A majority of these hat fronts are very similar in design, size, and shape, and are painted over a black background on thin precut sheets of tinned iron. This specimen carries a gold eagle with the Federal shield on its breast and a ribbon in its beak. The unit designation, "2d COMP{Y}. 23d REG{T}.", also in gold, is below. The artwork, although somewhat unartistically executed, has an attractive simplicity. Other such hat fronts in the national collections are of the 2d Company, 6th Regiment; 3d Company, 6th Regiment; and 1st Company, 8th Regiment. The plate shown here has metal loops soldered to the reverse close to the edge midway between top and bottom for attachment to a civilian type hat by means of a ribbon or strip of cloth. Other such plates have hole for attachment with string. CAP PLATE, SOUTH CAROLINA, c. 1835-1850 _USNM 60318-M (S-K 74). Figure 138._ [Illustration: FIGURE 138] This crescent-shaped, silver-on-copper plate bears an eagle that is very similar in design to the one adopted by the Regular Army in 1821. Sometimes mistakenly identified as a gorget because of its shape, the crescent form of the specimen is an old South Carolina State heraldic device. A cap worn by the Charleston Light Dragoons after the Civil War, and probably before, carries a similar crescent-shaped plate, with the familiar palmetto tree device substituted for the eagle.[112] The design of the eagle, however, places this piece in the 1835-1850 period. A silvered ornament, it may have been made originally for either infantry or dragoons, and must be considered a manufacturer's stock pattern. [Footnote 112: Illustrated in _Military Collector and Historian_ (1951), vol. 3, no. 3, p. 59.] CAP PLATE, WASHINGTON GRAYS, C. 1835 _USNM 60251-M (S-K 9). Figure 139._ [Illustration: FIGURE 139] This brass, diamond-shaped plate was worn by the Washington Grays, a light artillery outfit of Philadelphia. Within a raised oval are a profile of Washington--with his shoulders draped in a toga, a typically neoclassic touch--and, below, the unit designation "GRAYS" in raised letters. A matching oval shoulder-belt plate struck from the same die is known.[113] [Footnote 113: See _U.S. Military Magazine_ (April 1839), pl. 5.] Many Militia units named themselves after prominent military personalities. There were Washington Guards, Washington Rifles, Jackson Artillerists, and so forth. CAP PLATE, NATIONAL GREYS, C. 1835 _USNM 60291-M (S-K 49). Figure 140._ [Illustration: FIGURE 140]