Crossed Cannons pendant?

[thrillathahunt]

This item is brass (heavy 20+ grams) measures 1 inch across.

Screw down washer? on the back.

Ideas?

 

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[Retired Sarge]

US Army enlisted Field Artillery collar brass.

Mike
USAF Retired

 

[thrillathahunt]

Thanks Mike! Any particular era? Still in use today?

 

[Retired Sarge]

That I'm not sure of, trying to nail down a period it's from, and I honestly don't know if they still wear them or not. Somebody smarter on that will chime in soon, I'm a little dumber on Army insignia.

With what I am finding it's a Type III disk made from 1937-1943, See link for more information. That would make yours a WWII collar disk or collar brass.

http://hglanham.tripod.com/metalinsignia/collardisk1.html

Mike
USAF Retired

 

[Mackaydon]

My concern is they appear either totally closed or almost closed at both ends; maybe it's just my eyes.
I started to look at them as scrolls, not cannons.
Don.......

 

[thrillathahunt]

Hi Don, they are definitely cannons. At least I think they are.

 

[Mackaydon]

I see the cascabel on each gun, but what is on the other end of each gun? If it is the muzzle, it appears to be 'pinched' to an unreasonably (small) bore diameter.

 

[Retired Sarge]

Here's a graphic of the crossed cannons, this is what they are trying to represent.

Mike
USAF Retired

 

[High Plains Digger]

Perhaps that is a weather cork. There's a word for that , but............Sorta like what they used on battleships. Wouldn't you hate to be the one that had to climb out there and snag it. On the battleship, I mean. You know, about 40 feet off the deck. But since this was a land gun, unless it extended way beyond a high wall and couldn't be pulled back, no problem. Saw some guns on the wall of Windsor Castle, overlooking the "Playing fields of Eton". Now, tell me, what threat can there be to Windsor Castle from Eton? But, those were 50 to 70 feet vertically up at that point. Plus rolling 300 yards through the woods. And into the Thames. I could survive all of that except for the Thames part.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Collar disc. The screwbacks are older now they have the clutch type.

 

[High Plains Digger]

I just checked the collar disc I received from my grandfather. WWII. Apparently his was domed, although I only have the cannons. They are arched like the went on a "button" and had a square peg that fit in the square peg hole of the dome. The cannon part was the piece that received the screw back, which apparently held it into the dome. I wonder if this one is a two part? If the rusted screw back comes off, and the base of the back has a square hole, then you will know. He also had a flat one like the subject, but in the top middle it had HQ. High Quality? Naw, must be headquarters. The two partness must have made the base disc uniform for a number of uses. That makes sense, must not have been designed by the government.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

High Plains Digger wrote:
> Perhaps that is a weather cork. There's a word for that , but............Sorta like what they used on battleships.

The word you're looking for is tompion ...or its alternate spelling, tampion. Yes, it is a "weather cork." Tompions come in a wide arrray of sizes, for small-arms (rifles) to Field Artillery (comparatively lightweight cannons) to Heavy Artillery (the enormous cannons mounted on navy ships and at Army shore-defense forts). We civil war relic diggers sometimes find the "miniature" version of tompion, issued by the army to soldiers for keeping rain and dirt from getting into their rifle's muzzle.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Thrillathahunt, the reply from Ffuries is correct, it's not a pendant, it is a 20th-century US Army Field Artillery insignia for the uniform-collar (thus known as a collar-disc insignia). You'll probably want to know your find's specific time-period in the 20th-century, so... because the one you found has a screw-pin on the back for attachment to the uniform's collar, AND it has no raised rim around the emblem on its front, it dates from 1937 to 1943.

 

[Retired Sarge]

HPD the domed one you refer to could either be a post WWII disk, follow the link, and scroll down to the bottom and it shows that style, or the unclassified disk pre-WWII to WWII, depending on how curved it is, this version is half way down on the link.

http://hglanham.tripod.com/metalinsignia/collardisk1.html

Mike
USAF Retired

 

[Mackaydon]

Thanks HPD and CannonballGuy for the information on the "weather cork"/tompion/tampion relies; that can explain my concern about the item protruding beyond each gun's muzzle. I'm aware of that configuration on "Coast Artillery" disks (pre-WW II to early WW II) , but I'm not aware of the same configuration on "Enlisted Field Artillery" disks.
Don.......

 

[thrillathahunt]

I just checked the collar disc I received from my grandfather. WWII. Apparently his was domed, although I only have the cannons. They are arched like the went on a "button" and had a square peg that fit in the square peg hole of the dome. The cannon part was the piece that received the screw back, which apparently held it into the dome. I wonder if this one is a two part? If the rusted screw back comes off, and the base of the back has a square hole, then you will know. He also had a flat one like the subject, but in the top middle it had HQ. High Quality? Naw, must be headquarters. The two partness must have made the base disc uniform for a number of uses. That makes sense, must not have been designed by the government.

Yes! this has two parts. The cannons come off when you unscrew the back.

I really appreciate you guys' input. Thanks!

 

[High Plains Digger]

ffuries: You may be right. He was a navy fireman and an army cook, and I am thinking the army cook part was during Korea. I wish I knew where the dome part is. My grandfather always wore a "Castro" hat. I thought it was cool, except that Castro thing. This was in 1962 or so. Then my dad explained that it was a US Army hat Castro got from us. And he didn't shop Army-Navy surplus.

 

[Retired Sarge]

HPD this is the hat style you are referring to.

Mike
USAF Retired

 

[Mackaydon]

That's it Mike:
http://qslspolitics.blogspot.com/2008/04/cbc-radio-3-had-better-be-joking.html

 

[High Plains Digger]

Mike: yup. I always wanted one, but there weren't any at the surplus store. Castro had them all. Weren't our boys better trimmed out when they had to tuck the fatigue top in?