✅ SOLVED Sword Hanger?

[Mason Jarr]

One thing I've learned hunting Indian War sites is that they used a lot of things that are hard to identify. This piece for example. Functionally, based on the shape, I would guess it was used to hang something from. The two parallel hooks seem like they could hang over a belt and the lower hook was used to hang "whatever "....a sword perhaps? I own at least a half dozen detailed books about military items from the 1870-1890 period and there's not one item that even resembles this piece. Some notes about it: I think the lower hook piece was originally straight. If you look close you can see some metal fatigue cracks where it was bent. Also there's a small rivet/brad in the center and the lower piece swivels around 360 degrees on that point. Any ideas?

 

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[TheCannonballGuy]

Your find is not a sword-hanger... it is the belt-attachment hooks out of the back of a solder-filled (yes, it's actually solder, not lead) Oval-US belt buckle. Two of the hooks being arrowhead-shaped means it's a civil war era version of the US buckle, not the 1840s/50s version. The arrowhead-hooks version of US Oval buckle stayed in service for long after the end of the civil war, used extensively by Enlisted-men's ranks (Private, Corporal, Sergeant) in the "Indian Wars" era.

Closely examine the photo below. The "main body" of the hooks is usually completely submerged in the solder-filler but is visible in this photo when you click on it to enlarge it.

 

[Mason Jarr]

Your find is not a sword-hanger... it is the belt-attachment hooks out of the back of a solder-filled (not it's actually not lead-filled) Oval-US belt buckle. Two of the hooks being arrowhead-shaped means it's a civil war era version of the US buckle, not the 1840s/50s version. The arrowhead-hooks version of US Oval buckle stayed in service for long after the end of the civil war, used extensively by Enlisted-men's ranks (Private, Corporal, Sergeant) in the "Indian Wars" era.

Closely examine the photo below. The "main body" of the hooks is usually completely submerged in the solder-filler but is visible in this photo when you click on it to enlarge it.

CG, you are truly an encyclopedia of knowledge. Thank you once again!!

 

[FloridaSon]

Your find is not a sword-hanger... it is the belt-attachment hooks out of the back of a solder-filled (yes, it's actually solder, not lead) Oval-US belt buckle. Two of the hooks being arrowhead-shaped means it's a civil war era version of the US buckle, not the 1840s/50s version. The arrowhead-hooks version of US Oval buckle stayed in service for long after the end of the civil war, used extensively by Enlisted-men's ranks (Private, Corporal, Sergeant) in the "Indian Wars" era.

Closely examine the photo below. The "main body" of the hooks is usually completely submerged in the solder-filler but is visible in this photo when you click on it to enlarge it.

Great id, hard to see that from the find. Any thoughts why it was removed from the filler? Or just not well made. Regards

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

FloridaSon asked:
> Any thoughts why it was removed from the filler? Or just not well made.

We civil war relic-diggers and buckle-collectors sometimes find an Oval US buckle's filler and hooks which separated from the buckle's stamped-sheetbrass face. But the hooks can only be removed from the solder filler metal by melting it. So, Mason Jarr's find had to have been done deliberately. As to why... logic suggests somebody had some other use in mind for the solder, or for the hooks.