This is one of two Confederate forked-tongue, “wish-bone” belt buckles that we recently took in, both found in Orange, Virginia. This is in excellent excavated condition with a nice light chocolate brown patina on the face and just a little greenish white on the tongue and prongs, with a little on the ends of the central bar. The reverse shows about equal amounts of brown and greenish-white.

This is complete, with no bends, breaks or repairs. Tongue and both prongs are in place and not bent either. The tongue shows some stippling from sand casting on the reverse, but the face and both sides of the frame and the central bar show the maker took some trouble to finish it. We see only a little freckling on one corner of the frame just below where the prongs rest on it.

This pattern was widely produced during the war in several sizes and with minor variations in construction. It is frequently seen in armed images of Confederate soldiers and, along with fixed tongue buckles, is perhaps the closest the Confederacy came to a counterpart to the oval U.S. as a general service belt buckle.

This is a very good example of a distinctive and classic “Johnny Reb” buckle that is an essential piece in any CS buckle collection. See especially Keim’s Confederate General Service Accoutrement Plates for examples and variations of this widely used buckle.   [sr] [ph:m]

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