CAP PLATE AND PLUME HOLDER, C. 1825 



USNM 604748 (J-K 893'). Figure 110. 



This brass plate is similar in many respects to the 

 regular infantry cap plate, type I, 1814-1821. It 

 is attached to a bell-crowned shako of distinctly 

 Militia origin and is cut in the diamond shape popular 

 with the Militia in the 1820's and 1830's. The design 

 lies within a raised oval dominated by an eagle 

 similar to ones used on War of 1812 insignia. Below 

 the eagle is a Federal shield and a trophy of stacked 

 muskets, a drum surmounted by a dragoon helmet, 

 a gun on a truck carriage, and colors — one the 

 National Colors with 16 stars in the canton. 



The plume holder attached to the cap above the 

 plate is an unusually interesting and distinctive device. 

 It is a hemisphere of thin brass with a round plume 

 socket at the top. The hemisphere has an eagle on 

 a shield and a superimposJd wreath device in silver. 

 The Ijlazonry of the shield cannot be identified with 

 any particular state or locality. 



CAP PLATE, C. 1 82 1 



USNM 60262 (S-K 20). Figure 111. 



The familiar hooked-beak eagle dominates the 

 center of this brass, scalloped-edge plate. The arrows 

 of belligerency, however, are held in the left talon. 

 Surrounding the eagle is a three-quarter wreath of 

 olive with the national motto above and the date 

 1776 below. While there is a possibility that this 

 plate may fall into the period 1814-1821 because of 

 its outline shape, it lacks the panoply of arms asso- 

 ciated with that era. It is much more probable that 

 this is one of the earliest plates made for Militia 

 during the years 1821-1830. Since this plate is also 

 known in silver-on-copper, it is considered a stock 

 pattern. 



CAP PLATE, MILITIA, ARTILLERY (?) , C. I82I 



USNM 60306-M (S-K 63). Figure 112. 



This oval, brass-struck plate framed within a large 

 wreath of laurel is one of the finest in the national 

 collections, comprising as it does a number of devices 

 of excellent design and considerable detail standing 

 in high relief. The curving line of 21 stars above the 

 motto, decreasing in size laterally, is an interesting 

 detail, and the eagle and panoply of arms is remi- 

 niscent of those on the plate ascribed to the Regiment 

 of Light Artillery, 1814-1821, and on several of the 

 common Militia plates of the same period. It is 



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