Figure 238
This cast-brass officer's plate, a pre-Civil War product of American manufacture, would have been appropriate for wear by Texas Militia. Obviously a stock pattern, it would also have been sold to Militia organizations in other parts of the country. As in the case of most round plates, the outer ring is of a standard design; variation in pattern would occur on the inner ring.
WAIST-BELT PLATE, NEW YORK, C. 1850
USNM 604125-M (S-K 281). Figure 239.
Figure 239
This brass-struck rectangular plate carries the arms of the State of New York[141] with its familiar eagle-on-half-globe device. The whole is superimposed on a sunburst background. The plate originally was made for Militia, but it is conceivable that such a plate may have been worn by early uniformed police.