For your consideration is a very cool coffin plate or casket plaque dated December 11th 1917. It contains the hand engraved initials J. L. Z. The metal is rather soft and pliable which leads me to believe it is either made of lead and tin or some combination of a silver tone metal. On the back it is stamped with the Hallmark for the manufacturer Sargent and Co. of New Haven Connecticut. Sargent was advertising coffin hardware as early as 1883. Shortly after Sargent moved to New Haven in 1864, the already 50-year old company was given the honor of manufacturing the hinges for Abraham Lincoln's coffin. Coffin plates are decorative metal plaques that contain the name and death date of the deceased. The plate was then nailed to the lid of the coffin or propped up on the lid. The practice of taking the coffin plate home started in the early 1840s and was particularly popular in the North Eastern United States - Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island. This practice peaked circa 1880 to 1899 and by the 1920s it had fallen out of favor. That means that this particular plate was not stolen by a grave robber but was given to the family as a symbol or remembrance. It came from an estate in Long Island, NY with no other family history. It measures approximately 7.34" long by 4" wide. There is obvious wear to the metal and has the original patina.