ALWAYS read the garrett searcher newsletter!!!

[Mkriegs]

I found this piece about two years ago in a trash pit and just kind of put it aside as "cool junk" HOWEVER, thankfully i noticed the full version of what i found in the garrett searcher magazine and the piece just moved up to a loftier position in the treasure collection! sorry my pic is sideways dont know whats up with that

 

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[Chestdiesel]

That's awesome! Yeah, I've recently gone through my unidentified pile, specifically flat buttons, to see if I might have something special. Nothing yet though lol.

 

[Tejaas]

Happy belated identification!

The heart motif was commonly used on both civilian & civil war-era buckles, buckle covers, martingales, and heel plates.

They are -always- awesome finds.
Congrats man!

I use the 'Searcher' to spy on all ya'll and not have to feel bad because ya'll are the ones providing the info, haha!

Someone found a nice belt plate in my region not too long ago.... And their listed hometown just so happened to be in close proximity to the ONE place of military presence in that particular county at that time. I was so tempted to drop by, not to snipe the guys spot but just to be able to MEET ANOTHER HUNTER! I've never seen another, or even evidence of one.


~Tejaas~

 

[CRUSADER]

OK, but this one is a mis-ID & an urban myth, sorry, the mag is wrong.

 

[CRUSADER]

PS, Read stuff but research harder & don't believe all that you read.

 

[sutphin]

MK NICE FIND ...

 

[Isaac]

It's probably horse tack, but a nice find anyway!

 

[Msbeepbeep]

Hey something's are twice as nice the second time around! Nice!

 

[HomeGuardDan]

Yea sorry, but def not a civil war bedroll buckle. Horsetack probably late 1800s at the oldest.

 

[CRUSADER]

Some background for you:

 

[CRUSADER]

More:
Although it's often listed as a horse harness buckle, this heart-embossed item is really a buckle shield, made to fit on top of the actual buckle. Supposedly, the shield would keep the buckle from snagging, but it also served an ornamental purpose. The same design has been around since the 19th century, and in fact it's still being made today.

This item is sometimes misidentified as a "Confederate blanket roll buckle," an unfortunate attribution which found its way into print into an early edition Dr. Francis A. Lord's Civil War Collector's Encyclopedia, and into a later edition which reproduced the original pages without corrections. However, it was acknowledged in Vol. V, which was first published 'way back in 1989. Quoting from p. iv of Vol. V:

"Additions and Corrections to Volume IV, Civil War Collector's Encyclopedia.

"Page 27. Mr. Durham [Roger S. Durham, then curator of Fort Bliss Museum, Texas] identifies these blanket roll buckles as hardware from horse harness. He is very probably correct."

This mistaken ID was also debunked by Charles S. Harris, the author of Civil War Relics of the Western Campaigns, in an article titled "Hearts in Harness" in North South Trader's Civil War magazine, Vol. XXIV, #6 (Dec. 1997), p. 62-63, which was accompanied by several photographs showing identical buckle shields or covers in place on harness straps.