✅ SOLVED Any horse tack specialists around?

[Mechvillian]

Found this buckle at a location where I have found a good bit of various civil war relics.

It measures 4" x 2 3/4"

I believe it is horse tack of some sort ..but not sure what purpose it served.

Since horse tack doesn't seem to change all that much over the years I am not sure how or if it can be dated other than a guess based on where I found it but that's still no guarantee as we all know.

Thank you for any input.

 

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[duggap]

I'm certainly not an expert, but if I dug a buckle that size I would immediately think it is the cinch buckle. But I agree with your statement regarding age. Almost impossible to tell, unless an expert can help.

 

[stefen]

Cinches typically do not have buckles but use the saddle D-ring combined with leather straps...

My McClellan saddle (CW US Army) and western rigs do not use buckles...however English saddles use (surgical) three (3) buckles set under the saddle skirt which are about an inch or so wide and long...

If that buckle were used for cinching, the center offset would injure the horse...

I suggest that you take the buckle to a saddle shop and see first-hand how a saddle is rigged...

 

[BosnMate]

There are cinch buckles just like your find --- BUT --- the Army used several types of harness, regular work harness for teams pulling wagons, harness for teams pulling lighter ambulance wagons, and harness that included saddles for the soldiers to ride when pulling artillery, breast collar harness and collar harness. So we are talking buckles, lots and lots of buckles of different sizes and types for adjusting harness, and also buckles of the same style being used for different purposes. To pin your buckle down as to where on the harness it came from would take someone with a better memory, and more knowledge than me, but I know enough about it to be dangerous. Here is a picture and a link for artillery harness. It says French and it's WWI, but it's US Harness, and gives the basic idea of Civil War artillery harness.
US M 1918 Limber for the French 75mm mle/1897

The next photo is work harness, this is civilian, but they are basically the same.

And finally, here is a picture of an McClellan cinch/girth buckle.

The army called it a girth, I call it a cinch, but it means the same thing. Note that the buckle is different than yours. That doesn't mean a thing. I'm just showing you what one looked like, that we know was used by the army, yours does not match that one. There are cinch buckles that look like yours, I just don't know if they were ever used by the army. So what did you find? From my perspective, you found a buckle that is related to horse tack from before the civil war until long after the civil war, best dated by other stuff you were finding along with the buckle. Just my swag.

 

[Silver Searcher]

Horse tack buckle. 19th-20th C.

SS

 

[BosnMate]

Cinches typically do not have buckles but use the saddle D-ring combined with leather straps...

My McClellan saddle (CW US Army) and western rigs do not use buckles...however English saddles use (surgical) three (3) buckles set under the saddle skirt which are about an inch or so wide and long...

If that buckle were used for cinching, the center offset would injure the horse...

I suggest that you take the buckle to a saddle shop and see first-hand how a saddle is rigged...

Yeah, that center off set would probably rule out it's use as a cinch buckle, and could also help define what specialty location the buckle would be used, which I would think would be on harness. There are cinch buckles of your size and shape, but I agree with stefen, probably without that offset. My roping saddle was built with a D ring too small for a proper latigo knot, so I used a Mormon billet on the off side with a buckle and also used a buckle on the near side. Like the army cinch I showed in the other post, the buckles were on the cinch. When it comes to horse stuff, never assume the use of one thing means it was always done that way by everyone, even in something as uniform as the army. The army is continually changing and evolving, with sometime long overlaps, even though something new had been adopted.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Your guess that it is a "horse tack" (horse harness) buckle is correct... but (as Stefen said) incorrect that it is a cinch-strap buckle. Specifically, it is a "swedge" center-bar harness buckle... according to the illustration and label in the 1907-dated J.M. Ellers & Co. Saddlery Hardware mail-order catalog. See page 110, bottom right, viewable for free online, here:
https://archive.org/details/catalogueno200jmei

For CORRECTLY identifying the type and intended purpose of buckles which have a center-bar with tongue (or an end-bar with tongue), it is very important to measure the width of the INSIDE of the buckle at the bar's location. That measurement tells you the width of the leather strap which the buckle was intended to be used with. The ruler in your third photo shows your buckle was made for use on a 1.5"-wide strap.

Also, very importantly for correctly identifying it:
1- your buckle's center-bar is backset/offset from the buckle's frame, and
2- the center-bar is backset/offset by a LOT... almost 3/4-inch.
The purpose of the center-bar being backset/offset is to accommodate more than just one leather strap going through it at the same time. Being backset by almost 3/4-inch means your buckle was made to accommodate at least three "layers" of straps passing through it... AND, those straps were very thick (heavy-duty) straps. Reins-straps and bridle-straps are light-duty, not very thick. So, your buckle was made for use on heavy-duty harness, such as wagon-pulling or plow harness.

I hope diggers here who want to learn to CORRECTLY identify the harness-buckles (and other "horse tack") they dig will bookmark the link I posted to the 1907 catalog of such equipment. (Also, please bookmark other relic identification info links posted by other ID-helpers at T-Net.) I'm 65 years old, which means I might not be "around" to answer relic-ID requests for many more years.

After-posting note: I see BosnMate, Stefen, and Silver Searcher posted additional helpful info while I was typing my lengthy reply. Nice work, guys.

 

[Mechvillian]

Thank you for all the replies. I have saved the link CBG , I Hope you are around for a Loooong time

I appreciate everyone taking time to post information.

There were a lot ..I mean a lot of wagons at this location. So that would make sense.

Thanks again!