What do I have?

[Forty Rod]

I've had this thing for about 40 years.  It's a pair of crossed cannon barrels over the number 73.  It appears to be bronze, not brass, and is in very good shape with no dents or bings and only a small amount of wear through the patina finish.  It measures 1 7/8" wide by 1 1/2" high.  Claspo is a swinging wire pin and a wire hook, both of the same metal as the device.

It's been in a box with my cuff links and tie pins and bars, a box that hasn't been opened in 25 years.

Thanks for any help I might get.

[Four-Eyed Buck]

Probably for an Artillery unit , Forty. I believe most, if not all, CW stuff was brass. Maybe from much earlier?.........Buck

[St. George]

Sounds like the Artillery Officer's Branch device as worn during WWI by the 73d FA.

Is it dark from age - or by design?

If by age - it dates from the '20's, since post-WWI insignia was gilt - if by design  - then it's a WWI piece, as they were chemically-darkened bronze.

Pre-WWI insignia is larger.

Vaya,

Scouts Out!

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[Forty Rod]

This is pretty uniform so I'd guess it was darkened deliberately.

Anybody want the dang thing?

[Dr. Bob]

Howdy Forty Rod,

I would put it with my other WWI insignia which I occasionally display.  In March my military collectors club has an exhibit at the National WWI Museum at the Liberty Memorial here in Kansas City.  I volunteer there several times a month.  If someone else has a uniform to put it on send it that way.