French relic from colonial site?

Almy · Oct 17, 2011

This area has a pre-Loyalist, French history but so far I have found only Loyalist-era relics and coins. But this piece of thin brass has "OUI" and a space and then an "M" or "N". This looks like a section of a circular object that, from the curvature, might be 6" in diameter or larger. I can think of words in French and Spanish that have "oui" in them, but not at the end. So this may be the French "yes." What do you all think?

CRUSADER · Oct 18, 2011

Most likely British Order of the Garter motto:
Honi soit qui mal y pense

It is a French phase but not used in their Military, as far as I know. Its purely a British used motto, I think :thumbsup:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honi_soit_qui_mal_y_pense

Almy · Oct 18, 2011

It is amazing to me that you could recognize the motto from that fragment. Must be the same talent that ancient text translators use. Looking closely, I can see the little que on the capital O that makes it a Q. I did not notice it before. So it fits the Order of the Garter all right. Having looked at the description of that, I see it is limited to royalty, pretty well, with very limited numbers of members. Accoutrements are rich, gold and returned to the reigning monarch of England when a member dies. So how could a thin, brass Order emblem be in a poor (probably), Loyalist home in Canada?

CRUSADER · Oct 19, 2011

AcadienLoyalistMarco said:
It is amazing to me that you could recognize the motto from that fragment. Must be the same talent that ancient text translators use. Looking closely, I can see the little que on the capital O that makes it a Q. I did not notice it before. So it fits the Order of the Garter all right. Having looked at the description of that, I see it is limited to royalty, pretty well, with very limited numbers of members. Accoutrements are rich, gold and returned to the reigning monarch of England when a member dies. So how could a thin, brass Order emblem be in a poor (probably), Loyalist home in Canada?

The 'Order' itself is limited as you say. But the use of the motto is common for many British Military Regiments, so its most likely British Military related (although there are a couple of other establishments which use it). Being stamped Brass/copper-alloy its probably not much older than WWI, however, there is not enough left for me to say it's function.