December 10-13, 2024 Firearms & Militaria
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 12/10/2024
A cast-brass plate or device, probably for a cartridge box flap, but possibly a military cap, 2 7/8 x 2 1/8 inches, with four attachment pins soldered to the reverse. The device is in the form of a spread-wing American eagle perched on a cloud, probably inspired by US military cockade eagles of the period. In size and overall form, it looks nearly identical to one seen on the flap of the cartridge box on the boarding belt worn by the daring privateer, Captain Samuel C. Reid, as viewed in his 1815 portrait by John Wesley Jarvis (now in Minneapolis Museum of Art). However, in the latter, the eagle's head is facing left, not right. Purchased from Don Troiani in 2014. CONDITION: Very good, encrusted dirt or polishing compound in some recesses on front.