C.S.(A missing) Belt Plate

[screwynewy]

You can't imagine the feeling and excitement when you are holding this heavy chunk of metal that you just unearthed and start to wipe away the caked on dirt to reveal a "C". Then a little more dirt comes off and you see an "S" and realize that you have just found an elusive C.S.A. belt plate, or at least half of one.
I was detecting an old school house site along a carriage road path yesterday and I found this belt plate.

It's my first CW belt plate of any kind so I'm super excited about that not to mention its a Confederate plate. While it is a little disappointing that it is broken I would rather have half of one than none at all. I don't really have much hope of finding the other half but I will definitely go back and search some more. Thanks for looking.

 

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[creskol]

I promise that I won't let this turn into a "Sword hanger vs. horse tack" thread. If there is overwhelming proof that this is not CW period then I will gladly give in to it. As terpfan pointed out the C is definitely different on my plate than the replica. If someone is going to the trouble to make a replica wouldn't they base it on an existing example? And the last and most important thing is that the plate that I dug has a patina that can only be achieved through many years of exposure to mineralized soil. If you could hold it in your hand you would know that had to have been buried far longer than the companies that make replicas have been in business.

As I said, I'm definitely open minded so keep coming with the information.

I hope for your sakes that it does prove to be real, but based on the evidence that I have presented, I have my doubts that it is. Hopefully, though, somebody will prove me wrong. And, no, not everything is based on an existing example, and as far as the patina goes, I can tell you that I have seen repro buckles and buttons dug that are very hard to distinguish from the ones that have been buried for 150 years. I have no more to offer, so I will wish the best here for you, and bow out of the discussion.

 

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[gsxraddict]

I've been dealing with confederate belt buckles for 15 years, and I wouldn't have any good news to give you about this one.

Sorry bud...

 

[SkyPirate]

Maybe this one needs to be entered in the book!

 

[BuckleBoy]

I am leaning towards repro. BUT, until that is 100% certain, do NOT use a brass brush on the plate! For goodness sake, don't use a brass brush on ANYTHING you dig that might be worth something!

Gosh.


-Buck

 

[HutSiteDigger]

Harry Ridgeway said it was the real deal?? If you ever want too come up too Fredericksburg/Stafford Virginia i can have a civil war expert who owns a cw shop and is been dealing with buckles for over 25 years and is credited in cw buckle books tell you if this real or fake in 1 minute. I would like too know maybe a paragraph reason why Mr.Ridgeway thinks this buckle is real. About the patina on repros (and I am not calling yours a repro until you get it hands on with a cw expert) but the way cons can make things look 150 years is one method is letting it sit in kitty litter for 3-5 years with a certain kind of soil mixed in and putting it outside.

 

[screwynewy]

You guys take this business way more serious than I do. It may horrify some of you but eventually this plate (real or fake) will end up in a box with my better finds and be put away in a closet where it will stay. It might get taken back down maybe once or twice a year when I am bored or just want to re-live the moment of finding the stuff. I don't really need to send it off to an expert when I have a panel of experts right here on TNet. If the experts here say its fake then I'm good with that. I'd rather not post my correspondence with Harry Ridgeway since I do not have his permission to do so. I'll never try to sell it or misrepresent what it is. You guys can continue your discussion and feel free to add any more expertise to this thread to support that its a fake or the real deal.

 

[Darby]

Cool find!!! I'm sure it was exciting uncovering such a great find!

 

[reednc]

Congratulations on an exciting find Ken. I look forward to seeing it.

 

[HutSiteDigger]

You guys take this business way more serious than I do. It may horrify some of you but eventually this plate (real or fake) will end up in a box with my better finds and be put away in a closet where it will stay. It might get taken back down maybe once or twice a year when I am bored or just want to re-live the moment of finding the stuff. I don't really need to send it off to an expert when I have a panel of experts right here on TNet. If the experts here say its fake then I'm good with that. I'd rather not post my correspondence with Harry Ridgeway since I do not have his permission to do so. I'll never try to sell it or misrepresent what it is. You guys can continue your discussion and feel free to add any more expertise to this thread to support that its a fake or the real deal.

I'm not calling yours a 100% repro like some on here say. If Harry Ridgeway said it was real, then I respect his knowledge! He deals offline with buckles almost daily. You say you will go by the experts here and not take it to someone too look @

imo.. I think you should know what you have and people here can't handle the buckle with their hands and look @ it offline. There is always that small % odd that artifacts found from the Civil War period that don't add up and look like repros are actually time period. I know I have seen swords,cannonballs and buckles before that had experts stumped if it was time period or not.. I would highly recommend taking this too a CW expert or too a show one day and just let the experts who see these type of artifacts almost daily offline, weigh in on it.

 

[creskol]

Just curious if you have learned anything more about this plate. Thanks!

 

[screwynewy]

Just curious if you have learned anything more about this plate. Thanks!

I have not sent it off to any experts yet. I was going to make another attempt to find the other half of the plate before I did that. I am very curious about it and will most likely send it to someone for a closer inspection but I don't know who to send it to. Every time I pick it up and look at it I just can't help but believe that it has to be authentic. I read recently in American Digger magazine of someone who found a cast CSA plate that was different than most and they went on to say that there were companies that were contracted to make them for the Confederates. So it suppose it is possible that there are some authentic plates out there that have not been seen by many people.

 

[Aquila]

Nice buckle!

 

[creskol]

I have not sent it off to any experts yet. I was going to make another attempt to find the other half of the plate before I did that. I am very curious about it and will most likely send it to someone for a closer inspection but I don't know who to send it to. Every time I pick it up and look at it I just can't help but believe that it has to be authentic. I read recently in American Digger magazine of someone who found a cast CSA plate that was different than most and they went on to say that there were companies that were contracted to make them for the Confederates. So it suppose it is possible that there are some authentic plates out there that have not been seen by many people.

Good luck on your hunt for the rest of it. I hope you can find it. Keep us updated on the "buckle happenings" as they materialize. This one sure has my curiosity up!
Do you know what American Digger that article was in?

 

[screwynewy]

Good luck on your hunt for the rest of it. I hope you can find it. Keep us updated on the "buckle happenings" as they materialize. This one sure has my curiosity up!
Do you know what American Digger that article was in?

Thanks, I don't have much confidence that I will find the other half but I have a lot better chance of finding it there then I would finding another CSA plate at any other site. The reference to the CSA plate in American Diggers was the Nov-Dec 2012 issue. It was in the Just Dug section.

 

[creskol]

I have not sent it off to any experts yet. I was going to make another attempt to find the other half of the plate before I did that. I am very curious about it and will most likely send it to someone for a closer inspection but I don't know who to send it to. Every time I pick it up and look at it I just can't help but believe that it has to be authentic. I read recently in American Digger magazine of someone who found a cast CSA plate that was different than most and they went on to say that there were companies that were contracted to make them for the Confederates. So it suppose it is possible that there are some authentic plates out there that have not been seen by many people.

Any updates on this one? Just curious .. Thanks!

 

[Trezurehunter]

You could have just found it with the letter C, & its still more of a CSA belt plate that I have ever found. Nice

 

[bay pirate]

I am trying to figure out which plate that is. It doesn't appear that the "hooks" are broken in your photos, yet I don't see any plates listed in my reference books with hooks like those. Any idea what the identity of that plate is?

-- In looking at it again, those nubs, I don't think, could even function as belt hooks. Also it looks like an M or something printed in the center along the break, or am I seeing things?

Watching pawn stars, there is an episode where a guy brings in a CSA belt buckle that had a .57 cal bullet lodged in it. The curator of the Los Vegas museum stopped to authenticate. Turns out the bullet was real but the buckle was completely faked. He said the Confederacy never had "oval" buckles nor did the buckles have any makers marks due to the south not really having many quality manufacturing sites. He said the Virginia Millitia made some but most had VM and only a few had CSA.

Ultra rare and ultra cool

 

[screwynewy]

Any updates on this one? Just curious .. Thanks!

I don't really know who to send it to for indentification. I emailed pictures to Harry Ridgeway and he was somewhat stumped by it. Anyone have a suggestion for an expert to consult with on this?

 

[JohnnyRebCSA]

I don't really know who to send it to for indentification. I emailed pictures to Harry Ridgeway and he was somewhat stumped by it. Anyone have a suggestion for an expert to consult with on this?

Certainly. Larry Hicklen of Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Here is his link:


Middle Tennessee Civil War Relics

 

[twoauers]

good work, congrats Jon in nashville