Does anyone recognize this cap device?

[Paul S.]

Being decended from a very long thick line of Irish Catholics I suspect that it is an Irish Catholic fraternal society pin of some sort. Two such groups for example are the Ancient Order of Hibernians and the Irish Catholic Benevolent Union. There were many others particularly in the 19th Century and early 20 Century when anti-Catholic, anti-Irish sentiments and prejudices were extreme. The Celtic symbol engraved on the button is that of the Holy Trinity - which deductively suggests Catholic and Irish in origin. That the button appears to be a lapel button hole button since it has a pin to orientate it so it is pointing right way up. The colours could be significant in that they might designate the branch of the society, or a rank or office held.

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[po_bob]

Thank you Paul. The Hibernians had occurred to me and I did do some searching along that line, but unearthed nothing. I'll do a little more and look into the ICBU, of which I was ignorant. Usually I am able to identify this sort of item eventually, but this one is proving to be obscure.