US buckle need info.

T

TNbullethunter

Established Users
Hi guys and gals I purchased this buckle out hitting the flea markets and yard sells to day. It was laying with a pile of old junk a guy had. He said he did not know where he picked it up and did not know what it was. I did know what it was but am not sure if it it the real deal or a reproduction. It sure looks old and good but I am no expert on buckles for sure. Let me know your thoughts and how I can find out if it is real. Thanks
 
The rim looks too wide and the keeper hook looks different from the ones I've seen that are thinner. Looks like it might have been put in a fertilizer sack, or possibly something worse, to age it too.

My guess is the odds are against it having been a diamond in the rough, but see what the folks here say:

http://www.nvrha.com/cgi-bin/confignef.pl
 
Sure looks and feels real but I do not know. The Guy who sold it to me had know Idea what it was. Is there any way to tell for sure if it is real. I have a box plate that is for sure real and the rim, look, and weight seem to be the same. Any more thoughts or ideas to identify this buckle
 
Let's see if this advice helps. Personally, I stay away from the plates that appear to have a flat tongue. That said, if you go to http://www.midtenrelics.com/buckles.htm and look at # 1 under U.S. Buckles, you will see one that to me appears very similar to yours. Larry Hicklen is a top-notch, experienced dealer and has a solid reputation.

Still not sure? Go to the NVRHA's Ebay Fakes Forum and post your question and the clear photos there. The group includes some of the best plate authorities in the world. And they are a friendly group of men and women. You can find it at http://www.nvrha.com/cgi-bin/confignef. ... mes;page=1

I hope this helps you.

Jerry
 
If you compared yours to the plate on Larry's site, you would see that difference in the rim very clearly. Then there is that really funky coating on your plate that is suspicious. I've never seen a dug plate with that appearance and it does look concocted.

Regards,
Jerry
 
Tnbullethunter wrote:
>No one on here know how to tell if a US bucket is real or not. I thought this would be the place to post this for sure.

No offense intended, Tnbullethunter, but the people here HAVE given you SEVERAL strong indication that the buckle is not real. The rim is wrong, the patina is wrong, the hooks are wrong. Sure seems to me that the people here know how to tell if a US buckle is real one or not. :)

Since you have such a low opinion of the advisers here, why haven't you acted on the good advice you were first given six days ago, on May 22nd? (Post the buckle pics & info over at the NVRHA Fakes forum.)

But okay, I'll tell you what I think of it, and details about Why.

In my opinion it is an "artificially aged" Civil War Centennial era reproduction. I was involved in re-enacting back then, and I've personally seen a lot of the repro buckles manufactured at that time.

Besides the rim being "offset-stamped" (very wide lower rim), and the clearly-artificial aging, the hooks are the key. This particular type of buckle-hooks was very cheaply stamp-cut from thick sheet-brass by a machine ...and no "extra-expense" effort whatsoever was made to round off the sharp edges of the cut brass. As Jerry_B astutely advised, compare yours with the hooks on Larry Hicklen's buckle. The hooks are similar, but the edges of Larry's hooks haven't only been cut, they've also been "pressed" - you can see this most clearly on the arrowhead edges.

I've still got a repro US buckle from my Civil War Centennial days, and its hooks look exactly like your buckle's hooks.

But since you find the opinions you've gotten from cwbullet.org advisers to be unsatisfactory, I'll now become the third person here to suggest you post your buckle pics & info at the NVRHA site. I seriously doubt it will be declared a real one over there either ...but perhaps hearing the same things from the NVRHA-site guys that you've been told here will be enough to settle the matter in your mind ...and maybe give you a higher opinion of the responses from the guys who answered your post here.

Regards,
Pete [PCGeorge]
 
Thanks every one.

I appreciate the feed back on the buckle. It seems to be hard to tell if a buckle or plate is real or not. I respect every ones thoughts on this buckle
and feel that it is most likely a repo. I bought this buckle at a yard sell and thought it was probably a reproduction when I got it. That is why I ask hear as I think this is the best place on the net to get info on Civil War relics. I have been told every thing from hooks to weight to the rim size to how the buckle looks and is the best way to tell if it was real or not. I guess there are a lot of clues that have to be put together to tell if it is real or not. Thanks to every one for your thoughts and your time.
 
Tnbullethunter, just so you'll have absolute certainty about your buckle, please click on the link below (to a discussion-thread at Northern Virginia Relic Hunters club "E-bay Fakes" forum), and read the discussion, and closely inspect the buckle being discussed.

http://www.nvrha.com/cgi-bin/confignef.pl?read=5260

By the way, "Platemann" at that forum is Gary Williams, the owner of Hanover Brass Foundry - he personally made almost every kind of Repro buckles, using molds he himself made from Original specimens.

Regards,
Pete [PCGeorge]
 
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