looking for info in my first heel plate.

[andrew04920]

I have recently started metal detecting and I found me first heel plate. After looking online, I can’t seam to find a time period for it. I was wondering if anyone hear has a date range for it. As I said I have only been doing this for about 2 months and don’t know where to look for answer. I would appreciate any help is out there.

 

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[Charlie P. (NY)]

From the size I would guess a boot heel.

Here is a very similar one -

https://www.antiquesnavigator.com/d...r-boot-heel-plate-unique-design-dug-1904.html

 

[Tony in SC]

What type metal is it? Looks like it was cast.

 

[Hawks88]

Welcome to tnet. Sorry I can’t help with the ID. but I’m sure someone on here will very soon. Congrats

 

[andrew04920]

I’m not sure what kind of metal it is. All I know it is nonferrous. I don’t know my metals very well. Thanks for the info.

 

[Tony in SC]

It looks small like a lady's boot. Also looks like cast brass (?) with no wear. Nice find.

 

[Tpmetal]

mid 1800's to very early 1900s

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Tony in SC is correct that it is a Ladies footwear heelplate. Specifically, from a late-1800s Ladies high-top shoe. I do not know the technical name for the type of antique Ladies footwear shown in the photos below... Ladies "button-up shoe" maybe... but it has the exact type and size of brass heelplate (with a "cut-out" emblem) you found. The amazingly well preserved Ladies "button-up" shoe in the photo was excavated from an 1880s town dump in Colorado. Despite what you see sellers say on Ebay and Antiques Navigator, these heelplates are absolutely NOT from civil war soldier shoes or boots. The key clue is, the very small narrow heel would sink deep in muddy ground, which is why actual soldier boots & shoes have a large wide heel. These are definitely from Ladies shoes, not Mens.

Although a photo in the book "Relics Of The Coastal Empire" shows this type of heelplate as being civil war soldier heelplates, the book is incorrect. (The photo was posted here in the What-Is-It? forum as part of a previous discussion about the correct ID and POSTWAR TIME-PERIOD of these "cut-out emblem" heelplates.) I think the book's author is now aware of the error, but the incorrect ID in the book cannot be erased.

 

[andrew04920]

Thank you for all the info. This is the oldest pice I have found so far. I didn't expect to find something so interesting on the property I was searching as far as I know there was no old houses there. Now knowing there might be something interesting there I'm excited to hit it again. Like I said I have only been doing this for 2 months and it's a blast.