brass plate

[Boilermaker27]

This brass plate was found in an old dump in St. Louis, Mo. On one side it had some old newspaper stuck to it, the brass acted to preserve the newspaper. Looking at the pieces of paper, which are small, we can see the words "Meade" Gen'l G..." also since several pieces of newspaper survived we can easily read the words division, brigade, and one piece reads partially "responded to the enemy's fire". Also, one piece of newspaper had the word "Louis P", living in St Louis and since this was the top of the page we know that what it said was "St Louis Post Dispatch", so we know it was wrapped in newspaper from the civil war. Question is, we don't know what it is? It is brass, and measures about 2 1/2 inches by about 1 3/8 inches. Top number is a "1" middle "492" and bottom is an "H". Any ideas?

 

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[DCMatt]

This looks like the kind of thing you'd see on an old file cabinet drawer.

And BTW:

Saint Louis Post-Dispatch ... Its first edition, appeared on December 12, 1878.

Perhaps it is from a different paper or maybe from a book?

DCMatt

 

[Boilermaker27]

I thought it was from the St Louis Post Dispatch, but the only letters remaining on the piece of paper are: T LOUIS POS, and this is from the top of the page, so I am almost sure it comes from a St Louis newspaper, however without the "DISPATCH" or any part of it can't be sure of when it was printed. It is not from a book because there appear to be columns like in a newspaper, and all the bits of pages talk of the civil war. You are right about 1878 being the year the newspaper was merged/organized. Could very well be from a file cabinet.

 

[DCMatt]

I did a little more poking around and found that the St. Louis Post Dispatch printed lots of CW related stuff in the mid 1880's as nostalgia for the war was high and Mark Twain was publishing the memoirs of General Grant. (They were personal friends.)

The only thing I can think of that would use a numbering scheme like your plate is a Post Office box. A large post office like St. Louis would need a complex numbering system.



DCMatt

P.S. I read a little about the old Post Office built in the 1870 - 80's. Holy smokes! It had a MOAT!?! Does that building still exist?

 

[creskol]

I think it is a brass license tag of sorts for street vendors trading off of a wagon. The 1 at the top would indicate a 1 horse vehicle, the number in the center is the license number, and the H at the bottom is either location or a date designator, or H stands for horse. In trying to reseach my theory, I ran into this one from pittsburg, which is similar.

See ebay: TWO HORSE VEHICLE TAX 1911 PITTSBURG, PA Brass License Tag Cast Heavy Dug | eBay