Dealer sample card of civil war centennial cuff links/buttons at South Coast Antiques

This card of La Mode buttons was made as a dealer’s sample for use with traveling salesmen to sell commemorative items for the centennial of the Civil War and was as used as a point of sales store display.
A clue that this was a salesman sample is the writing at the bottom of the card that shows that these were available in boxes of 12 dozen per pair.
Dealer’s sample sets like this are very rare and this card dates to the early 1960s and was produced of the centennial of the Civil War  (1961-1965)
These buttons are plain backed and unmarked so the ability for the advanced collector to attribute these buttons to La Mode is unparalleled. One will also notice that the buttons/cuff links do not have the links attached to make them cuff links.  They would have also been sold with out the links for reenactors of the period such as the North South Skirmish Association (NSSA) which was founded in the 1950's

Note that the buttons on the card have a 4 digit model number and that they have a single axillary number to indicate metal color. the numbers are as follows

8372 Infantry

8370 General service

8371 General service

8373 Artillery

Metal color Finish were designated as

7 Silver

9 Gold

10 Pewter

25 Antiqued Brass

They obviously had a separate card for Union buttons because the small confederate flags are just pasted in place as opposed to being directly printed. Notice that one has been picked off.

Here is the back of this card showing how the buttons were originally factory sewed in place.

Also of interest is that authenticity apparently was not a very big factor in the over all design of these cuff links/buttons.  Notice that 1903 Springfield rifles appear on the Infantry model 8372 as opposed to civil war era guns. The Artillery Buttons model 8373 are based on 1820's Artillery buttons that are not Civil war era. Also note that one of the Infantry model 8372 buttons is a reversed factory error on this card.

La Mode is a division of B. Blumenthal and Co that was a major costume jewelry wholesaler and button maker that was founded in 1877 for more information on La Mode visit their website.