This plain brass plate of unusually fine manufacture is very definitely a stock pattern which could have been sold without ornament or, as was more likely, with a center device added by soldering or brazing. The plate was cast in three pieces, with the round center brazed to the belt attachment. It was bench-fitted, as indicated by the numbers on the reverse of the inner and outer rings.
WASTE-BELT PLATE, C. 1850
USNM 60498-M (S-K 254). Figure 252.
Figure 252
This is a typical stock pattern with the company designation "E." Other specimens in the national collections have the letters "D," "F," "K," and "R." Although rather crudely cast in brass, this piece has been bench-fitted and then gilded.
WAIST-BELT PLATE, C. 1850
USNM 60492-M (S-K 248). Figure 253.