Button for regimental headquarters units, yellow metal, gilt. It is carefully crafted from bronze using a stamping technique for the restoration of a shirt or uniform.
On March 3, 1862, new buttons featuring the Imperial crown were introduced, initially awarded to only seven regiments, whose patrons were the Emperor or Empress:
1st Leib-Dragoon Moscow His Majesty’s Regiment;
2nd Leib-Dragoon Pskov Her Majesty’s Regiment;
2nd Leib-Ulan Kurliand His Majesty’s Regiment;
2nd Leib-Hussar Pavlograd His Majesty’s Regiment;
1st Leib-Grenadier Ekaterinoslav His Majesty’s Regiment;
13th Leib-Grenadier Erivan His Majesty’s Regiment;
68th Leib-Infantry Borodino His Majesty’s Regiment.
Yellow copper buttons were also assigned to the staff trumpeter of the 1st Grenadier Division, while tin buttons with a crown were assigned to the staff trumpeter of the Caucasian Grenadier Division.
On February 26, 1869, the use of buttons with the Imperial crown expanded to include regiments whose patrons were the Tsarevich and Tsarevna (Heir to the Throne and the Crown Princess). These included:
12th Grenadier Astrakhan Regiment, Tsarevich Heir;
3rd Ulan Smolensk Regiment, Tsarevich Heir;
11th Ulan Chuguev Regiment, Tsarevna Grand Duchess Maria Feodorovna;
19th Dragoon Pereyaslav Regiment, Tsarevich Heir.
Between 1856 and 1865, the Tsarevich (future Emperor Alexander III) was also the patron of the 17th Dragoon Seversky Regiment, but he relinquished this title on May 29, 1865, so this regiment did not receive the crown buttons. The 9th Vyborg Finnish Rifle Battalion (also under the Tsarevich’s patronage) was disbanded in 1867 along with other Finnish units.
On May 26, 1869, the Tsarevich became the patron of the 145th Infantry Novocherkassk Regiment, and on February 26, 1876, the second patron of His Majesty’s regiments, as well as the Pavlograd, Pavlovsk, and Aleksandrovsk Military Schools. On February 28, 1879, buttons with the crown were assigned to the 80th Kabardian Infantry Regiment, and on September 20, 1879, to the 16th Rifle Battalion (later a regiment). On May 25, 1891, the 1st Eastern Siberian Rifle Battalion received the crown buttons.
In October 1894, Nicholas II ordered that the uniforms in the regiments and military schools bearing His Majesty’s name, as well as those under the patronage of the late Emperor Alexander III, remain unchanged. On October 30, 1894, crown buttons were instituted for the 93rd Irkutsk Infantry Regiment. Subsequently, the crown buttons were assigned to:
2nd Grenadier Rostov Regiment;
51st Lithuanian Infantry Regiment;
12th Eastern Siberian Rifle Regiment;
15th Dragoon Alexandriya Regiment.
These three regiments likely did not receive the crown buttons in time, as on August 29 of the same year, new buttons of a different design were introduced for all military units.
On July 6, 1903, crown buttons were assigned to the 9th Infantry Ingria Regiment in celebration of its 200th anniversary.
