Arms, Armor & Militaria

Nominally 71mm x 48mm slightly curved sand cast brass belt plate that is nominally 2.6mm thick, with the C.S.A. cast into the face and with a slightly irregular 3.75mm boarder. Three bent cast hooks on rear for belt attachment, with the single central hook leaving a large bump on the face of the plate after the "A" from the bending process and the lower hook of the pair leaving a smaller bump below the "C" for the same reason. Sand casting flaws and roughness present, filing marks present as well. A couple of small pieces of darker foreign material are visible in the casting, most notably in the upper serif of the "S" and on the boarder next to the period after the "A". Mullinax shows a similar plate with the slightly smaller opening in the "A" and obviously bumps on the face from the hook bending process as #102 on page 62 of his book Confederate Belt Buckles & Plates - Expanded Edition. He notes that these plates received their name "Virginia Style" from early diggers who found them, but that more have been recovered from Army of Tennessee camps than in Virginia. This pattern of plate saw use through much of the Civil War, with large numbers issued to the Army of Tennessee during the winter of 1862-1863 after the Battle of Stones River and prior to the Tullahoma Campaign.