Anyone ever see one of these?

[lexdigger]

It's a metal plate that's about the size of a playing card. It's got three holes drilled in it and is embossed with "Stromberg-Carlson Tel. Mfg. Co. Rochester, N.Y. Chicago, Ill. I'm guessing it's off an old telephone, or pole??? But I wonder how old? The dump it came out of is full of amber straight sided cokes, patent meds, and local drug store bottles... All I did was scrub it a little with a brush, but is there something I could clean it with that won't damage the metal??? Thanks for looking, Chris Capley

 

[KentOhio]

I'm pretty sure what you have there is a faceplate off of an old telephone. Ever see the wooden box-looking phones that were mounted on the walls? They had a mounted mouthpiece and a hand-held receiver, and a crank on the side. They're in a lot of old movies and TV shows. I saw one last year at a sale for $200 or so.
If the plate is brass or bronze, it should clean up really well. If it's pot metal, I think it's as good as it's going to get. Try some fine steel wool.

 

[lexdigger]

Thanks Kent. Yeah, it came out of the layers of a dump that contain patent meds, amber cokes, and other turn of the century stuff. I kind of thought it may be off a phone, but wasn't sure... There are a couple of spots where I scrubed down a little harder, and it looks like brass to me. I'm gonna try the steel wool, and might try some brasso or something on it too? Thanks for the reply... Chris Capley