.

[FranklinGuardsNYSM]

Re: Backward Button

In this often-reproduced 1857 image of the engineers of the New York Fire Department, we see Elisha Kingsland, Daniel Donovan, and Harry Howard are "backwards" among others who are "right."