The attractive, non-excavated Confederate belt plate shown below is one of the rarest of the CSA rectangles. Author Steve Mullinax only rated this as a rarity 7, however, my forty years of experience convince me that it is should be rated a 9. I have purchased every example that I have seen for sale for these many years, but this is only the second opportunity to purchase one that I have had in all this time.

Careful comparison of this plate with Mullinax numbers 114, 115, 116, and 117 lead to the conclusion that they were all made by the same manufacturer, as of now, unidentified. The only excavated example that I am aware of is plate 115, which was excavated in St. Augustine, Florida and is now housed in the Virginia Historical Society. The are several examples in longstanding museum collections.

Sid Kerksis, in his publication Plates and Buckles of the American Military 1795-1874, writes, "Very rare, the few specimens that have been noted seem to have come from Mississippi.”

This example was part of Dr. Bill Blackman’s award winning plate and buckle display. Dr. Blackman notes that this example came out of New Orleans, and at that time had a partial belt attached. Hopefully future discoveries will shed more light on the maker of these rare plates.

Note that the soldier filed the edges of the very broad hooks on this plate to narrow them down to better fit his belt. This sand cast plate is in perfect, as found condition. The partial circle seen on the back was caused by the plate sitting on top of something similar to a piece of pipe for a long while.