Civil War Collector Estate 2 Plates & Bugle

[jamesclayton]

Curious if anyone has some thoughts/information on these items we just purchased from an estate of a civil war collector in Texas.

The bugle has 7A on it, Appears to be from around that era, I think... I couldn't find anything like it with those markings. (Officer's Bugle I believe)

The first plate has strange hooks in the back, they almost look like nails? I could not match it to any other plate as far as the back goes. Real or Copy?

The more decorative plate had some old (high) prices on it, so at least former dealers and the collector believed it was genuine. I think it is, but I could not find one designed like it anywhere at all.

If anyone has any thoughts on any of these items I would appreciate it. Thanks in advance.

[Treasures Down Under]

Plez Bagley at Virginia Relics could help with this type of ID for your awesome Bugle. He has helped me on a couple of items with value and condition of my CW finds.

Treasures Down Under

[jamesclayton]

Thank you very much, I appreciate it. I sent off an email with the photos.

[Guthormsen1]

I did a quick search online and found an example of the 2nd buckle. It is an English made Blockade Buckle. There is a picture of a reproduction of this buckle on Hanoverbrass.com . If yours is original, it was manufactured between 1861-1865. The photo I saw didn't show a picture of the back, so I couldn't compare the hooks, or see if they have a date stamp on them. Hope this helps.

[emike123]

The hooks on the CSA don't look correct to me and the date stamp on the English one is usually a give away that it is not right. You can contact Gary Williams of Hanover Brass directly at gw44@comcast.net and he'll tell you if it is his or not.

[jamesclayton]

I contacted him and he said he believed it was made by one of the other dozen people making them, using his pattern.

Since it seems established that the plates are repros, what I thought was interesting on the more decorative plate, was that it had an old price on it for 200.00. (and I would assume this was from decades ago, as it was some old items from an estate)

Do the good repro buckles sell for that much?

[emike123]

No, maybe $40 on a good day. You can scroll through eBay and see what they've sold for. Gary's son still sells them for about that amount.

[Guthormsen1]

I agree that they aren't that expensive. I would think that the person that had it before you either bought it as an "original" or was trying to sell it as one.

[ripley rebel]

Most of the buckles today are repo's. Have a man in Corinth that can antique them and you can't tell the difference. He will tell you his are repo's and most others won't. Be Careful.