Silver Colonial Knee Buckle

[Dust Eater]

Had a great day today. Ended up having to walk 3/4 of a mile uphill, and the cellar hole was littered with beer cans and other trash from all the hunters. Just when I thought I was going to get skunked, I ended up digging an ornate silver colonial knee buckle frame. The back is marked "EG", but I still haven't nailed down who the maker is. The buckle really saved my day.

 

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[Carolina Tom]

Wow! That is an exceptional find. Congrats!

That came off of some rich guy's britches.

 

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[UnderMiner]

If the 'EG' is a local Massachusetts Silversmith's maker's mark there should be a record of it somewhere in the archives. Who ever was the maker he probably would have been acquaintances or friends with other Massachusetts silver smiths, your buckle may have been made by a friend of Paul Revere!

 

[Tommy G]

Wow, what a nice find! I've never found a silver one before, much less one that is monogrammed. Very unique. Congrats!

 

[Stef45]

So i was able to find one silversmith with the initials of E G and that was Enos Gunn from Waterbury Conn. Born 1770. Another one from Ellis Gifford from Fall River, Mass. 1825-1866. I believe a lot of the time American silversmiths used their initials as makers marks. Could be an early piece of a silversmith before they had more elaborate marks. Maybe that will help. Killer find though.

 

[CMDiamonddawg]

Beaut Tee ful , unreal and without question a tough dig .
To see an example that is not broken into pieces is wonderful .
Thanks for sharing and GL
CMD

 

[Dust Eater]

So i was able to find one silversmith with the initials of E G and that was Enos Gunn from Waterbury Conn. Born 1770. Another one from Ellis Gifford from Fall River, Mass. 1825-1866. I believe a lot of the time American silversmiths used their initials as makers marks. Could be an early piece of a silversmith before they had more elaborate marks. Maybe that will help. Killer find though.

Thanks! I'll look into those names.

 

[CRUSADER]

I'm pretty sure I've seen this beauty in my home state and I'm happy to see it again! That's an incredible find! I've found a ton of buckles and never found even a piece of a silver one. Very tough find. I hope you're able to find that particular mark. That one may be tough as I'm wondering if that may be somebody's initials that owned that. Do you know the history of the site and the family that may have lived there?

More than likely. A makers mark is punched, this is incised.

 

[CRUSADER]

PS. Lovely find.

 

[Stef45]

More than likely. A makers mark is punched, this is incised.

Yeah i was starting to think the same. Usually initials when used as makers marks have a rectangle around them or a circle or something correct?

 

[Ahab8]

Yeah i was starting to think the same. Usually initials when used as makers marks have a rectangle around them or a circle or something correct?

Yeah it's a bit crude for a silversmith. That's why I was leaning towards initials

 

[Stef45]

Yeah it's a bit crude for a silversmith. That's why I was leaning towards initials

Yeah leaves us with either the owners putting it on themselves or having the silversmith put it on there....or maybe it was a real small local silversmith just starting off

 

[Dust Eater]

More than likely. A makers mark is punched, this is incised.

Very good catch!
Just did a bit more genealogical research, and it is the owner's initials.

 

[Reelsnrods]

That's a very pretty thing! congrats!

 

[OutdoorAdv]

Incredible buckle! It'd make my day just digging a fragment of a silver one, but your personalized and complete one is outstanding.

 

[toasted]

Very nice piece. Dont know how often colonial and early American silver was marked but my pomander find was unmarked as well. Any non coin colonial silver find is about as good as it realistically gets imo. Its a nice blend of history and rarity. Ill probably never find anything better but Ill keep trying. Congrats