American 24-Round Waist Belt Cartridge Box With Embossed Flap And Six-Pointed Star

This pattern of box was designed to be worn on a waist belt and has an interior
block with a concave section at the center of the back to make it conform more to
the wearer’s waist. The block is bored to take 24 rounds of .69 caliber cartridges
arranged in two rows of 10 across the front plus an additional two rounds on either
side on the back corner where the blocked is full width front to back.
The block is tacked in place across the upper front of the leather body. A deeply
detailed six-pointed star measuring about 1 ¼ inches top to bottom and 1 1/8 inch
across is affixed to the lower portion of the flap. The flap is rectangular and shows
light traces of tooling along the edge consisting of two border lines and a series
checkered diamonds above. The flap is fastened by a flat brass hook that engages a
flat brass hasp on the bottom of the box. Both are tacked in place. Two belt loops are
in place on the rear. They are sewn at the top. The bottom of each is tacked in place,
likely because the stitching gave way during its period of use. The leather is black
with overall fine crazing on the flap and back. The rest has a good surface. The tall
side panels have rounded tombstone tops. The box has had no leather dressing or
preservative applied. The tops of the side panels splay outward slightly from age,
but would respond to treatment.
Boxes worn on the waist belt were a common trait of light infantry and the use of
the star for light infantry is known as far back as the Revolution. Our best guess on
dating this is about 1825.