Are you sure its not a humungeous fireback?  We usually see the back panel
only but they often included side panels too.  I can't tell if this is the
case in your photo.

They came in all shapes, sizes and motif
http://www.westland.co.uk/stock/fire-bac.htm
http://www.craft-club.com/cgi-bin/webc.exe/st_prod.html?p_prodid=2421&sid=1f
0XWKRo

These are French versions
http://www.woodstoves.co.uk/f_fireback.htm

You definitely should contacting the Colonial National Historical Park
(NPS) at Yorktown.  I'm sure they've heard of this Cornwallis fellow
before.  Alec Gould is the super, Karen Rehm historian, and they have a
great team of researchers and resources and they work closely with the
folks at Jamestown (APVA) and Colonial Williamsburg.

email:
[log in to unmask]

write to
P.O. Box 210
Yorktown, VA 23690

phone Headquarters
757-898-3400




Chris Ricciardi wrote:
While working on an archaeological site in Brooklyn, New York,
the Hendrick I. Lott farmstead, a rather large, approximately
5 feet long by almost 3 feet wide, cast iron shield was cataloged.
Family tradition says that this shield was absconded from Lord
Cornwallis as he, and his troops, marched down The Kings
Highway (modern day Kings Highway) that butted the Lott
farmstead.  The family obtained his shield during the march and
kept is as a trophy and a symbol of this particular Dutch family’s
resistance to the British Monarch during this period.

Of course we can only take oral history as a starting point.
However, none of us associated with the Brooklyn College
Archaeological Research Center has any experience with British
Military shields from this time period.

Does anyone out there have information with regard to this subject?
Or, can you direct us to someone who may be able to help us
authenticate this find?  If it is Cornwallis’ shield, it will be a major
discovery for not only the project, but with regard to the issues of
Dutch resistance during the Revolution.

I have put a rather poor jpeg image of the shield up on a
separate web page for anyone who may be interested in it.
The web page is:

http://www.lotthouse.org/shield.jpg