My eagle buckle. Is it real or not?

[DiggerDave in Pa.]

I found this at a depth of 15" and believe it to be old. The question is there is a E in place of a B in E Pluribus Unum. Is this a Civil War buckle or is it post war? Any input would be appreciated.

[capri_auto]

It looks like a reproduction to me

[houndhunter53]

I would also say a reproduction.

[DiggerDave in Pa.]

I would also say a reproduction.

If you guys think this is a repro, when was it produced? It was burried deep and had a lot of crud sticking to it. I'm sure someone knows.

[CC Hunter]

The buckle is not a reproduction, nor is there any sound reasoning to attribute it as such. Shall we assume these theories are mere guesses rather than informative identifications?

Actually the buckle dates after the American Civil War as evidenced by the outline of a wide tongue bar attachment that is now missing. This style dates late 19th century with I believe some possible carryover into the early 1900's. The die-work error in letter placement is interesting.

CC Hunter

[stefen]

The buckle is not a reproduction, nor is there any sound reasoning to attribute it as such. Shall we assume these theories are mere guesses rather than informative identifications?

Actually the buckle dates after the American Civil War as evidenced by the outline of a wide tongue bar attachment that is now missing. This style dates late 19th century with I believe some possible carryover into the early 1900's. The die-work error in letter placement is interesting.

CC Hunter

Great comment...anytime someone makes a statement as to the authenticity of an item, they should provide a backup to support the statement.

[nuggetnoggin]

I found this at a depth of 15" and believe it to be old. The question is there is a E in place of a B in E Pluribus Unum. Is this a Civil War buckle or is it post war? Any input would be appreciated.

by the first glance i knew it was fake

[CC Hunter]

by the first glance i knew it was fake

Interesting hypothesis. Please elaborate regarding your intuition pertaining to the subject.

CC Hunter

[CC Hunter]

The buckle appears to be a variant of the Regulation 1874 Pattern Officer's Plate.

Pages 542 through 547 of American Military Belt Plates by O'Donnell and Campbell, show similar styles and examples, though not the exact match for the one we see here. The Regulation 1874 Pattern was in use, with slight changes and variations, through the 20th Century World Wars.

I see nothing that points to or yells out "Fake" here. Granted, there are literally tons of fake military items flooding the market place. However, the design details, attachment devices (or broken evidence in this case), patina, source, and other factors here all seem to support a legitimate military buckle find. Furthermore, this style of buckle is neither very rare nor highly valuable (which leads to the question: "Why produce a fake copy?").

Some of the rarer state militia and original Confederate issue buckles and plates are indeed well into the four figure range, consequently providing an attractive venue for copiers and fraudulent fakers. A Post American Civil War belt plate that would barely break the three figures on a good day though, is far from a likely candidate for a fake copy.

CC Hunter

[romeo-1]

I found this at a depth of 15" and believe it to be old. The question is there is a E in place of a B in E Pluribus Unum. Is this a Civil War buckle or is it post war? Any input would be appreciated.

by the first glance i knew it was fake

Fortunately for the finder you really don't know anything about this piece.

[DiggerDave in Pa.]

I found this at a depth of 15" and believe it to be old. The question is there is a E in place of a B in E Pluribus Unum. Is this a Civil War buckle or is it post war? Any input would be appreciated.

by the first glance i knew it was fake

Fortunately for the finder you really don't know anything about this piece.

Thanks CC Hunter. I figured someone would know what this is and when it was produced. I know more about it now than I did before. I was happy to dig this piece and glad to learn more about it. DK