_USNM 604241-M (S-K 397). Figure 204._
[Illustration: FIGURE 204]
Somewhat larger than many plates of the period, this brass specimen
carries the South Carolina palmetto device. Such plates also were
struck in copper and silver plated. It obviously was a stock pattern
sold to several different units. The rectangular plate with the
vine-patterned border was a stock pattern in itself, with many
different devices being added in the center as ordered. This is one of
the many pieces of insignia too often called Confederate but which
ante-date the Civil War by almost two decades.