Star Screw/Pin

[joe_dirt]

I found this on the site of a 1930 college building about 7" down. It's just one of those things I'd like to identify just to satisfy my curiosity.

It has a star on the front and what looks like a small screw post on the back. There's no visible backmark or anything. Im guessing it's some sort of pin but I'd like to see if anyone knows for sure. Thanks.

 

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[Sheperdess]

I believe it is too small for the conchos in which cowboys would have going down the sides of their chaps. But that is what it reminds me of.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Because the disc is so very small, less than a half-inch in diameter, my first thought was that it is a screw-back rivet, used to hold two pieces of leather fabric together. On that type of rivet, the back is unscrewable in case there was ever a need to remove the rivet from the leather or fabric without causing damage.

But because the 5-point star on it has a raised border around the star's edges, I have to mention that it seems very uncommonly ornate to be nothing but a rivet. Thus there would seem to be at least a "possibility" that it is an unusually small lapel-badge or similar emblem. That being said, I've never seen a lapel-badge or collar-disc that's only 4/10ths-inch in diameter... but there are lots of rivets which are that small.

 

[BosnMate]

I forget what they are called, but they are used on a bridle to hold the bit on the headstall. The leather is folded through the ring on the bit, the then laced with a leather thong, or one of those is used, and it has a name, I just can't remember it. Let me do some looking then I'll be back.

 

[BosnMate]

OK, here are some pictures. I still can't think of the name, one guy is calling them a "screw concho," but that's not what I called them, and it's driving me nuts. Here are photos of what I'm talking about. This headstall has the bit and reins laced on with leather thongs, note how it's folded over and laced. This photo shows the use of the "un-named" screw thing. It's the bit of silver just above the ring on the bit, note also a larger one is used to attach the reins. Just above the ring on both sides of the bit you can see the back that screws onto the post, it's slotted for a screwdriver to enable it to be cinched down tight. And here is what they look like when they aren't holding the reins on the bit or the bit on the headstall. I'll be damned if I can remember the name of the bloody things, and I'm going crazy.

 

[Erving]

To me it looks like the post has straight ridges on it and not threads. If it had threads, it would have to have a helix angle on the thread in order for it to screw into something. My guess would be something like an upolstry tack, or some other decorative tack.

 

[joe_dirt]

Thanks for the replies. It certainly seems these suggestions could all be on the right track.

To me it looks like the post has straight ridges on it and not threads. If it had threads, it would have to have a helix angle on the thread in order for it to screw into something. My guess would be something like an upolstry tack, or some other decorative tack.

I just looked at it with my lens and they do appear to be threads. They have the angle, just hard to see unless you look closely. So it definitely seems like it was meant to screw into something. I'm not sure that means it wasn't used in upholstery though.