Cow Printing Plate ??

[winslow]

I found this while hunting a late 1800's dump site in SW Colorado. It doesn't look like any kind of printing plate I've seen before but I can't think of anything else it could be. Looks like there is a brand mark on the cow along with a triangle on the rear of the cow. Measures about 1 1/2 inches wide. The metal is nonferrous. Any ideas or comments?

 

[HutSiteDigger]

Looks like a printing plate.... here is one i dug a few weeks back. lot thiner tho.

 

[cw0909]

wonder if the marks are branding symbols for some cow ranch

 

[bradyboy]

thinking its a branding iron
Bradyboy

 

[BosnMate]

I did a google search for "Triangle Ranch," and got the Triangle X and the Triangle C, both dude ranches in Wyoming. I thought I'd heard of the Triangle outfit in Arizona,
but no hit there. There is a Triangle 5, also a dude ranch in Oregon. The other brand I can't figure out, it's a quarter circle, and I'd call it the quarter circle 3, but it also
might mean one eleven, which is a mouthful. "I ride for the quarter circle one eleven iron." Just doesn't roll off the tongue does it?

 

[kuger]

definetly is not a branding iron

it is some kind of a printing device though.As Bosn can attest to,its not uncommon for an old cow or especially a brood bull to have a number of various brands...all from different outfits

 

[cw0909]

found a link to some online links to state brands and other info
Livestock brands

 

[clovis97]

My first inclination was that this piece was related to a fraternity or fraternal organization.

Delta...what is that other symbol?? Is it supposed to be Pi, or Psi? Something else??