Odd Fellows license plate topper · IOOF, Dayton Ohio

An Odd Fellows license plate topper: an oval brass disc on black ground bearing the all-seeing eye with rays, the three linked rings lettered F · L · T in white, blue and red — and beneath them a skull with crossed bones. The tab below carries the holes and clamp for fixing it to the plate.

The three links are the core emblem of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF), a fraternal order founded in Baltimore in 1819. F · L · T stands for Friendship, Love, Truth. The all-seeing eye denotes divine providence; the skull is the memento mori of the order's ritual: remember that you are mortal.

Toppers like this were bolted above or below the licence plate in the United States between the twenties and the fifties. Lodges, clubs and associations handed them out to members — you showed your allegiance as you drove past. Today they are a collecting field of their own, somewhere between automobilia and lodge memorabilia.

Stamped on the back: «MFGD. BY THE STENPHO CO. · DAYTON, OHIO». No year is given; the construction and mounting fit the first half of the century.

• Brass, colour-filled
• Odd Fellows (IOOF): eye, three rings F·L·T, skull
• Plate topper with clamp tab
• Maker stamp on the reverse, Dayton, Ohio

Good and used: colour complete, brass with grown patina, rust marks and scuffs on the tab. Clamp present.