Civil War Era Cinch Buckle Found in NE Kansas

High Plains Prospectors

Supporting Vendor
Supporting Vendor
Nov 15, 2023
90
193
Olathe, KS
Detector(s) used
Minelab Equinox 900, XP Deus II, Garrett AT Pro
I found this buckle south of Kansas City in a ghost town that is now a soybean field. After a little research I found another gentleman who had found the exact same one. He informed me it was an upper cinch strap buckle and had traced it back as a confederate artillery officer's cinch buckle from a Texas regiment. This is the before and after picture. I know that some people don't want their finds cleaned up this much but when I dug it, I dinged it a little and could see the underlying metal was still beautiful. I tried a Dremel to clean it but it had little effect on the thick patina. I soaked it in Renaissance De-Corroder overnight and it removed the coating and turned it into a sludge. The result was a dull almost copper looking surface. I took a polisher tool on the Dremel and it shined up bright like the after image you see now. This thing must have been beautiful when it was in use!

Below is a link to the cleaning process:


Below is a link to the actual find video:
 

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I found this buckle south of Kansas City in a ghost town that is now a soybean field. After a little research I found another gentleman who had found the exact same one. He informed me it was an upper cinch strap buckle and had traced it back as a confederate artillery officer's cinch buckle from a Texas regiment. This is the before and after picture. I know that some people don't want their finds cleaned up this much but when I dug it, I dinged it a little and could see the underlying metal was still beautiful. I tried a Dremel to clean it but it had little effect on the thick patina. I soaked it in Renaissance De-Corroder overnight and it removed the coating and turned it into a sludge. The result was a dull almost copper looking surface. I took a polisher tool on the Dremel and it shined up bright like the after image you see now. This thing must have been beautiful when it was in use!

Below is a link to the cleaning process:


Below is a link to the actual find video:

Very Cool!!! Congrats!!!
 

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