From the Collection #15: Mystery Items

Can you identify what these mystery items from the SAM collection are? Take a moment to think about it before scrolling down to see the answer! Hint: these are two slightly different models of the same item.

• Reveal Answer
  These are two button polishing boards! The brass buttons on historical military uniforms needed to be polished regularly to maintain their luster, but the polishing compounds used could easily stain the fabric underneath. To solve this problem, polishing boards like these would be inserted below the buttons during polishing.