Buckle???

A. Grignon · Oct 26, 2009

Found at a house site in a field here in Wisconsin. Lots of veterans came back here and civil war buttons are not that uncommon. Even had a Tennessee style "CS" buckle come out of the ground up here. Wondering if the piece I found is part of a 2-piece buckle and civil war period?
Also, what is the gun barrel looking thing

DirtyMike · Oct 26, 2009

The barrel piece maybe off an old toy cannon.

cwdigger · Oct 26, 2009

Great saves I like the eagle I,suspender clip and spur, not sure on the buckle the one on the left that is green looks colonial.

vayank54 · Oct 26, 2009

The eagle is the center part of a tongue to an 1840's-50's 2 piece buckle. From the number dug in civil war camps they saw a fari amount of use early in the war. It looks to be the thin rolled brass type which was not very durable.

A. Grignon · Oct 27, 2009

Yes, thats what I was thinking and hoping. Two piece buckle part.

vayank54 · Oct 27, 2009

I dug one years ago I found the center piece first and the belt loop later. I never found the wreath though. Oh and on the heel plate I dug one earlier this year that was 1-1/2" by 1-1/2" A guy who collects heel plate said it was a bit post civil war and they had an interesting history. He said that while doing a paper on the history of prostitution for school he found out that the " ladies" wore the heart shaped heel plates and they would leave a print in the dirt. that way the men would know which women to approach. He also told me that an old lady, who had been in the "business" confirmed this. I've never checked it out but thought you might find it interesting

A. Grignon · Oct 28, 2009

Very interesting , thanks for the info on the prostitutes. lol

vayank54 · Oct 28, 2009

You're welcome. I was really surprised to learn about that. The guy who told me said he couldn't imagine a soldier wearing a heal plate like that as all the other men would see the tracks and start following them and that would mess up the flow of the battle ha ha

Tnmountains · Oct 29, 2009

Nice bunch of relics. Great shape :thumbsup:

vayank54 · Oct 29, 2009

A. Grignon said:
Very interesting , thanks for the info on the prostitutes. lol

Your welcome. By the way here are a couple pic of the eagle tongue I dug below it is a civilian buckle I dug near the same spot

kuger · Dec 28, 2009

I am going to drag this post up from the past as I dont get over to this side much,and Tongue and Wreaths are my obsession!
As "V",said you do indeed have the center disc of a stamped brass Tongue.It is what we call the Standard Eagle and there is several variations to it,one is actually a three piece that the center disc was soldered on a "T",bar,this design was not very good as we seldom find them still intact,but looking at yours I see that yours has remnants of the bridge(The common weak spot on these "Flimsy",buckles)which means it was a one piece tongue.These buckles were actually made for the California Gold Rush,and the stamped brass ones were actually sold with the elastic cloth belt and trousers as the trousers were basically one size fits all and months in the field would cause anybody to have to "tighten',up the belt!Some of these buckles actually had the retailers name on them which was like the first designer clothing advertisements!I believe the examples that are found east of the Mississ.are undoubtedly lost by men that were in the Gold Fields.Your wreath is what we call a ladies buckle but recently due the large numbers we are finding in sites that we know didnt have women are beginning to wonder if some men wore them?

Vayaknak,your example is actually a quite rare example!!Too bad you never could find the wreath!Another part of these belts thata large percent of people dig and discard as they are not aware of there use is the belt tightners,the one on the right is to a stamped brass buckle such as yours.I will post a couple pics :thumbsup:

vayank54 · Dec 28, 2009

Kuger
thanks for posting the info and the pics. I didn't know mine was a rare style. I wish I could have found the tongue before the place was built on. A lot of people probably didn't know they had any type of elastic during the civil was either. I can't remember but I believe it was invented in the 1830's or so. They had elastic suspenders and it in shoes (sort of like loafers) as well. I've found a good many wreath to the other type of buckles. We always just called them sash buckles even thought that's not quite right. Also I've dug the belt tighteners before but had never seen one like the stamped one the right.
Thanks again for adding this info

kuger · Dec 28, 2009

vayank54 said:
Kuger
thanks for posting the info and the pics. I didn't know mine was a rare style. I wish I could have found the tongue before the place was built on. A lot of people probably didn't know they had any type of elastic during the civil was either. I can't remember but I believe it was invented in the 1830's or so. They had elastic suspenders and it in shoes (sort of like loafers) as well. I've found a good many wreath to the other type of buckles. We always just called them sash buckles even thought that's not quite right. Also I've dug the belt tighteners before but had never seen one like the stamped one the right.
Thanks again for adding this info

You Bet "V",yes there have been examples dug with remnants of the "rubber elastic",still attached,and I have Daguerreotypes of men with revolvers stuck in the belts with "the elasticity",very evident.We have also seen the stamped brass buckles on leather belts as well!
I am glad you know that they are misidentified as SASH buckles as they were not,I am still waiting to see a picture of one in that capacity!
They also are not Militia,although I am sure a militia could have agreed to purchase the same buckles.I would love to see your buckle parts,and yes the one on the right is to the stamped buckles and the ones on the left are to cast buckles. :thumbsup:

Woodland Detectors · Dec 31, 2009

vayank54 said:
I dug one years ago I found the center piece first and the belt loop later. I never found the wreath though. Oh and on the heel plate I dug one earlier this year that was 1-1/2" by 1-1/2" A guy who collects heel plate said it was a bit post civil war and they had an interesting history. He said that while doing a paper on the history of prostitution for school he found out that the " ladies" wore the heart shaped heel plates and they would leave a print in the dirt. that way the men would know which women to approach. He also told me that an old lady, who had been in the "business" confirmed this. I've never checked it out but thought you might find it interesting

I did not know that but it sure makes sense. Great finds by the way