Oval Confederat Belt Buckles

[VRCordsgt]

I was just watching Pawn Stars and they were offered a Civil War period Belt buckle with a bullet stuck in it. They called in an expert and he told them it was not real as the confederats never issued an oval buckle.

Is this fact or not?

[Dbackfed]

There are plenty in EoG and other reference books. Maybe he said that particular style.

[hanktrent]

Regardless of the buckle, you see these bullet-struck fakes around. Another example and more discussion:

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/foru...hp/t72001.html

Hank Trent
hanktrent@gmail.com

[Jim Mayo]

Fakebuckle001.jpgFakebuckle 002.jpg

Here is an original sharps bullet which was shot and keyholed into but didn't pass through the buckle. The buckle has been aged in the ground. By the way, this style buckle was not issued either. The bullet on pawn stars was poked into an existing hole in the buckle which may have been made by a bullet or something else. A direct hit like that would have only left a buckle with a hole in it. I have given several local talks on relic hunting and usually have this to show the uninformed masses how easy it is to fake items.

[VRCordsgt]

That looks like the buckle on Pawn Stars. Thanks for posting it and clearing up that the Oval CS buckles were issued by the confederates as well as the Union.

[Ross L. Lamoreaux]

That looks like the buckle on Pawn Stars. Thanks for posting it and clearing up that the Oval CS buckles were issued by the confederates as well as the Union.

Oval buckles were issued, just not that one. The oval CS that looks just like the US with arrow backs is a sutler-row fantasy item. There were several variant buckles that were similiar, but with less lead, and with wire or stud attachments in the back.

[Artyman]

Had a soldier ever survived such a hit he would not have discarded the buckle but would have kept it as a keepsake! Like Teddy R did with that cigarette case that saved his life. It would have stayed in the family after he was gone too.....but that is another problem. The guy who wants to manufacture his own war story and shoots or acquires a fake, then claims years later around the dinner table or in the GAR bar that it in fact happened to him, or the proud grandchild who also makes one or acquires one in order to spin a similar yarn about his gramps.

I brought some ears home from Nam. I never told anyone about how I got them....but my son did. Quite a story he spun too. He even helped himself to the stash and eventually lost them. I wonder who has them now and what story is being told. I still run into someone every once in a while who asks me if the story is true. I have to ask them what they heard the story was before I can answer them. My son's version was that I won the war all by myself and the NVA still has a bounty on my head.

I miss my late son every day of my life....but not that part.

Buckles with bullets in them probably have similar tall tales spun, histories recorded, hero's elevated, and in the end all it is really was was a perfectly good buckle and bullet being wasted!

Harry

[Regimental Colours]

James B. Warren, 16th Louisiana Infantry, killed at Murfreesboro December 1862.