Pistol butt plate? Percussion cap tin?

[BuckleBoy]

Hello All,

i dug these two items recently and was wondering if they are what I think they might be. I'm particularly interested in the thin brass tin/button face with "BLAKE * O___" on it.

 

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[Gavinsdiscoveries]

The blake o____ could be part of an old cap - possibly a pin

 

[BuckleBoy]

The blake o____ could be part of an old cap - possibly a pin

It was so thin, I thought perhaps percussion cap tin. Its certainly 19th c. Wish there were more of it for a full name.

 

[creskol]

That "Blake O" piece is driving me nuts! Something that bold and pretty should be easy to track down.

 

[BuckleBoy]

That "Blake O" piece is driving me nuts! Something that bold and pretty should be easy to track down.

I agree! I searched and searched then finally gave up and posted here.

 

[Audozer]

The round piece with three holes in it looks strikingly similar to a throttle butterfly in a carburetor, similar to this one but I have seen larger ones for sure

 

[BuckleBoy]

FYI--I figured out what the Blake ___ O piece was, not because I grew really smart all of a sudden--but because I dug a complete one. It's a Blake & Folger advertising button (or uniform button for workers). The company was known for their tokens which they produced in the 1830s-50s. They were the largest clothing supplier in the south. Here's my complete, dug one, in a screenshot from a magazine I'm putting together. This is the only known example of this button, aside from the fragment in the OP.

 

[Red-Coat]

Cool button. Just to firm up a bit on the dating for you and slightly correct some of that magazine article:

The company was Folger & Blake, not Blake & Folger. Nathan C. Folger was born in Hudson, NY and established a retail clothing business after moving to New Orleans at the beginning of 1830 but the business failed in 1937 and he relocated back to New York City until 1842. It’s not known what profession he pursued during that period, nor exactly when he returned to New Orleans, but he went into partnership with Thomas N Blake (a former competitor) in New Orleans in 1849.

The ‘Folger & Blake’ partnership was short-lived and ‘Blake’ disappears from the company name a few years later, with Nathan Folger becoming sole proprietor until his son Charles joined the company in 1855. Folger’s two other sons: Fred G. and Nathan C. Jr. joined as partners about three years later, until the business closed in 1862. Nathan C. Folger next pops up in New Orleans directories in 1867 as a soap manufacturer in the partnership of the ‘Hughes & Folger Company’.

 

[invent4hir]

The 2 holes along the perimeter of the 2nd item are beveled to accommodate a screw. Perhaps it was once a plate attached to a piece of furniture or wooden box.