A fairly scarce regulation plate for the drummer's drumsling. 3 1/2 inches tall, about 3 1/4 inches wide. Riveted on the face are two barrels or cylinders decorated with pairs of raised bands top and bottom. These measure about 2 1/4 inches long, 3/4 inch diameter opening at the top and about 11/16 at the bottom. On the reverse of the plate is soldered a wire forming three hooks: two single at the bottom and the top hook doubled.
An interesting aspect of these plates is that most 19th century drumsticks will drop clean through the tubes, which should give one pause in declaring such sticks to be Civil War military items. This plate comes with a pair that do not. They are roughly 16 inches long, good condition, just some minor chipping on one of the heads. The butt ends had metal caps on them that are now gone. A crude cross-shaped impression on the head of each shows where an inner flange was impressed into the wood to hold the caps.
In some ways the sticks are rarer than the plate. Over the years I have seen very few pairs that I really believed were Civil War. This is one of those few pairs.
These sticks and plate came out of a collection recently. They had been put together by the collector after years of searching for a pair of correct sticks. I offer them together.
Shipping $12.95. NY addresses add sales tax.