Screw Plate
Date1750-1800
OriginEngland
MediumSteel, iron, and wood
DimensionsLength: 13 3/8" Width: 1 15/16"
Credit LineMuseum Purchase
Object number1992-191
DescriptionScrew plate of elongated form with thirteen threaded apertures of different sizes and marked in Roman numerals along one edge, plus one rectangular opening. The wooden handle has a heavy iron ferrule where the tang of the blade enters it. The extreme tip is missing, broken or cut across the pair of threaded holes set there.Label TextThis hardened steel plate was used to press (or swage) threads into screws, unlike modern screw dies which cut them in. With thirteen openings of varying widths, it would have been able to thread all of the screw sizes commonly used on Revolutionary era muskets and pistols.Mark(s)The top bottom of the plate is struck twice with a raised "Crowned TW" within a shaped cartouche.ProvenancePurchased by source at the David Stanley auction of antique tools, Leicestershire, England, 3 October 1992, Lot 789. From the collection of R. A. Salaman. An old catalog number (9-156-50) is painted on the lower side of the wooden handle; this is probably Salaman's catalog number and should not be removed.
1790-1800
