Yesterday I returned to the woods where I found the 1838 large cent several days ago. This site is blanketed with square nails, but I managed to find these two keepers. A General Service button and a cast brass item. The cast piece is broken and appears to still have some areas of gold gilt. After a lot of looking at the piece and then researching images online, It appears to be a broken J hook that had a flat spring riveted onto "back". It looks a lot like several sword hangers that I have seen online, and having gold gilt, maybe that is a possibility. It doesn't look to be heavily made as horse tack would be. It measures 1-1/4" wide at the loop and is 2-1/8" long. It is most likely just a run of the mill j hook, but the gold gilt has me wondering. Any thoughts?

My site is located NE of Kansas City 40-50 miles and north of Richmond, Mo. 15 miles or so. Not an area with a significant amount of Civil War action, but an area that had a lot of guerilla activity.

That’s a very nice button. Congratulations.

Very nice Saves. I wonder if the broken piece could be a piece of a Cavalryman's hoof pick? Just a thought. You'll get this piece I'D soon. An early Christmas present.

Confetrit said:

Very nice Saves. I wonder if the broken piece could be a piece of a Cavalryman's hoof pick? Just a thought. You'll get this piece I'D soon. An early Christmas present.

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I was thinking the same thing at first, but I believe he is correct about it being part of a sword hanger.