Spain, Napoleonic to Carlist Wars, Military Button

These Spanish military uniform buttons come from the early 19th century, from approximately the era of the Napoleonic Wars to the Carlist Wars. Most of the buttons are numbered to indicate the regiment of the soldier wearing them, a design that was used by the Spanish military until the 1860s.

Spanish military buttons can be broadly divided into three categories: Royal Forces, which include a corona real (royal crown), regular forces, comprised of full-time units raised in Spain, and fixed provincial forces (tropos veteranas) which were primarily composed of inhabitants of a particular geographic region. The Spanish military only issued uniforms with metal buttons beginning in the late 1700s, and it would not be until 1791 that Spanish Peninsula infantry units were issued with designated marked buttons for all military forces.

Many of these buttons are from soldiers of the Napoleonic Wars, a series of conflicts from 1803 to 1815 that erupted after Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Spain. The war escalated as Spanish and Portuguese forces, supported by British troops, fought against the invading French armies. After the allied victory in the Battle of Vitoria in 1813, Bonapartist Spain collapsed. Ferdinand VII was restored as the King of Spain in December of 1813 and by April of the following year, with Napoleon exiled, the war ended.

Due to the unprecise dating of these buttons, some may also come from other Spanish conflicts such as the Carlist Wars, which saw battles between multiple factions with claims to the Spanish throne starting in the 1830s.

Each includes a Certificate of Authenticity.