This Napoleonic-style eagle on a sunburst was adopted for wear on the dress shakos of U.S. dragoons in 1833. This is an officer’s quality plate with the eagle of stamped brass, silvered, attached to an octagonal sunburst backing plate that was gilt. This one shows age but is complete with the exception of one fastening loop on the reverse and it still shows muted silvering on the eagle and dull brass tone on the sunburst. Militia units were quick to follow the regular army and we find not only complete plates like this in militia hands but sometimes just the eagle on headgear and even belt plates.

This plate has great detail. The eagle’s feathers and wreath of victory are well defined. It might be tempting to clean it slightly to bring up the contrast between the background and eagle, but we prefer to leave things untouched. It would be a nice addition to a military headgear display, but also to a collection devoted to the early westward expansion of the U.S. in the 1830s. [sr]

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