✅ SOLVED Early Horse tack?

[Dug]

Hi;

Dug this item along with some eagle buttons and a script I yesterday. I must admit when it first popped up I thought I had a Pelican buckle After I brushed more dirt away my excitement dropped.

I thought it was a civilian sash buckle at first, but after lookin at the back I can see the two attachment points were in the center so now I am thinking horse tack as if it slid over a strap. It is stiff sheet brass with silver wash. The lighting caused the pictures to look gold but it is in fact silver wash and I am still working on getting some of the granulation off the front.. I posted it on a local (SC Lowcountry) Facebook relic group and had two other members advise they too had dug one of these, one of them in the same circumstance with a mix of Union and Confederate buttons. P.S. added a daylight pic.

My first question: is this a horse tack item? Second question: if at least two other exact items (if not more) have been dug was it from a local merchant or was this from a bigger supplier?

 

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[Deftone]

The first thing to come to my mind was maybe part of a picture case. Something like this... https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/tintypes-lot-portraits-civil-war-era-1787334035

 

[ANTIQUARIAN]

My first thought was the same as yours Dug, it's likely a Victorian Period sash buckle.
Based on the remains of the solder attachment points on the back, this is probably what it is.

Very nice find,
Dave


"Goose — a large web-footed bird, connected with numerous deities in world mythology as a symbol of fertility, watchfulness, war, love, autumn, and the sun. The goose is sacred to various Egyptian deities such as Amun-Ra, Isis, Geb, Osis, Osiris, and Horus. Amun-Ra is sometimes called “The Great Grackler” in reference to his role as creator of the world when he laid the Cosmic Egg. In Greek mythology, the goose is sacred to Hera as queen of heaven, to Apollo as sun god, Ares as war god, and Eros as god of love and sex. The goose is sacred not only to Juno but to Mars as war god and Priapus as fertility god.

There are numerous motifs associated with the goose in the Motif Index of Folk Literature. The Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs, the Aesopic fable that appears in European and Oriental sources, probably originally Indian because it appears in the Jatakas, or Birth- Stories of the Former Lives of the Buddha. A farmer went to the nest of his goose to see whether she had laid an egg. To his surprise he found, instead of an ordinary goose egg, an egg of solid gold. Seizing the golden egg, he rushed to the house in great excitement to show it to his wife. Every day thereafter the goose laid an egg of pure gold. But as the farmer grew rich, he grew greedy. And thinking that if he killed the goose he could have all of her treasure at once, he cut her open, only to find nothing at all. Moral: The greedy who want more, lose all."

 

[Dug]

My first thought was the same as yours Dug, it's likely a Victorian Period sash buckle.
Based on the remains of the solder attachment points on the back, this is probably what it is.

Very nice find,
Dave


"Goose — a large web-footed bird, connected with numerous deities in world mythology as a symbol of fertility, watchfulness, war, love, autumn, and the sun. The goose is sacred to various Egyptian deities such as Amun-Ra, Isis, Geb, Osis, Osiris, and Horus. Amun-Ra is sometimes called “The Great Grackler” in reference to his role as creator of the world when he laid the Cosmic Egg. In Greek mythology, the goose is sacred to Hera as queen of heaven, to Apollo as sun god, Ares as war god, and Eros as god of love and sex. The goose is sacred not only to Juno but to Mars as war god and Priapus as fertility god.

There are numerous motifs associated with the goose in the Motif Index of Folk Literature. The Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs, the Aesopic fable that appears in European and Oriental sources, probably originally Indian because it appears in the Jatakas, or Birth- Stories of the Former Lives of the Buddha. A farmer went to the nest of his goose to see whether she had laid an egg. To his surprise he found, instead of an ordinary goose egg, an egg of solid gold. Seizing the golden egg, he rushed to the house in great excitement to show it to his wife. Every day thereafter the goose laid an egg of pure gold. But as the farmer grew rich, he grew greedy. And thinking that if he killed the goose he could have all of her treasure at once, he cut her open, only to find nothing at all. Moral: The greedy who want more, lose all."

I am going to close this thread solved as I suspect this is a sash buckle which was my first impression as the size and construction is just too similar to sash buckles. I think it is coincidental that many of us dug this plate with CW relics but sometimes it is too easy to fall into the trap that "Well it was dug with civil war relics so it must be civil war".

I do find it fascinating that so many of these plates were dug and that being the case maybe some day we may possibly find out more on who produced these. Given that these plates were found in many locations though out the US leads me to believe they were not from a local merchant, but were either nationally distributed or even imported.