MILITIA OFFICER’S SWORD BELT AND TWO-PIECE EAGLE PLATE CA 1855-1860

MILITIA OFFICER’S SWORD BELT AND TWO-PIECE EAGLE PLATE CA 1855-1860

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$975.00

Quantity Available: 1

Item Code: 362-1208

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This is very similar to O’Donnell and Campbell Plate 296, which they date 1855 to 1860 and attribute to an “1850’s trend toward the mass production of inexpensive plates to satisfy the demands of a rapidly expanding military and commercial trade…” We note the simpler, less intricate wreath that has a ribbon tie at bottom and reaches the top on both sides, but is flatter in presentation and uses a simple, leafy vine. In the same way, the tongue portion has a nice eagle with arrows, olive branch and prominent shield, but lacks the stars around the edge seen on more elaborate plates. The belt is black leather, now oxidized toward brown, made of solid bridle leather with good finish, but not made of finer leather, folded and sewn over a canvas core, often with decorative stitched patterns as well. Adjustment is done by a simple short billet and buckle on the interior. The sword slings are plain leather as well, with one end sewn to form a sliding belt loop and the other sewn onto a snap swivel rather than attaching to it with stud or button.

The condition is good. The belt is solid and shows only minor rubbing. The sword slings show more finish loss and the shorter, forward sling is broken just below the belt loop. The belt plate is very good, showing darker from rubbing to the finish on the high points of the wreath and eagle, but with some gilt remaining in the recesses of the feathers of the eagle, on the ground adjacent to the eagle, on on the lower portions of the disk.

As O’Donnell and Campbell point out, this is not a high grade product, and it might be rather more typical of a lower ranking militia officer in the 1850s joining a new unit as sectional tensions reached a crisis with fighting in Kansas, John Brown’s raid, etc., and the militia, particularly in the south, saw a resurgence after a somewhat dormant period around the time of the Mexican War.  [sr][ph:L]

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