In 1884 James G. Blaine and John A. Logan ran for president and vice president as Republican party nominees. Assailed from within his own party – by moralistic elites who considered Blaine corrupt and by workingmen who supported the third party Greenback movement which promised to make money more available – Blaine became the first Republican to lose a Presidential race since 1856, to Grover Cleveland.
Thin rectangular bar of iron formed into a curled, serrated and veined leaf at one end. No marks.
Maker is Keyser Brothers Iron Works, 4041 Ridge Ave. in Germantown, Philadelphia, PA, 1928-1971. Run by James Moore Bryant Keyser (1902-1977) and master blacksmith Howard Keyser III (1904-1980). Specialized in residential and ecclesiastical ornamental wrought ironwork, including the High Altar Gates in the National Cathedral, Washington, D.C. The forge was housed in an 1850s stone industrial complex that was dismantled in 1971 (documented by HABS/HAER).