What is this "1875 Patent Brass Baseball Cap"?

[cincicards]

Anybody have an idea what this is?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&_trksid=p4340.l2557&item=221021487376&nma=true&rt=nc&si=MJC8OXh%252BVWERsaMpZWFTgxs1Ffo%253D&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

[Jason19th]

I think its a cufflink

[Butch7999]

The underside appears to read
PAT.NOV
1875

... possibly even "NOV1" --
so if you have to time to spend on it, look through the US Patent Office website
for November 1875 patents (you might get lucky with November 1st) and see if
it shows up there.
The site is a little tricky to use when searching for older patents, but after a few hours
you get the hang of it... ;)

[CarltonHendricks]

It's one very cool "what ever it is"...intriguing kind of sophisticated underside...the all confirming crossed bats is the key excitment so you know it's not some English jockey cap....Unless that's oxidation it appears it may have been black originally....Barry Halper's cuff Links?

<a href="http://s213.photobucket.com/albums/cc120/CarltonHendricks/?action=view&amp;current=97d9b2e9.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc120/CarltonHendricks/97d9b2e9.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

<a href="http://s213.photobucket.com/albums/cc120/CarltonHendricks/?action=view&amp;current=5387cdfc.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc120/CarltonHendricks/5387cdfc.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

<a href="http://s213.photobucket.com/albums/cc120/CarltonHendricks/?action=view&amp;current=d2bd9b27.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc120/CarltonHendricks/d2bd9b27.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

[springpin]

Neat item. What do you think that thing is below the bat? Did baseball caps of that era have braiding on the bill (and maybe around the brim)? Could it be a cricket bat? Looks like a baseball bat (with the knob). Would anything cricket-related be the object of a US patent---wouldn't think so.

[Butch7999]

Well, you'd be amazed at the sort of things that have had patents granted.
Anyway, if anyone does have the time and interest to search patents one by one at the USPTO website, which can be kind of fun in a perversely nerdy way, the brass cap thingamajig, if indeed it was actually patented in November 1875, would have a patent number between 169,327 and 170,653 if it was a standard patent, or between D8764 and D8819 if it was a design patent. We looked at a few in that range and have already ruled out its being a broom-machine mandrel, a shingle-packer clamp, or a nasal douche.