Old Buckle

[J23]

Found this old eagle buckle today... any idea how old and what it is? Also, any recos on how to clean the green off of it. So far I just used a light toothbrush and a bit of tap water... which made the green worse

 

[CC Hunter]

Nice Militia Plate!

Pulling from memory, (I'm not looking in my reference books), I believe that style dates from around the 1820's. These were apparently in use for a couple decades, as they've turned up at sites nearly into the 1860's. Some have attributed these as far back as the War of 1812, but I'm not of the opinion they are quite that early. Your example is missing the attachment loop on the back, made of brass wire.

In regards to cleaning, your find looks quite good as is! The green is actually not detracting from the piece. Any attempt to remove the green could possibly do more damage than good. My vote is to leave the cleaning at the point you are at now. A possible straightening of the bent corner by an expert in relic restoration, is about all the piece needs (in fact, the missing loop could be attached as well). Did you carefully check the hole for the wire loop? Since these bent wire pieces were simply attached with solder, we commonly see examples where the dissimilar metals will separate after a century or two in the ground.

Good Find!

CC Hunter

 

[TomB]

PLEASE,,,don't do anything to the buckle. I'm not real sure what it is but if you try and remove the patina you will ruin it. From the pic I don't think it is Civil War . I'm think much earlier. Give some of the guys here time to see it and make ID. Appears to be a great find. TomB

 

[West Jersey Detecting]

I Agree, may be a bit older than CW. It looks similar to one that made the banner a while back. Here is the post: http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,297913.html

 

[55th Massachusetts]

WOW!! BEAUTIFUL!! BANNER!!!!
REB

 

[Erik in NJ]

Gorgeous find! Definitely older than CW -- your looks even older than the one in the link that Neil posted!! I would not try to clean it any further -- wait for a proper ID on it. I vote banner find already!

BTW, how deep was it and what part of the country are you in??

 

[civilman1]

Nice Militia Plate!

Pulling from memory, (I'm not looking in my reference books), I believe that style dates from around the 1820's. These were apparently in use for a couple decades, as they've turned up at sites nearly into the 1860's. Some have attributed these as far back as the War of 1812, but I'm not of the opinion they are quite that early. Your example is missing the attachment loop on the back, made of brass wire.

In regards to cleaning, your find looks quite good as is! The green is actually not detracting from the piece. Any attempt to remove the green could possibly do more damage than good. My vote is to leave the cleaning at the point you are at now. A possible straightening of the bent corner by an expert in relic restoration, is about all the piece needs (in fact, the missing loop could be attached as well). Did you carefully check the hole for the wire loop? Since these bent wire pieces were simply attached with solder, we commonly see examples where the dissimilar metals will separate after a century or two in the ground.

Good Find!

CC Hunter

Yep...1820's Militia Plate Don't do another thing to it. Great save !!!!

 

[soupie]

Now that is a Christmas Present my friend
Congrats to you...Soup

 

[ANTIQUARIAN]

Absolutely beautiful plate find my friend!
Congratulations!

 

[zaxfire69]

Don't clean it anymore. It is beautiful the way it is. Patina. Congrats.

 

[Dman]

Nice Militia Plate!

Pulling from memory, (I'm not looking in my reference books), I believe that style dates from around the 1820's. These were apparently in use for a couple decades, as they've turned up at sites nearly into the 1860's. Some have attributed these as far back as the War of 1812, but I'm not of the opinion they are quite that early. Your example is missing the attachment loop on the back, made of brass wire.

In regards to cleaning, your find looks quite good as is! The green is actually not detracting from the piece. Any attempt to remove the green could possibly do more damage than good. My vote is to leave the cleaning at the point you are at now. A possible straightening of the bent corner by an expert in relic restoration, is about all the piece needs (in fact, the missing loop could be attached as well). Did you carefully check the hole for the wire loop? Since these bent wire pieces were simply attached with solder, we commonly see examples where the dissimilar metals will separate after a century or two in the ground.

Good Find!

CC Hunter

Yep...1820's Militia Plate Don't do another thing to it. Great save !!!!

I also agree. Do not do anything else to it. It is great like it is. Congrats

 

[Iron Patch]

The cleaning is already done! It was the water and the tooth brush and you got lucky it came out nice with some color left. It's a great find to end the year with!

 

[sscindercoop]

Wow killer find

 

[cntrydncr1]

That is a beauty!! congratulations!

 

[Brian W]

Sweet find ....I found the same buckle earlier this year..Congrats

 

[SGVALLEYMAN]

Congratulations, beautiful find !!

 

[J23]

Thanks to CC Hunter I decided to revisit the site today before the blizzard hit... I figured I wouldnt be able to find the spot again after all the snow. It took me all of 10 minutes to find the covered hole. I had my Ex 2 on full discrimination, coins only (so only upper right of screen is open). Anyway, I redug the hole to depth and swung a few times... I kept getting a falsing signal. So I opened it up and got a mid-low tone. Scraped around with my pinpointer a bit, and saw a bit of green patina on the edge of the hole. scraped away and out fell the loop attachment! Voila. So now it is complete! Best find for me ever... by a mile.

I am in lower New York State. This buckle was dug at depth of 14" (measured with my Predator shovel). It was at depth where the soild color began to change to much lighter dirt... indicative of layer of fill above it. The loop attachment was about 6 inches or so. Looks like it might have been stepped on.

I want to get it straightened and reattached and preserved. Any recos on who is best to do that?

Thanks guys...

 

[traverdog]

Great buckle!!

 

[RELICDUDE07]

Very nice find!

 

[2country]

Nice ! I found one like it last winter . I think someone posted a link to it above .