Copper Buckle help with age and type. Please

[Alan Payne]

I found this old copper buckle about a week ago at a site out in the middle of the woods that a home site was supposed to be. The site shows on a 1915 map. Have reason to believe the site could be as old as 1850's. Help in Identifying the age of this buckle would give better understanding of the history of the surrounding area. Thank you for you time, expertise and interest.

 

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[Kray Gelder]

Looks like a modern army-style web belt buckle.

 

[ANTIQUARIAN]

It's too big to be a suspender buckle, so I'm thinking 1930s - 40s belt buckle.
Almost looks like it's been in a fire due to the 'black' colour of the brass.

Dave

 

[Alan Payne]

Dave, thank you for replying. You have helped me in the past. I really wanted to bring it to your attention that this buckle is not brass it is copper. It is very easy to bend and it has no makers mark. I don't know enough about when there were just copper buckles as opposed to Brass buckles. Also, I don't know when or if there were people making buckles that didn't need to have makers marks or patent information. Maybe the fact that it is copper and that it has no marks on it means it is before the patent office existed? When ever that was. I just know it's copper.

 

[smallfoot]

I'm still thinking a suspender clip. They come in a great variety of sizes and shapes.

http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/my-collections/141763-suspender-clip-showroom-showem-off-here.html

 

[ANTIQUARIAN]

Dave, thank you for replying. You have helped me in the past. I really wanted to bring it to your attention that this buckle is not brass it is copper. It is very easy to bend and it has no makers mark. I don't know enough about when there were just copper buckles as opposed to Brass buckles. Also, I don't know when or if there were people making buckles that didn't need to have makers marks or patent information. Maybe the fact that it is copper and that it has no marks on it means it is before the patent office existed? When ever that was. I just know it's copper.

Good morning Alan,

The main problem when it comes to identifying an object, is the only person who's able to actually handle the piece is the person who found it. I've found a lot of suspender buckles/clips over the years, so it's often the easiest assumption to make that buckles of this size are 'suspender' related. In reality, this may have had any number of functions. Personally, I've never found a copper suspender buckle, but the construction of yours looks heavy duty, so it's original intended function is anybodies guess really.

Dave

 

[Alan Payne]

I'm sorry gentleman, I was absolutely wrong, I scratched the buckle and it is indeed brass. I can never get the difference when things bend so easily. Thanks for helping.

 

[Reanm8er]

Greetings Alan, interesting find!

I agree with Dave re the dark color indicating high temperature exposure. That would also explain the ease with which it bends. It's been annealed, softened, by the fire. It looks a little light to be a utility belt of some king and the little tab in the middle looks like it was designed to use a second. loop, piece for the other end of the belt.

I'm going lady's sash buckle.

Nice find and good luck!

 

[A2coins]

It happens cool find though

 

[Clay Diggins]

To anneal (soften) brass or any base metal it must be quenched quickly. Just the opposite of steel.

When brass is quenched quickly it loses most of it's fire scale in the quench. Black brass is not something you will find on a fire annealed piece and soft brass was not cooled slowly as it would be in a house fire.

The "buckle" is made of sheet brass - not cast as most buckles are. The fact that it has not been stamp pressed like most belt and suspender buckles made of brass sheet leads me to believe it was probably intended to be used in a more gentle environment. The buckle for a light curtain tie or a map tube ribbon closure.

 

[Alan Payne]

Clay, Thank you for the post. The fact that it bent so easily and the fact that I also thought it was made from sheet Copper and that it had no makers Patent date or mark of any kind is the reason I thought it might be older than the early 19teens. Thank you everyone for your comments.