Brass plate from late colonial site

[jude061]

Any idea what this brass plate might go to? It's got tabs on the back. It was about 6 inches deep in an area which may have been a militia training field or tavern yard deep in the woods on Cape Ann, Mass. I pulled a bunch of nails today. In the past, I've found pottery and pipe fragments.

 

[trdking]

Awesome! I am the wrong person for colonial brass but someone will chime in.

 

[jude061]

There are no markings on it. I vaguely recollect seeing something similar but I can't think of what it was.

 

[sutphin]

NICE FIND.

 

[Tony in SC]

Looks like a side decoration from an old gun.

 

[jude061]

That was my first impression as well, Tony. I've been trying to locate this training field for about four years, but haven't had much luck finding anything diagnostic. Tradition holds that the training field was near the church and there was a tavern close by. I found a scattering of broken pottery, nails, pipe stems, and some bricks nearby, but nothing to really indicate a structure and certainly nothing to indicate any militia mustered there. But it is the flattest land in the vicinity. If this is in fact a gun part, I'll be stoked.

 

[NOLA_Ken]

I don't think it's a gun part, to me it looks like it could be a leather strap decoration of some sort

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

I don't think firearm related, either. Perhaps a cabinet or wood chest decoration?

 

[Tony in SC]

Going by the tangs I don't think it is gun related.

 

[CRUSADER]

I don't think it's a gun part, to me it looks like it could be a leather strap decoration of some sort

Agreed its a leather decor from a horse harness.

 

[jude061]

Any idea of the possible age?

 

[DownNDirty]

Looks like a side decoration from an old gun.

Side plates were fastened with screws; the item in question has tangs not holes. I would also agree that it was a saddle ornament as others have posted.

 

[CRUSADER]

Any idea of the possible age?

Difficult to date accurately but definitely 19th C.