Of all the areas of Civil war relic collecting, buttons is the one that is the hardest to fake.  But with that said, there are still sellers out there that routinely try to pass off either post Civil War militia or just plain reproductions as real.  To be fair, many of these sellers really just do not know.  Others sell fakes week in and week out with no conscience.  This guide will help you learn what to look for.

First things first, if you want to buy or collect Civil War era buttons, you need to buy the proper reference books.  Below are three I recommend:

Uniform Buttons of the United States, by Warren K. Tice

Military Button Makers & Dealers, by William F. McGuinn & Bruce S. Bazelon

Record of American Uniform & Historical Buttons, by Alpheus Albert

The first thing you need to know about Civil War buttons is their backmarks.  If you learn the backmarks, and utilize the above reference books, it will be virtually impossible for one of the e-bay fakers to fool you.  Below is an original Confederate navy coat button with a Firmin backmark:

Note the crisp detail on the face, and the style of letters in the backmark.  Below is a reproduction Confederate navy button with a reproduction Firmin backmark:

When compared this way, it is easy to tell the reproduction from the original.  The letter style on the reproduction above will NEVER be seen on a Civil War era button.  And the crisp detail is also lacking in the face of the button, another clue that it is bad.

Below is a Confederate CSA general service button.  This example is an original.  This is one of the most faked buttons you will see on e-bay.  And again, there are many sellers that just don't know if the buttons they list are real and this one is a common one to see mislisted:

This backmark is SUPERIOR QUALITY.  Note again the letter style on the back.  Below is a reproduction CSA button:

This reproduction was made into a cufflink, but I wanted the backmark to be seen.  This is a very common letter style found on reproduction and post Civil War era buttons.  As I have said from the beginning:  LEARN YOUR BACKMARKS!!!!  Some post Civil War buttons have the same face as period examples, but the backmark differentiates them.  If you don't know what you are looking for, it can be easy to buy the wrong thing.

U.S. buttons are easy to get confused as well, especially when the seller SWEARS they are Civil War period.  The ones that cause new collectors the most grief are the state militia buttons.  Below is a Civil War period militia button from the state of New York, which are very common:

As always, note the letter style used in this button.  Below is an Indian Wars, or post Civil War button:

You can't see but the faces are almost identical, but the backmark on this is from post-1880. 

The easiest and most faked Civil War era buttons are the Confederate "Cast I" buttons.  These can be artificially aged, and can be VERY difficult to distinguish from an original.  Unless you have someone that can look at this type of button that is an expert, I advise avoiding them completely.  It is just too easy to get burned.

I hope this all-too-brief guide on buttons helps someone.  Collecting buttons is fun, but it should always be done with research, and caution.