Clothing or hardware?
This piece of clamped brass, about an inch long and about a quarter of an inch wide, is from a 1879-1920's burial. I suspect it is an aglet, the end on a shoelace, what do we think? I was looking for a picture on the web and couldn't find one, but I saw that these come up from colonial-era sites on...they are also still sold for costumes but again no pictures. Other clothing-related metal came from the burial.
Further notes on the little item:
See photos of the little guy at: http://photos.yahoo.com/suzcart2004 

The brass has been rolled and crimped, there were two "tunnels" for cord or laces, and the bottom shows the crimping marks across the piece, and where the brass has been rolled to make two tubes. 
Two spaces on the item have been punched out, a triangle at the narrow end and two triangles at the wider end. The narrow end punch is not visible in the photo. 
Some fibers are still lurking in the tubes, but not enough to sample.
This is probably not very datable but if anyone wants to weigh in please do.

Suzanne Howard-Carter