Military belt buckle?

[danhughes]

Hate to say it, but I found that buckle in my back yard, just an inch or so deep, in Urbana, Illinois. No battlefields around here at all, and too shallow to have been there very long.

The house was built in 1917, and I bought it in 1981. I found the buckle in 1986 or so.

I'm guessing a previous owner of tenant of the house dropped it there?

Could this possibly be a latter-day reproduction? Is there an easy way to tell?

[PAPPY]

Could be a reproduction...I would not be able to tell unless I had it in hand.

[rip]

Originally Posted by danhughes

Hate to say it, but I found that buckle in my back yard, just an inch or so deep, in Urbana, Illinois. No battlefields around here at all, and too shallow to have been there very long.

The house was built in 1917, and I bought it in 1981. I found the buckle in 1986 or so.

I'm guessing a previous owner of tenant of the house dropped it there?

Could this possibly be a latter-day reproduction? Is there an easy way to tell?

I think you have an original.What does the back look like ? I found mine in a yard of a house that was built in the early 1800's and it also was only a couple of inches deep.Even though there were no battles in your area there is still the posibility of finding relics that were lost from soldiers returning home and state militia's etc.

[PAPPY]

I have to tend to agree with RIP...That buckle could have gotten into your area in a number of ways. I would take it to your local museum if you have one and have someone take a look at it. Or better yet post it on Harry Ridgeways Civil War site and see what he has to say about it.
Not all Civil War artifacts or other artifacts for that matter have to be buried deep in order to be old...I still find artifacts ( Indian) dating back tens of thousands of years around here...Some lying right on top of the ground.

[rwsnc]

I was detecting this weekend and my buddy found one too.
Civil war buckle?

Yours is in better shape. They look the same to me.

[EBCIII]

Welcome to the site Dan! Glad to have you on!

A huge congrats on the buckle!! That is an awesome find, Beale.

[Crazy_Ed]

It is a sword belt plate (Buckle). It looks original but I can't really tell. I dug the keeper for one last weekend in a calvary camp. If you go to the finds forum and look at my post "last weekends digs" on the lower right of the picture is the Keeper....I hope I find a buckle before long.

[MinelabMan]

Hi Dan and welcome to TQ and congratulations on the great find!