Tongue AND Wreath Buckle!

[IMAUDIGGER]

Finally set aside a day of detecting.
Well actually a half day.

I obtained permission to detect a piece of land that saw some of the early California Gold Rush Miners. There are many places like this here, but actually obtaining permission is fairly uncommon.

Got a signal that sounded like it could be a silver dollar so I dug carefully. Out pops this tongue. Almost yelled out loud. I could have walked away perfectly content, but I knew I had to spend some time looking for the other half. About 20 minutes later, and 30’ away I get another good signal. For some reason I wasn’t expecting the other half of the buckle to pop out, but it did. This time I did let out a holler. It’s a cast buckle. So far I have seen a similar pattern that was thin stamped construction. Anybody care to try and date this?
Military? Militia..private patriotic buckle? The outer dia. of the wreath measures 45mm

 

[GB1]

very great find

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Beautiful buckle, congratulations!

 

[Steve in PA]

Congrats on a nice gold rush buckle!

 

[Subterranean]

Superb find, congratulations. What county were you in, if I may ask? Sub

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

Superb find, congratulations. What county were you in, if I may ask? Sub

Yes you may, and thank you for the compliment.

My guess is that it dates somewhere between 1840 and 1855.
I don’t know if there is any significance in it being cast vs. thin stamped.

I have always thought that a belt/buckle was an essential piece of your clothing and it seems odd that someone would cast it aside. Maybe it just went out of style and suspenders became more common.

I will be taking a serious look for the adjuster next weekend.

 

[HuntinDog]

That is truly are great find.
To find both halves is rare.

Your cast brass Eagle buckle is 1848-1860, 27 Star variety with domed Eagle.
It is referred to as the bottle cap design because of the looks of the back side of the tongue.
Yours is a domed type, they were also flat.
One of the more common verities found with more than 200 in collections.
Not to say that it isn't a great find and very collectable.
Congrats

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

That is truly are great find.
To find both halves is rare.

Your cast brass Eagle buckle is 1848-1860, 27 Star variety with domed Eagle.
It is referred to as the bottle cap design because of the looks of the back side of the tongue.
Yours is a domed type, they were also flat.
One of the more common verities found with more than 200 in collections.
Not to say that it isn't a great find and very collectable.
Congrats

Thank you for sharing that info.
I DO appreciate the fact that “Common” is a relative term when talking about things like this.

 

[kuger]

Not a bottle cap type,but yes is the Common cast eagle

 

[devldog]

If finding a relic such as this doesn't warrant a "Good Holler", I personally don't know what would. Congrat's to you on a fantastic find. Heck, I'm a Hollerin' for you.

 

[GaRebel1861]

Awesome! I'd would have had to do the happy dance if I had found that!

 

[Brendan75]

Hi, great find congrats

 

[Carolina Tom]

Excellent Gold Rush era find! Congrats on the sweet buckle.

Best of luck to you sir!

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

So am I correct in assuming that since this buckle was likely used with a leather belt that I might be looking for two additional parts such as what is shown in this image (sample image downloaded from internet)

 

[Whyme]

Wow that's a very nice buckle!

 

[Hawks88]

Nice buckle find in great shape. All I can say is wow! Nice save. Congrats

 

[Rookster]

Awesome find.Congrats

 

[Digger RJ]

Wow! Awesome!!! Congrats!!!!

 

[Kurios1]

Nice buckle find. Sure is nice to get both halves.

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

Thank you everybody for the nice comments and the thumbs up.