screwynewy
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- Joined
- May 10, 2011
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- North Carolina
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Teknetics T2 SE
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UPDATE #2:
I noticed what looks like it might be a mint mark but can't get a good picture of it. I have exceeded the ability of my ipad and don't have my hi-res camera with me. Any chance someone might recognize what this tiny symbol is? See last picture.
UPDATE:
I have confirmed that this is in fact a solid silver colonial shoe buckle with paste stones. I had it checked out by a jeweler and they immediately knew it was silver but did an acid test just to confirm. I have added new pictures of it cleaned. I am seriously thinking about having it restored by an antique jeweler and have them replace the missing stones. I doubt I can find anyone to replace the tongue and chape but it would be awesome to have it complete again. I can't stop picking up this buckle and looking at it. My wife just shakes her head - me, I just smile.
I hit a colonial site today with Williedigit and his son William and the finds were sparse but what I did find was a home run in my book. "Willie" had just dug a colonial copper coin and I was just a jealous not having dug anything much. I made my way back to an iron patch that I had not noticed before and immediately got a solid 90 on my T2 so of course I was thinking it as a copper or better yet a colonial silver coin. Reached in the hole and under a root and pulled out a shoe buckle. Shoe buckles are one of my favorite relic find and they usually come out in fragments or mangled. So when I saw it was whole and then noticed the stones I got pretty excited.
When I got home and cleaned it up I wanted to be really careful because most old jewelry that I have found with stones in them the stones will fall out almost immediately after getting them out of the ground. All that I have done is use water and a soft toothbrush and it looks like the stones are really well set and the metal appears to be solid silver but tarnished from the sandy moist soil from this site. I imagine that lemon juice or electrolysis would remove the tarnish but I don't want to risk damaging it or losing more stones.
Here is some interesting information that I found on Paste Stone shoe buckles:
Georgian Paste Shoe Buckles - CandiceHern.com
I noticed what looks like it might be a mint mark but can't get a good picture of it. I have exceeded the ability of my ipad and don't have my hi-res camera with me. Any chance someone might recognize what this tiny symbol is? See last picture.
UPDATE:
I have confirmed that this is in fact a solid silver colonial shoe buckle with paste stones. I had it checked out by a jeweler and they immediately knew it was silver but did an acid test just to confirm. I have added new pictures of it cleaned. I am seriously thinking about having it restored by an antique jeweler and have them replace the missing stones. I doubt I can find anyone to replace the tongue and chape but it would be awesome to have it complete again. I can't stop picking up this buckle and looking at it. My wife just shakes her head - me, I just smile.
I hit a colonial site today with Williedigit and his son William and the finds were sparse but what I did find was a home run in my book. "Willie" had just dug a colonial copper coin and I was just a jealous not having dug anything much. I made my way back to an iron patch that I had not noticed before and immediately got a solid 90 on my T2 so of course I was thinking it as a copper or better yet a colonial silver coin. Reached in the hole and under a root and pulled out a shoe buckle. Shoe buckles are one of my favorite relic find and they usually come out in fragments or mangled. So when I saw it was whole and then noticed the stones I got pretty excited.
When I got home and cleaned it up I wanted to be really careful because most old jewelry that I have found with stones in them the stones will fall out almost immediately after getting them out of the ground. All that I have done is use water and a soft toothbrush and it looks like the stones are really well set and the metal appears to be solid silver but tarnished from the sandy moist soil from this site. I imagine that lemon juice or electrolysis would remove the tarnish but I don't want to risk damaging it or losing more stones.
Here is some interesting information that I found on Paste Stone shoe buckles:
Georgian Paste Shoe Buckles - CandiceHern.com
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