Type of Buckle??

[Route66]

I found this buckle today is the yard of a permission I've been to before. I also found a couple more Merc's and some very old wheaties.

I know very little, to nothing, about buckles.

Is this possibly related to some type of leather harness for an animal such as a horse?

The buckle measures approximately 2-3/4" wide and 2" high.

Thanks!

 

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[Reanm8er]

Very nice mono design, congrats!

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Yes, your brass buckle is "related to some type of leather harness for an animal such as a horse." Specifically, it is a "Modified Conway" buckle, used on a horse bridle in the early-1900s. You can see a less-fancy one on the US Army model-1909 horse bridle, in this photo. It is located on a thick strap at upper right, below a normal rectangular-frame buckle on another strap. Yours, being an "oval" outer shape, is (needlessly) fancier than the plain-Jane Military usage model... so yours is a Civilian-usage version.

In 1882, Mr. Frederick Conway received a US Patent for a "harness buckle with a prong" on the buckle's center-bar. The rigid prong fit through the holes in two thick leather harness straps, allowing you to lock both straps firmly in the positioning you desired.

I've called yours a "Modified" Conway because his original patented version did not have the additional loop on one end which we see on your Conway-pattern buckle.

Yours MIGHT be shown in the hundreds of diagrams in the J.M. Eilers Company 1907 horse-harness & saddlery catalog... but I'm too tired at this hour of the night to go hunt through it for you. If you care enough to do that yourself, go here:
https://archive.org/details/catalogueno200jmei/page/n18

 

[trdking]

I love a great ID Nice work CBG

 

[Route66]

Yes, your brass buckle is "related to some type of leather harness for an animal such as a horse." Specifically, it is a "Modified Conway" buckle, used on a horse bridle in the early-1900s. You can see a less-fancy one on the US Army model-1909 horse bridle, in this photo. It is located on a thick strap at upper right, below a normal rectangular-frame buckle on another strap. Yours, being an "oval" outer shape, is (needlessly) fancier than the plain-Jane Military usage model... so yours is a Civilian-usage version.

In 1882, Mr. Frederick Conway received a US Patent for a "harness buckle with a prong" on the buckle's center-bar. The rigid prong fit through the holes in two thick leather harness straps, allowing you to lock both straps firmly in the positioning you desired.

I've called yours a "Modified" Conway because his original patented version did not have the additional loop on one end which we see on your Conway-pattern buckle.

Yours MIGHT be shown in the hundreds of diagrams in the J.M. Eilers Company 1907 horse-harness & saddlery catalog... but I'm too tired at this hour of the night to go hunt through it for you. If you care enough to do that yourself, go here:
https://archive.org/details/catalogueno200jmei/page/n18

Wow! Thanks for the detailed explanation of that buckle. I really appreciate it.

 

[creskol]

The proper name for that buckle is a "line buckle" and yours looks like a variation of a Moline line buckle. The "line" is used for driving four or more horses, and is commonly refereed to as the "driving rein."

 

[A2coins]

Awesome Ids i like the coins great hunt

 

[invent4hir]

There is a history lesson in every "What is it?" thread.