_USNM 604118-M (S-K 274). Figure 68._
[Illustration: FIGURE 68]
This plate, struck in copper and silvered, is round with an outer
ring. It is attached to a white buff belt. The plate proper contains
an eagle with wings outspread, shield on breast, olive branch in right
talon, and three arrows in left talon. The whole is within a ring of
24 5-pointed stars. The outer ring is decorated as a wreath, and the
narrow rectangular belt attachments are embossed with a floral
pattern. The 24 stars place this specimen between 1822 and 1836.
Similar buckles are known in yellow metal for either staff or
artillery and containing 24, 26, and 28 stars, indicating that they
probably were worn until the rectangular eagle-wreath plate was
prescribed in 1851.