Beautiful Artois shoe buckle, but it needs help.

[paleomaxx]

I didn't have a lot of time to detect today so not many finds, but my favorite is this colonial arois shoe buckle.



You can see the silver wash in spots and it looks like it was very detailed. The iron chape mechanism is even still intact, but I know it'll start to deteriorate shortly and I'm not sure how to clean up the silver wash without destroying the integrity of the iron parts. Any thoughts or advice?

 

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[Gridwalker306]

That's a very ornate buckle, very cool find. Hope you're able to get cleaned up safely.

 

[vpnavy]

Nice find. Try some warm soapy water for now to get the first layer of mud, etc. removed.

 

[trapperart]

Congrats on the early buckle