Buckle Broach ??

[winslow]

Not sure what this was. Maybe part of a buckle made into broach? Does the design mean anything? No idea on age either?

3 3/8 by 2 1/2 inches.

Brass construction with emblem in front possibly being white brass. Emblem held on in back by small wood pins. Edge is beveled.

Wondering if it's worth hanging on to or should go in scrap pile. Found in bottom of box of stuff at estate sale.

 

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[GaRebel1861]

I wouldn't scrap it until I got a positive ID on it first. It looks old to me in the picture.

 

[ARC]

I wouldn't scrap it until I got a positive ID on it first. It looks old to me in the picture.

Agreed.

Winslow... I have seen something LIKE this before... the monogram part anyway... but cannot put my finger on "what"...

With my many decades in things like this I will tell you this much... there was serious hand made work that went into that pin.

Might remain a mystery piece for a minute... a week... year... or forever... and that may be because... you have the ONLY one made.

Anyways... none the less a VERY unique old handmade pin... hold onto to it... takes up zero real estate... and I have a feeling you may in the end just be glad you did

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Winslow wrote:
> Brass construction with emblem in front possibly being white brass. Emblem held on in back by small wood pins. Edge is beveled.

I've seen Military plates with that construction which can go back as far as the Revolutionary War (both British and American plates). Although the plate's main body form continued to be used even into the 20th Century, the key clue for me is the use of a crudely solder applied very simply pointed brass wire pin (with a loop at the other end) for attachment this plate to the soldier's shoulder-belt (a.k.a. "crossbelt"). That particular attachment-form is most commonly seen on State Militia shoulder-belt plates manufactured from the 1830s into the 1890s.

I searched through the huge (616-pages) reference book "American Military Belt Plates" (by O'Donnell & Campbell) to try to find a match for your plate. The closest exact match for the rectangular brass body with pointed brass wire pin & loop at other end is a "GG" (Governor's Guards" New York State Militia plate made in 1858. See Plate #781, page 464 in the O'Donnell-&-Campbell book. If your OIT/TOI/ITO plate is in the book, I did not see it. The letters O, I, and T maybe could be for Ohio/Oregon, Indiana/Illinois, or Tennessee/Texas. (I'm excluding states which didn't join the Union until after the 1890s.)

> Wondering if it's worth hanging on to or should go in scrap pile.

No, it should not go into the scrap pile.

 

[ToddsPoint]

Monogram could be CCT, or TCC. Gary

 

[DCMatt]

The styling of the interlaced monogram is very Victorian. I would say this piece is late 19th C. I agree with ToddsPoint that the monogram is TCC.