Well, the first one is no longer available on eBay and it was located in Japan. The second one is at Garland’s in Sedona and I was able to handle it in October. I thought about purchasing it, but stuck with the plan and brought home a rug instead. 
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lol. i thought you were getting into jewelry making when you said you shaped the tails. I now realize the ends of the leather belt are called tails and you weren’t shaping the tail of the thunderbirds.
Here is a recent thunderbird I acquired. I just couldn’t resist.
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We do call them tails, but I should have probably said, “shaped the tips” for clarity. My bad! Not surprising that you were confused. 
Love your pendant! I agree. Thunderbirds are hard to resist.
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Very cool. I love leather and silver cuffs.
Those are beautiful buckles, but Navajo rugs are so amazing. I think I would have done the same.
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Sharing these three buckles. The fish scale inlay is by Harlan Coonsis (Zuni). The oval “hummingbird” inlay is by Sherman (Zuni) and Isabelle (Isleta) Paquin. The knifewing inlay buckle is unsigned and I am unsure of the artist. Husband said he might get into leatherworking so perhaps these might jump out of their box and onto a belt at some point! Pretty sure the two all-turquoise ones are Sleeping Beauty.
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Thank you for sharing your lovely buckles, @Indriaza, you’ve got some nice looking pieces. I recently came across a Knifewing buckle similar to yours. Does yours have a handmade swivel bar like the one below?
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Yep, exactly Ravenscry! I’ve seen a couple variations of this buckle design, where there is a central figure - often Knifewing, with four surrounding symbols - often rainclouds. Here is another one currently at Four Winds, which is stamped LN and an SS number. I’m always hesitant to assume attribution of very similar pieces, as I’ve learned many times they end up being different artists, especially pre-60’s pieces. But who knows!
https://www.fourwindsgallery.com/product/vintage-zuni-inlay-rainbow-man-belt-buckle/
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All three buckles are very nice, @Indriaza. I’m always mesmerized by Zuni inlay. I’ll bet there are a lot of great vintage and new belts on eBay and Etsy that would love to help these beauties jump out of their box sooner.
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Below is another belt buckle that I had my eye on for a while. When I mentioned it to @Ravenscry, he wasn’t helpful at all in advising me to save money. 
So, now, it has a new home.
The buckle was purchased from Kelly Kilgore, who has been a recognized appraiser for the Heard Museum for over 25 years. Kelly acquired the buckle from the very old collection of a family friend, who acquired it from “an old Indian trader back in the day”.
No custom belt this time, just a leather backing.
Navajo, 3 5/16” x 3 1/4", 68 grams, coin silver (tested), Cerrillos turquoise set in wonderful handmade bezels, fine stamp work, ca. 1910+/-
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I had most everyone fooled for a while, but the gig is up. It’s time for me to be honest; the whole machine shop profession was just a front, in truth, I’m a financial advisor. One that certain passionate collectors (
) love consulting, for some reason. 
Congratulations again on pulling the trigger on this one, Tom! This buckle has many great attributes: the stones and bezels ranking high among them. The turquoise is jaw dropping and vibrant against the beautiful dark color of the silver, both of which are very impressive in person. The stamps are just lovely. Thanks to Tom sharing a close up photo, some stamp mis-strikes are evident and I just love that.
The backing you made for this one really added some heft and is formed perfectly to the buckle, Tom. It looks awesome in place and it’s another standout in your stable of knockouts! 
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Thanks Aaron! In all seriousness, I know we talked about this piece a few times over the last year. It’s always good to have another set of eyes looking for any red flags.
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Beautiful buckle, and the leather backing was an excellent choice. It should protect it and cut done on the wear damage. You always have great taste in belts and buckles
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Thank you, marky! The one thing I really like about this one is that it is completely different than any of my other buckles. The fact that it fits on a standard 1.5” wide belt allows for plenty of options.
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Beautiful buckle! Such lovely turquoise and stamping.
Me thinks you’re going to have to let @Ravenscry influence you a bit more, and wear a couple belts and buckles at the same time to get the best use of your investments
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That is a beautiful buckle. I have purchased a few things from Kelly. Last time we were there she had a couple of collections she was selling.
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I forgot to mention that I moonlight as a fashion consultant. Needless to say, I agree with Zia. 
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Thanks Zia!
Hmmm…
Maybe instead, I’ll just make my own concho belt and put all of my buckles on one strap. 
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Thank you, h4t! I’ve never been to Kelly’s shop, but it’s on my list. Maybe I’ll run into American Picker, Mike Wolfe.
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that I want to see
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One more shoutout to @Ravenscry for enthusiastically bringing all of his supplies to turn our family kitchen into a highly sophisticated metallurgy laboratory to test the buckle’s silver purity. Personally, I wanted to wear a lab coat, but apparently, that isn’t necessary. 
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