Hardware ID

Once again I'm in need of an antique expert, for a piece of hardware that
was dug up in Wilmington, MA, it's number 749 on this page:

Also I'm not sure about number 748. Please let me know if you recognize
either of them or if you can take an educated guess.

Thanks for taking a look,
Rob

pwrbus...

Ooooooh.... Not sure what it is, but that's my hometown! :)

Rick...

Possibly an escutcheon, but for an early household intercom instead. The
type that was acoustic and used tubes to connect between stations. AKA
"speaking tubes." The hole in the center could have held a button for an
electric or battery operated buzzer to signal someone to come to the
intercom. I can find pictures of the larger type systems used in
offices, but haven't located any that would show a face plate for the
home systems. Same concept, but the home systems would bear little
resemblance to the much larger office systems. This looks like the face
plate for a two station system. The functional part involved the two
smaller holes at the bottom. The larger hole at the top probably held a
decorative insert, to cover the buzzer.

R.H....

Thanks, I added your suggestion to the list of guesses, still haven't had
any luck verifying any of them.

jim menning...

1920's radio dial escutcheon.

jim menning

Lee...

Rob.... I think 749 is part of the front of an antique parlour stove.
The larger hole had a bell like insert that turned to provide more/less
air and the two small holes had mica (eisenglass) inserts so you could
see the flames.

As for 748; A castration clamp for an elephant!
Lee