Figure 210
The lack of a mane on the beast on this plate marks it as a tiger. The best known and most affluent Militia organization with the nickname "Tigers" was the Boston Light Infantry, although a number of others also were so-called. The craftsmanship and general elegance of this gold-plated brass specimen suggests that it was worn by an officer, though an occasional volunteer company was so richly endowed that all its members, officers and enlisted men alike, wore expensive devices. The bench-assembled manufacturing technique, gaudy embellishment, and lack of a distinct Victorian touch date the piece about 1840. The tiger's head is applied.
WAIST-BELT PLATE, C. 1840
USNM 604104-M (S-K 260). Figure 211.
Figure 211
The full-flowing mane on the beast on this plate identifies it as a lion. The device would have been appropriate for wear by the Albany Burgesses Corps, which, when founded in 1833, almost immediately adopted the lion's head as its distinctive insignia. The unit continued to wear this plate for about half a century. While that unit's cap plate (fig. [170]) is much more formal and is without a lion's head, its buttons contain the lion—with head turned to half-right—as a principal ornament. While it is probable that the original die for this cast-brass plate was sunk for the Albany organization, the manufacturer would not have hesitated to offer it for sale to any interested Militia unit.