✅ SOLVED Saddle shields?

[CoilyGirl]

It’s driving me nuts to figure out what these little things are and why I found so many in one area. I dug about about 8 of the heavy square objects. The eye shaped objects are fairly thin brass or copper and about one or two inches long at best. The buckles are weird too with teeth on them,maybe from a saddle? The eyed shaped objects is what I’m perplexed bout and why I found so many in one area. Okay I’m perplexed about all of these multitudes of like objects.

 

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[Cariboo5]

The buckles with the teeth look like they are from tie down straps, the eye shaped ones may be a cover plate for a lock or ? The one with the two screw
holes may be the second part to a bolt style door lock?

 

[vhs07]

Google "Brass strap eye"

 

[releventchair]

The escutcheons ( wedge plates) are similar to those on a rifle stock that the " key" / tenon wedge ,goes through. ( Instead of older type pin or pins holding stock to barrel " tenon" ,a flat " key" goes through the tenon and the escutcheons keep the wood from damage .)
If you look up a "Hawkin style" rifle you can see where they are mounted flush with the wood. Size of them is the only question , but they look like it to me.
There were/ are rifles that used 4 of them.
They may have had a use in furniture making too. Maybe to hold a latch/latches?

 

[CoilyGirl]

Google "Brass strap eye"
View attachment 1539523

You might be onto something vhs07. Revelentchair I wondered if what I dug multiples of could be two parts of something that fit together with screws? I’m going to have to just keep wondering I think on those. Maybe an old building fell down or a wagon disintegrated there. Now I’m spinning some yarns.

 

[trdking]

The 2 holed ovals are for the bolt cover guide finish for a drawer lock for a desk or file cabinet. The square rectangle brass looks to be a window for the front of the file box to slide a card into for Identifying the contents of the file. The brass loop is a standard for tying down or other generic uses IMHO Cheers

 

[snaps]

 

[BosnMate]

The buckles might have been for some sort of strap used in a human item. I've seen them on coveralls etc. and I've never seen them on horse equipment. All the rest of the items are off a military saddle, probably a McClellan saddle, but the different saddles and variations of saddles all had those items, some larger, some smaller. I'm going to attach 5 saddle pictures to show the locations, and what they were used for. The square is for adjusting the fit of the saddle girth, the ovals are for protecting the leather from ware cause by items strapped to the back of the saddle, and the brass strap eye, was used in conjunction with a brass ring, or leather straps for hanging gear on the saddle.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

BosnMate beat me to saying all the parts you found are from a McClellan saddle... except MAYBE the toothed buckles. I don't recognize them as being from the civil war Model-1859 McClellan saddle. There were more models of McClellan saddle issued by the army after the end of the civil war, into the early-1900s. For example, there is a Model-1904 McClellan saddle. A lot of its "hardware" is brass, which was mostly iron on the Model-1859. I hate to say it, but I think the parts you're finding are from a postwar model, probably the Model-1904. A lot of those were sold to the public when the army mostly got rid of its horses in the 1930s.

Note the heavy brass squares and short rounded brass eyes on the Model-1904 McClellan saddle in the photos below. Compare them with the iron hardware on the Model-1859, seen in the "floating" (all-white background) sideview photos. If you're not sure which photos show the Model-1904 and 1859, the model-years are shown in the photos' filename. To see it, hover your cursor over the photo.

A key ID-clue: There are rings at the front of the saddle, connected to it by 2-screwhole eyes. On the Model-1859, the connector between the screwholes is an iron sleeve. On the Model-1904, it is BRASS in the form of a loop like a button-loop... which is what you found. The photos BosnMate posted appear to show a Model-1904. You can clearly see the "loop" form of the brass 2-screwhole eyes in some of those photos.

 

[trdking]

Crazy, I learnt somethin tuday. The slotted ovals do look exactly like flat bolt covers on a desk drawer But these according to the saddle pics would be much larger than a drawer lock cover.

 

[CoilyGirl]

BosnMate beat me to saying all the parts you found are from a McClellan addle... except MAYBE the toothed buckles. I don't recognize them as being from the civil war Model-1859 McClellan saddle. There were more models of McClellan saddle issued by the army after the end of the civil war, into the early-1900s. For example, there is a Model-1904 McClellan saddle. A lot of its "hardware" is brass, which was mostly iron on the Model-1859. I hate to say it, but I think the parts you're finding are from a postwar model, probably the Model-1904. A lot of those were sold to the public when the army mostly got rid of its horses in the 1930s.

Note the heavy brass squares and short rounded brass eyes on the Model-1904 McClellan saddle in the photos below. Compare them with the iron hardware on the Model-1859, seen in the "floating" (all-white background) sideview photos. If you're not sure which photos show the Model-1904 and 1859, the model-years are shown in the photos' filename. To see it, hover your cursor over the photo.

A key ID-clue: There are rings at the front of the saddle, connected to it by 2-screwhole eyes. On the Model-1859, the connector between the screwholes is an iron sleeve. On the Model-1904, it is BRASS in the form of a loop like a button-loop... which is what you found. The photos BosnMate posted appear to show a Model-1904. You can clearly see the "loop" form of the brass 2-screwhole eyes in some of those photos.

Yes yes! Thank you Cannonball Guy. Was coming here to report that someone else on another website identified the hardware as coming from a 1904 McClellan saddle,which is entirely feasible as the road I dug it on has seen travelers for many years. I dug the silver 1800’s seated half dimes very close by.

 

[releventchair]

Crazy, I learnt somethin tuday. The slotted ovals do look exactly like flat bolt covers on a desk drawer But these according to the saddle pics would be much larger than a drawer lock cover.

Join the learnin club. L.o.l..
I missed it too.
The items together tell more than any one item.....