Saddle Shield - Civil War? Indian Wars?

[Old Pueblo]

Found this 11 1/2 inch saddle shield in a cigar box full of relics and other junk that my Grandfather owned. Can anyone tell me when these things were made? I have no idea where it was found, but it probably came from somewhere here in Arizona, or maybe even New Mexico.

 

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[A2coins]

Cant ID it but I always like your posts the old west finds . Keep it up my friend,,,,, Tommy

 

[Old Pueblo]

Heres one from the early 1900s, so World War I era. It would be nice to know if there is a way to tell what time period they came from. There is a good chance this one of mine is from the World War I, lots of World War history in this area.

 

[Trezurehunter]

Sorry I cant help on the I.D. but it must have been a thrill to open the box and find that piece in there.

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Cool relic!

 

[sandchip]

Cool! Love the patina.

 

[trapperart]

Congrats

 

[Old Pueblo]

Thanks guys. Ive been looking at McClellan saddle shields online, and they were made from 1859 or so all the way up into the post World War I years. You can tell the difference between them by the way the numbers and letters appear. I believe mine is from the World War I era based on the following.

If you look at this Civil War saddle shield, its obvious that it looks very similar to the later ones, but if you look at the actual numbers and letters, they look a little different. (Like a different style of lettering and so forth). I kept looking and then found this other saddle shield that someone dug up in a World War I era Army camp in Texas, and it appears to be identical to the one I have. Notice the "A" in seat in the WW1 saddle shield, and then compare it to my shield and the Civil War shield. An obvious match.



Civil War shield at left, WW1 shield at right.

 

[Fullstock]

Nice piece, no matter what era it's from

 

[Old Pueblo]

Nice piece, no matter what era it's from

I agree. Im thinking WW1 because there was a lot of US Army activity out here in this particular area of the state in the World War I/Mexican Revolution time period. There was also a bunch of old dug military buttons in the box, most of which obviously came out of the ground, based on their appearance. Apart from 1 Spanish artillery button from the Spanish-American War era, the earliest buttons are rimless great seal buttons from 1902-1910 time period. Im thinking they all came from the same place. And there was a US Army camp in basically every town down here in the border country, not just towns along the actual border, during World War I. Sorry if this bores you, just kind of thinking out loud I guess.

 

[Bob-E-Pin]

Yup, I agree WW1/ Mexican revolution based on your location. Cool save !!

 

[PikesPeakCharlie]

That is sweeet ! Congrats !!! Nice find whether it is from grandpas box or under your coil