Here is an early piece. I only have the single. If I had to take a gander at it, I would say this is a collar device for the patrol jacket with the mohair braids across the front. Very interesting construction as well. Your thoughts?

Leatherneck72

Brian,
Please show the back side and method of attachment for this piece, as it is very unique.

Mike

This is my version. I wouldn't think of putting a pattern label to it, as I have seen so few. I thought I had some photos of one in wear circa 1898, but need to check. Brian, do you have any pics of this style EGA in wear? I am guessing it was used from 1880's-1900's? From my brother's and mine it seems that the construction is single piece solid cast or die struck. Mine was mounted as a hat pin so I can not see what method of attachment it might have had. It looks to have had potentially the same as my brothers insignia. Two prongs.

Mike ...not to be confused with my brother, Brian...both same rank in the Corps.

Brian, wonderful piece. Your sense about its constuction... cast - stamped - jeweler? On follow-up, can you set a coin next to it for scale and size, thanks. s/f Darrell

Here is the back. Appears to be cast in one solid piece, with the prongs made of a different metal cast into the device. Device is silver flased or gilded that has worn thin.

Let's try this again..getting the hang of uploading pics....

Brian, just want to say thanks to you & Mike joining us and filling in some holes in our Ref.Sec. We are all going to benefit from seeing and learning something from these "advanced" collections

Those are some interesting and mean looking prongs. Just a thought here... their presence would have certainly been evident after use on collars, my sense is they are cast and a bit demure in size? Did any "history" come with this one? Thanks again, Darrell

I'm negotiating right to buy a pair of these, which, from the front at least, look a lot like the ones above. It is a little but larger than the typical dress cover EGA:

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Bob, they certainly do look original... are you negotiating with the bank for a second All kidding aside, aquiring these is better than dropping money into your 401k.

Well I got the pair tonight (along with several other EGA's from the same officer's estate - they are at http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/ind...showtopic=11595 ).

I took some new photos, but they don't seem much better than the ones I took at Denny's Restaurant last week when I first saw these. Notice that the eagles are pointing the same direction. The one example above is pointing the other way, and based on that and the differences in the back I wonder if these are the same type as those shown above?

There is one site online that has a sampling of photo of EGA's over the years and tey have a bad photo of one that looks like my pair and they label it as being from "1890's Officer Shoulder Knot Insignia". That one is on the left and a small black and white version of one of my pair is on the right:

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