Buckle?

[elusion]

I found this what I believe to be a buckle or harness maybe, at an old home site I was hunting in northern lower Michigan. It feels pretty hefty and looks to be brass? Any help would be appreciated... All I know is that it looks and feels old..

[nova treasure]

wreath part of a tongue and wreath buckle. I do wonder about the time period of this buckle, with it's curved ends of the rectangle with this type wreath, most are squared that I have seen. someone will chime in with a proper time period of it's use.
Great find, Bill

[Woodland Detectors]

Oh yah! Beautiful Wreath buckle! The other half may be close

[kuger]

wreath part of a tongue and wreath buckle. I do wonder about the time period of this buckle, with it's curved ends of the rectangle with this type wreath, most are squared that I have seen. someone will chime in with a proper time period of it's use.
Great find, Bill

That is common on all applied center disc type tongues.Hard to say what tongue may go to your fine cast brass wreath.What is uncommon is the rounded belt loops.It could date anywhere from the 1830's to 1900,but I am leaning toward mid 19 th century

[nova treasure]

wreath part of a tongue and wreath buckle. I do wonder about the time period of this buckle, with it's curved ends of the rectangle with this type wreath, most are squared that I have seen. someone will chime in with a proper time period of it's use.
Great find, Bill

That is common on all applied center disc type tongues.Hard to say what tongue may go to your fine cast brass wreath.What is uncommon is the rounded belt loops.It could date anywhere from the 1830's to 1900,but I am leaning toward mid 19 th century

Thanks Kuger, the belt loops is what I was speaking of being curved/round on the rectangle.

[kuger]

wreath part of a tongue and wreath buckle. I do wonder about the time period of this buckle, with it's curved ends of the rectangle with this type wreath, most are squared that I have seen. someone will chime in with a proper time period of it's use.
Great find, Bill

That is common on all applied center disc type tongues.Hard to say what tongue may go to your fine cast brass wreath.What is uncommon is the rounded belt loops.It could date anywhere from the 1830's to 1900,but I am leaning toward mid 19 th century

Thanks Kuger, the belt loops is what I was speaking of being curved/round on the rectangle.

aH,HAH,YA LOST ME THERE Yes,there are a few varieties that have the rounded loops but they arent common

[TheCannonballGuy]

Although there are other ID-clues, such as the details of the wreath, the "round" ends of that buckle's belt-loops, and their height, are the key clues for identifying that buckle and dating it.

Note that the belt-loops on your buckle are significantly longer (or "taller") than the wreath-circle's diameter.

I searched all through the 616-page book "American Military Belt Plates" for you. It seems to contain no exact match for your buckle. A similar one is shown on page 92, which is an 1830-1838 State Militia buckle ... but its loops are the same length as the wreath-circle's diameter. (Also, the wreath's details do not match your buckle's wreath.)

The book shows two other buckles (pages 235 and 245) which are similar to yours, having round-ended loops which are "taller" than the wreath-circle. The book says they are 1870-to-1910, and were made for civilian bands and fire departments.

[elusion]

Wow! Big thanks for looking through that monster book to ID my half a buckle. So it sounds like it is probably the civilian issued one... I'm disappointed its not civil war but in Michigan I don't hold out hopes for finding many CW relics. It makes me curious what the center (tongue?) part would have looked like? I'm imagining possibly an FD for fire department?

[kuger]

.........again,I sometimes dont know why I waste my time!