Two Rev War period items

muttandjeeps · Aug 29, 2009

These two items were recovered from a 1790 home site, permission of owner was obtained BEFORE digging :laughing7:

The first item, found at about 15 inches, is what appears to be a "bowl" of some sort? It measures 2 3/4 round, 7/8 deep. I might have just tossed it in the metal pile, but for the hash marks all over the bottom. This is a huge Indian area, but didn't know if it could be related to them.
The second item looks to some sort of belt plate? No markings at all on it, but the property did belong to a Colonel from the Rev. period. It measures 2 3/8 X 1 7/8, it was about 9 inches down, not far from a 1798 Large cent also found.
Thanks for any and all help!

hogge · Aug 29, 2009

Hey Bud, I actually have 2 Cross belt plates that I have found. One is almost an exact match to yours but with one difference. I have 4 studs instead of 6. 2 were hooks and 2 were studs for adjustment purposes. Maybe yours was meant for a specific soldier or person, and was made not to be adjusted. The reason I say this is, all of your hooks are curled making it to be permanantly affixed to the belt itself. Mine does have some etchings on the face but have tried for 2 years to figure out what is on it. Trouble is, it's corrosion has prevented me from ID'ing the markings on it. Yes I do believe you have a cross belt plate of some sort. You may want to try and clean it a bit. You may discover some etchings or something under the corrosion. Just a thought, as you're not really going to hurt the piece at all. I used olive oil and gently rubbed it. Some stuff came off, but most is not. Nice Finds! Hogge

muttandjeeps · Aug 29, 2009

Thanks Hogge, I knew I could count on you! I'll try to give it a better going over and see if I can see (or imagine) some markings on the plate. We just barely started searching the area, so I'm sure there is more there to find. The 1798 large cent I found is really crisp, with NO wear, just some minor pitting. Unfortunately

, the owner was right there when I dug it, and let me know in a nice way that the home was finished in 1798, and he'd like to keep the coin, but we are welcome to keep all other finds. He is a nice guy, and its kind of cool that the coin was dropped as the house was being made. We'll make him pay when we find that 1700's SILVER!
Thanks for the ID.
Kevin

BuckleBoy · Aug 29, 2009

The plate you found is not a cross belt plate. It is a plate from an old leather-covered trunk. There are no cross-belt plates with six hooks, and these trunk plates are very common finds. One was found last week and posted in the "Rev War" area of the site. Everyone who searches 1700s era home sites seems to have found one. But they are mis-identified all over, and many CW websites are selling them as plates right now. They are not military-related.

Unfortunately I don't know anything about the other piece.

Best Wishes,

Buckles

hogge · Aug 29, 2009

BuckleBoy said:
The plate you found is not a cross belt plate. It is a plate from an old leather-covered trunk. There are no cross-belt plates with six hooks, and these trunk plates are very common finds. One was found last week and posted in the "Rev War" area of the site. Everyone who searches 1700s era home sites seems to have found one. But they are mis-identified all over, and many CW websites are selling them as plates right now. They are not military-related.

Unfortunately I don't know anything about the other piece.

Best Wishes,

Buckles

I believe you may be right about MuttonJeeps piece Buckles. But what about mine? Both studs are on mine, but the second hook broke off mine soon after excavation. As leather trunk plates were permanent, the one I have was made for adjustment. That's what kind of threw me off with his. Mine definitely has etchings on it. What do you think? Also, what about my second one with the design on it? Cross belt plate or not?

BuckleBoy · Aug 29, 2009

Hogge,

The piece on the right I think is a decorative bridle rosette. The piece on the left looks right, except for the size. With the dime for size reference, the piece seems like it is 2 inches wide and 1 inch tall. If that is the case, it is too small for a cross belt plate. But I do agree that the attachments look better on the back. I think it may be a horse "blinker" or decoration for horse tack. Similar attachments are also found on harness bosses.

Regards,

Buckles

Iron Patch · Aug 29, 2009

Looks pretty trunk-ish to me to what has been identified as such.

Check out this page. There's quite a few but most plates on the front seem to be drilled in one way or another. I'm still not clear on what type of trunk the ones above were used but heard them ID'ed as off trunks from two sources good enough to call it the truth. Otherwise they would have wanted to buy mine!

http://www.legacytrunks.com/dome_top_trunk_photos.htm

DirtyMike · Aug 30, 2009

These things keep popping up. I would love to see one actually on a trunk. I am working on it and if and when I find it I will surely post it. The one I posted in the rev. war forrum has clipped corners like the confederate plates and was found at a late 1700's home.

CRUSADER · Aug 30, 2009

To me this item is far to similar to the horse blinkers we find in the UK. Standard size seems to be 63mm x 50mm (similar size), plus the cut off corners. If its not a blinker I still think horse furniture :icon_thumright:

Iron Patch · Aug 30, 2009

You want to see a Rev War Trunk plate? This is the real deal, found by my digging bud a couple of years ago. That day was going very bad for both sites and finds and on our way home he took a sudden turn putting us back to an area we had tried several years before. Turned out we had spent most of our time in the wrong field and only 15 minutes in the right field gave up this.

CRUSADER · Aug 30, 2009

Iron Patch said:
You want to see a Rev War Trunk plate? This is the real deal, found by my digging bud a couple of years ago. That day was going very bad for both sites and finds and on our way home he took a sudden turn putting us back to an area we had tried several years before. Turned out we had spent most of our time in the wrong field and only 15 minutes in the right field gave up this.

Very nice item. But the corners are not cut off & the pins go through the metal & are not the bent over type in the picture (which are attched on the reverse).

Plus I notice it has writing on it

Iron Patch · Aug 30, 2009

CRUSADER said:
Iron Patch said:

You want to see a Rev War Trunk plate? This is the real deal, found by my digging bud a couple of years ago. That day was going very bad for both sites and finds and on our way home he took a sudden turn putting us back to an area we had tried several years before. Turned out we had spent most of our time in the wrong field and only 15 minutes in the right field gave up this.

Click to expand...

Very nice item. But the corners are not cut off & the pins go through the metal & are not the bent over type in the picture (which are attched on the reverse).

Plus I notice it has writing on it

Because the ones above are thicker maybe they are horse brass, but either way they're not military plates. There's so many styles of each you would need a whole lot more than a couple pictures to say one way or the other. I found one a little over a year and haven't thought about it apart from posts on here.