Tongue AND Wreath Buckle!

IMAUDIGGER

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Mar 16, 2016
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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
7888DD34-12B8-4232-ADDF-75C5541CE174.jpeg

E119B8AB-F77A-4E2D-B51A-3AC1C340F5AC.jpeg

94290834-D727-4CAA-9EB5-555C1AAB973E.jpeg
 

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Upvote 45

GB1

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very great find
 

Oct 5, 2014
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Beautiful buckle, congratulations! :icon_thumleft:
 

Steve in PA

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Congrats on a nice gold rush buckle!
 

Subterranean

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Superb find, congratulations. What county were you in, if I may ask? Sub 8-)
 

OP
OP
IMAUDIGGER

IMAUDIGGER

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Mar 16, 2016
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Superb find, congratulations. What county were you in, if I may ask? Sub 8-)
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

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May 26, 2010
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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
 

OP
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IMAUDIGGER

IMAUDIGGER

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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

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

devldog

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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. :notworthy:
 

Brendan75

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Hi, great find congrats:icon_thumleft:
 

Carolina Tom

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

Best of luck to you sir!
 

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IMAUDIGGER

IMAUDIGGER

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87339BC1-BDAA-41F2-A878-07F1C7BF014B.jpeg

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)
 

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Hawks88

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

Rookster

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Awesome find.Congrats :icon_thumright:
 

Kurios1

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

OP
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IMAUDIGGER

IMAUDIGGER

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Mar 16, 2016
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Thank you everybody for the nice comments and the thumbs up.
 

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