Need help/guidance with newly found Confederate oval CS box plate

[wsh]

Hello All,

Hoping to get some guidance related to the authentication of this newly found item. It appears to be a Confederate oval CS box plate. I found this 6-8 inches deep in the yard of a 1860 mansion in an old Missouri river town. The reason I don't think it is a belt plate is because there is no "rope design" just inside the border on the front and the back has remnants of a small wire-like loop- one on each side of the back, probably welded then embedded in lead. I've seen a lot of talk about replicas on the net. Just thought it odd that a replica would be buried so deep in the dirt/clay of such an old Mansion. Missouri was apparently a border state so I need to do more research. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. I hope the pics post. If not, I will redo.

Thanks,

Bill

 

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[GB1]

nice find welcome to Tnet that plate is in great condition

 

[Kace]

Nice Find...

What part of MO did you find it?

You're right, there are Many Replicas...Some are Very Good reproductions. Authenicating something like that is a must.

I hope for you it's the real deal!!

Good Luck!

Kace

 

[Gitschlag]

Eager to hear what everyone else has to say on this. I've never seen an authentic CS box plate. Not to say they do not exist, but I have never seen one! With the severe material shortages in the South, I would imagine they had better things to use their brass and lead for. Cool find either way though!

 

[Worm-Slicer]

Yep, it's a replica, no CS box plates were ever produced. Still a nice find though. Also very few CS plates were actually lead-filled too, most are just stamped brass. The ultra rare oval CS with the smaller letters is lead filled and so is the one with arrowhead hooks. I don't have my books handy, but those two varieties come to mind. The few lead-filled ones are quite rare. I also can't recall a CS plate that is longer horizontally such as this one.

 

[Worm-Slicer]

Here's a good place that has some similar reproduction ones: Fakes, CS oval plate, "regulation", Confederate plates 144 to 147

 

[wsh]

I found this is Clarksville Missouri. It had a bit more green corrision. Cleaned it with some dish soap and a plastic mesh scrubbie. Still can't figure out how a replica could get this deep in the yard of an 1860 mansion.