Buckles are something I know very little about. Don’t have many in my collection but am starting to get interested in them. Picked these up in Colorada a couple weeks ago from an older man who was selling them for a friend. The price seemed right and of course I fell in love with the designs - especially the 15 stone buckle. The first two are unmarked and the last one has the name Randy Little scratched into it and an RL. Would love to have you take a look, give me your thoughts on their design, age, value, maker, etc. etc. I will upload the first two with this post as I can only upload 5 pics at a time. The third buckle will follow with my attempt to get a good shot of the name on the back.
Appreciate you help as always.
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All of the buckles look 70’s vintage. I’d call the scalloped trophy type buckle a Turquoise sampler, since it appears to have stones from various mines. Some of it looks like Bisbee with heavy matrix, one or two like Kingman, one or two might be Blue Gem, Others look like treated stone of one sort or another,.
The backplate on the last buckle looks like the silversmith used a fairly light gauge backplate and got it a bit too hot at some point. If you look at the edges of the back it also looks like he or she might not have had quite enough silver to completely pull it off, as there are areas at the bottom and right side where the half round border extends slightly beyond the edges of the plate.
As for retail value an honest assessment would be $200 or less for the first buckle, and perhaps a bit more for the center buckle ( lower grade Sleeping Beauty nugget and Mediterranean coral).The third I would estimate at $150 or less. You’ll find lots of buckles of this age and quality at gun shows, flea markets, and resale shops where they often sit for years.
I’m going to venture a guess that you are in business to make a profit (if a collector please disregard this advice). With that in mind, my personal take is that if you actually want to sell these, have them professionally polished. Purists will tell you to keep the patina, but patina and age are only selling points if the materials and workmanship provide true underlying value. These pieces were lower commercial quality, turn and burn type items back when they were made, and these kinds of items don’t tend to accumulate value with age.
When these pieces were made it was likely the popularity of Indian Jewelry, and the “Ooh shiny!” factor that sold them. The market has long since moved on, but there’s a segment of the market that still responds to the “Ooh shiny!” factor, and that is likely where you’ll find cash customers for these pieces.
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I thought I saw some Bisbee in there too, but I was questioning myself due to the overall quality of the buckle, workmanship, and other stones
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Thanks for the help! Always appreciate y’all.
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