✅ SOLVED Help with item stamped US

[Randy769]

This was dug last night in a field in southeast Hamilton county TN (Chattanooga). It feels heavy like lead but I think its brass.....I dont know if its a partial buckle thats bent or maybe the upper part of a scabbard....either way its marked with US and I have know idea what i have found alittle help would be great

 

[creskol]

Looks like the remains of a buckle or cartridge box plate from the Civil War.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

I seem to see brass belt-attachment hooks on the inner side of it, so it is a badly damaged Model-1839 US Oval belt-buckle... the most widely used Military belt-buckle of the civil war era.

Since you did not recognize it, I'll post front-&-back photos of an intact one, and explain its construction. It is made of three components:
1- a "die-struck" thin sheetbrass shell (marked US),
2- three brass hooks )which were connected to each other),
3- solder, which filled the back of the sheetbrass oval, holding the belt-hooks firmly in position.

I should mention, although most diggers and collectors call this type a "lead filled" buckle, in actuality the filler-metal is solder, not lead -- because lead does not adhere to brass very well, but solder does. The fact that the filler-metal is solder is why we don't see "Minie-ball white" patina on the filler-metal in US buckles, breastplates, and cartridge-box plates.

 

[Randy769]

thanks for the reply and explanation. Thats the first CW buckle I have found....The funny thing is that I have worked that field probably 50 times over the last couple of years and found some shell fragments and a couple of 3 ringers and some campsite relics. I thought I would try it one more time and it paid off.....thanks