Star with circle... any ideas?

[Woodchip]

I was searching at an old home site (late 1800's I'm told - only thing remaining is the spring flowers) & found a nice assortment of nails, mule shoes, and old farm pieces. Then I got a pretty strong coin signal & found this star thing about 8" deep. It's copper or brass, fairly thin metal but well made. I was pretty excited about it.

Any ideas?

 

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[Bigcypresshunter]

badge?

 

[Woodchip]

I considered that it might be a badge. I didn't know if it could be a military thing or toy badge. The house has been gone for nearly 100 yrs.

 

[OldNBroken]

Looks like it was glued onto something

 

[NOLA_Ken]

my first guess is toy badge, does it look like there was a pin on the backside?

 

[Eric Willoughby]

Second picture clearly shows glue on it. Not the real deal. Sorry

 

[baspinall]

Probably off a kids cowboy play outfit.

 

[simonds]

I would guess that is a toy Texas Ranger Badge. The real ones had the circle around the star

 

[Woodchip]

When I found it, I thought maybe a toy badge as well. I'm new to this hobby so I'm happy with it for a 'starter find' considering the age of the site. Thanks for the help.

 

[lumix]

This badge is similar. It's from the early 70's
Growing up in the 50's we used to go to an amusement park. In the penny arcade there was a machine that after putting in a nickle or a dime you got a blank badge just like yours. The machine could stamp whatever you wanted on it one letter at a time. You could pick one with the star in the center or one with a penny in the center. That's what your badge reminds me of.

 

[bradyboy]

any stamping on this?
brady

 

[Woodchip]

no stamping at all.. smooth. The star is flat, but the circle is rounded.

 

[kuger]

Note this fellows collar

http://cgi.ebay.com/DAGUERREOTYPE-TEXAS-RANGER-/120685287723?pt=Art_Photo_Images&hash=item1c1967592b

 

[creskol]

Is the back smooth or is it a channel?

 

[Kenosha Kid]

Open the original (2nd) photo and zoom in on the back. There are letters at the very top. Looks like P (or R)AS. It's just too corroded for me to tell.

It does look like a Texas Ranger badge, to me.

http://www.texasranger.org/history/HistoricBadges.htm

 

[Woodchip]

Wow! You guys have really got me excited now. The circle is a channel on the back and rounded on the front. Inside the channel on the back are definitely 3 attachment points. Not sure why there's 3... It looks very much like the texas ranger collar badge.

 

[creskol]

Wow! You guys have really got me excited now. The circle is a channel on the back and rounded on the front. Inside the channel on the back are definitely 3 attachment points. Not sure why there's 3... It looks very much like the texas ranger collar badge.

What you have is a harness ornament. Generally speaking, they were seen on hame covers. However, they were also used as saddle blanket ornaments. Hard to tell how old it is since the attachment wires are missing.

 

[Woodchip]

That's a very convincing likeness. How'd they attach the ornament to the hame cover or blanket? Did the wires go through and bend?

 

[creskol]

That's a very convincing likeness. How'd they attach the ornament to the hame cover or blanket? Did the wires go through and bend?

Yes, the wires held them in place.

 

[Woodchip]

Thanks for the help everybody. I think Creskol nailed it. We'll mark it solved!