✅ SOLVED Buckle, or what?

[Grimaldehyde]

I am looking for some assistance in identifying this artifact for my local historical society (I am a trustee)-i did not have any way to measure this item, and the only thing I had to relate its size to was my keys. There is a faint design on the top side of this item, and something on the underside, where another piece of thin metal was attached. Seems kind of large for a shoe buckle, but it sort of looks like one. Maybe a piece of horse tack?

 

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[DCMatt]

It is a shoe buckle. I believe they keep getting larger until they fell out of fashion. By 1820, no one was wearing shoe buckles.

 

[Grimaldehyde]

It is a shoe buckle. I believe they keep getting larger until they fell out of fashion. By 1820, no one was wearing shoe buckles.

Thanks; this really is what I thought as soon as I saw it

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

DCMatt is correct, as usual... your find is a shoebuckle made during the Colonial Era and onward to about 1820. Here are photos which confirm your shoebuckle's identification. Note that two opposite sides of the buckle have a "flange" on the back, with each having a hole in the middle (see the photos below) which held the central bar for the buckle's tongue and/or chape. That hole isn't visible on yours, but if you clean it thoroughly you'll find the hole.