Approximate time period of shoe buckle ?

[JimmyCT]

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

[HuntinDog]

That's an awesome buckle!
Congrats on a great find.

 

[TnShooter]

Looks similar to the one found below.
It states 1750's. It seems to be pretty common
Colonial style.

https://www.augusta-auction.com/component/auctions/?view=lot&id=11159&auction_file_id=23

 

[JimmyCT]

Very interesting TnShooter. I find it hard to believe that mine is that old based on where this was found. IF it is that old, then the place I found it in has a much deeper history then anyone realizes.

 

[woody]

Colonial. Pretty sure.

 

[brianc577]

Very nice find!

 

[TnShooter]

It doesn't necessarily mean it is colonial.
As anyone could copy a design. I'm no expert by
any mean. But it's a good reason and least explore the area more.
Maybe you'll find other stuff to help narrow down a time line.

 

[JimmyCT]

Most of the items I find are from the late 1800's - 1940's (mainly coins and silverware)

 

[flinthunter]

Nice old buckle. Now go back and find the other one. Strange finds do pop up when you are metal detecting. I found a late 1600's to early 1700's shoe buckle in the remnants of a trash dump while field hunting in Central Illinois. The trash dump dated from around 1835 until 1865. I just figure someone still had grandpa's old shoes stored in a trunk and finally decided to throw them out. I guess I'll never know for sure, but it sounds like a good reason to me for the buckle being there.

 

[JimmyCT]

This was deep in the woods at the top of a small mountain. Just over the steep edge is where I located it. Maybe they fell down the steep cliff?

Nice old buckle. Now go back and find the other one. Strange finds do pop up when you are metal detecting. I found a late 1600's to early 1700's shoe buckle in the remnants of a trash dump while field hunting in Central Illinois. The trash dump dated from around 1835 until 1865. I just figure someone still had grandpa's old shoes stored in a trunk and finally decided to throw them out. I guess I'll never know for sure, but it sounds like a good reason to me for the buckle being there.

 

[bootyhoundpa]

Very cool find ELP.. i only found a few thru the years and every where ive one or pieces of them ive also found large cents so gotta be anywhere from 1850 on back but real question is ,when did people stop using them?

 

[JimmyCT]

Thank you. That really is the question BHPA. You now have me thinking about large cents lol I am gonna have to go back and give it a much better "scrubbing" I can picture someone back in the day sitting at the top of this little mountain looking down for deer or other animals to hunt. A perfect vantage point.

Very cool find ELP.. i only found a few thru the years and every where ive one or pieces of them ive also found large cents so gotta be anywhere from 1850 on back but real question is ,when did people stop using them?[/quote]

 

[rferrari]

Sometimes old ground is kind to metal where no cultivation occurred. No added chemicals, no tilling. I feel it might be colonial and there are plenty of known pieces to compare to. I would keep working that area especially after a rain. No pockets means all sorts of stuff hit the ground. Peace Roy

 

[Piedmontartifacts]

Congrats, nice rescue. PA.

 

[FindingHistory]

Very nice buckle, wish I could find one with the tine still intact like that! Same thing happened to me - I found a site with 1860's coins, more or less where it should be based on 1851 and 1862 map, then later discovered that just 30 - 40 yards to the east there was some activity/maybe structure there much earlier before any local maps could cover it. Found a frame of a shoe buckle, beautiful big 1790 4 Reales, 1787 1/2 Reales (both Mexico City mint), 1802 large cent, New Jersey copper (1786-1790, can't read date), late 1700's neck stock clasp, 30+ copper alloy flat buttons in 1785-1800 range and tombac buttons, brass thimble, lots of corroded iron artifacts. Keep going back to that site for sure, you will probably find a lot of stuff from late 1700s, and be sure to dig the scratchy stuff, deep stuff, and down into the lower tones.

 

[woody]

Really nice find. I have found a two in E. central Ga. on this farm. Farm dates back to late 1700's . None of mine were that nice by a long shot.

 

[FindingHistory]

Here's something I found online that discusses the history and decline of shoe buckle usage, but still doesn't give an exact date that people stopped using them: http://eighteenthcenturylit.pbworks.com/w/page/102111664/Shoe%20Buckle
Apparently in Europe they started going out of style after the French Revolution and were pretty much done by the 1790's, but in America they held out a few decades longer. I'm guessing they were pretty common in the U.S. up through about early 1820s and then dropped off pretty sharply, but I really don't know.

 

[brianc577]

Shoe buckles where a fashion thing from what i understand and not necessarily utilitarian. If so, they only where them as long as the style was in.