Artillery colonel is a rare rank since it supposes an entire regiment, which was fairly uncommon even in the army’s massive expansion during the Civil War. This is a nice set using a silver embroidered eagle on a red ground, indicating the branch of service. The borders are nicely alternating sets dead and bright bullion, with jaceron wire around the edges. The ground is velvet, which is a fairly high-grade sign, though we note the olive branch and arrows are very simply rendered and the eagles show no sequins, creating a rather abstract silhouette, but which seems to show the eagle with spreading wings, raised tail feathers, and bent neck with the head hunched down low and beak facing in the direction of the arrows.

The jaceron wire is all there, but has pulled loose on one end, showing some of the webbing which is the foundation for the embroidery, though the wire might be tacked back down in place. The dark blue base shows some wear on the edges, indicating the straps were on a uniform at some point, with the edges loosely sewn together leaving an open back that shows a thin metal plate used as a stiffener for the strap, which show some thin rust.

During the Civil War there was a variety of shoulder straps using metal frames or bases like the Smith or Barney patents, but there were certainly others, patented or not and we have not been able to identify or date these. We note the borders on these are somewhat wide, which might indicate a later date, but which are also used by dealers such as Schuyler, Hartley and Graham for their “extra rich” straps and we note not only the velvet ground of the straps but the alternating dead and bright bullion strands set in groups of four, also pointing to a higher quality strap, though the workmanship of the eagle seems a little plain for their work. They are, in any case, scarce as a rank in that branch of service and have some strong eye appeal.  [sr] [ph:m/L]

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