buckle/doorplate??

[Mainedigger]

Found this today down about 4 inches behind an old house dating back to the early 1800's. At first I thought it may be a belt buckle, but the prongs in the back seem a little long, they are 1/2 inches long. Possibly a door plate showing the number of the house Tried putting a ruler in with it but it didn;t come out clear, overall length is 2 1/2 inches by 2 inches high. It appears to have a silver gilt on it as well.
Thanks.

 

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[TreasureTales]

I don't know what it is, but it's certainly neat looking! Yeah, it appears to have been stuck into something at one time. May not have been big enough for house numbers, though. Maybe a number for a wagon--like from a wagon rental shop? Geez, that's really a stretch. Nevermind.

 

[Mainedigger]

I don't know what it is, but it's certainly neat looking! Yeah, it appears to have been stuck into something at one time. May not have been big enough for house numbers, though. Maybe a number for a wagon--like from a wagon rental shop? Geez, that's really a stretch. Nevermind.

TT...not a stretch at all...the area I found it in is near an old bowling alley that burned down in 1910....Pictures I have seen of the alley show horse drawn wagons dropping people off...so a wagon number isn't that far of a stretch at all... Now a wagon rental shop may be a bit of a stretch...

 

[TreasureTales]

I don't know what it is, but it's certainly neat looking! Yeah, it appears to have been stuck into something at one time. May not have been big enough for house numbers, though. Maybe a number for a wagon--like from a wagon rental shop? Geez, that's really a stretch. Nevermind.

TT...not a stretch at all...the area I found it in is near an old bowling alley that burned down in 1910....Pictures I have seen of the alley show horse drawn wagons dropping people off...so a wagon number isn't that far of a stretch at all... Now a wagon rental shop may be a bit of a stretch...

Yeah, well I was thinking along the lines of an early-day Hertz type place. Livery stables rented buckboards and wagons and surries and such, so I figured they must have had some kind of numbering system for their rigs just like Hertz and Enterprise do for their cars. Each car is numbered on the bumper if I remember correctly, so I presume wagons would have been numbered, too. It will be interesting to see the actual answer to this mystery. Whatever it is, I like it!