I have a question on the care of this belt. I love how the patina has developed and I’m afraid to ruin it. Do I just gently polish it with a cloth to remove any dust?
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If you favor the patina that it already has, which looks beautiful, simply leave it. It will naturally wear at the points it contacts other clothing and that will provide some stunning, natural contrast.
If you’re wanting to remove old polishing compound that looks to be in some of the recesses of the stampwork, this can be accomplished with a soft toothbrush and warm soapy water. I’ve performed this multiple times and have yet to lose any of the original patina on some of my older belts.
If dust is all you’re wanting to remove, my thought would be to very lightly brush it with a soft toothbrush or very soft cloth. But keep in mind that any pressure at all with a cloth will slightly brighten the silver.
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Great belt. I would start by removing the verdigris, likely caused by salt in sweat from a previous owner.
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Beautiful belt. I love the buckle portion. I think I speak for most of us when I say I can’t wait to see your other pieces you inherited.
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@mmrogers I have another note. I recently received a comment on Reddit. Someone mentioned that the central concho stamps were done on a press as they can see the press shadow. Is this a common thing for the central stamps to be made on a press and all the other details by hand? It doesn’t detract from the beauty of the belt to me and I don’t plan on selling it.
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I’m anxious to hear @mmrogers‘s thoughts, but would you mind sharing a photo of two conchos, one placed directly above the other, taken as perpendicular to them as you can, and in some decent light? This will provide us with a good shot to compare the central medallions.
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The second photo is perfect! Thank you. Unlike some of our members, I don’t have the ability to split the photo, alter transparency, and overlay the conchos, but these two components that I’ve pointed to with red arrows look uniquely spaced, and I don’t see anything similar on the other concho in this light (in this orientation or with either rotated 180°). If this is the case, it would support the idea that these features were completed by hand, as opposed to being done in a press with a die set; which would repeatedly produce the features that are machined into the punch (male) and die (female) of the die set.
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I agree, Aaron. I’m not seeing anything to suggest these concho were made in a press. To me, it appears the central medallion was created as a result of filing away the surrounding surface to give it a “raised” effect. Then adding the radiating lines with a cold chisel.
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I certainly do not have the knowledge of these two gentlemen, but reading this made me remember a thread we had quite a while back about conchos being made with a press (although this thread focused on the buckle). I’m including the link, but most of the information is toward the beginning of it. There are great pictures that illustrate the difference.
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@TAH @Ravenscry you are correct that the pattern isn’t exact on both of the buckles. I examined all 4 conchos and they are all different. I think what the person on Reddit was mentioning that the impressions on the backside of the belt suggested that it was pressed
You are all so knowledgeable and I’m learning tons here!
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Everyone will no doubt have their own thoughts, but to me, many of the dark areas you can see on the reverse of the concho look to exist from the silver being worked on the top side. It’s known as “transfer”, and just as it sounds, it is the transfer of the imperfections of the working surface, like an anvil, to the reverse side when the stamping and chiseling is being performed on the other.
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Given the differences in the pattern’s spacing and apparent hand-worked look, that (in my opinion) negates the possibility that the pattern could have been pressed, and only shores up the idea that they were chiseled, as @TAH mentions, by hand. 
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To further the discussion, the small raised “lips” around the holes on the back are from the holes being hand-punched with a tool (an earlier technique) rather than being drilled (a later technique).
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I agree, Tom and Aaron. These look completely and individually handmade to me. Zero indication of anything but hand tooling. The raised effect around the central radial line pattern is chased into the silver with a beveling tool by hand. The beveling tool is straight on one side, and has a rounded tapered surface on the other. It’s hammer chased into the metal around the central radial line element creating the raised effect.
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@mmrogers thanks again! This is very reassuring. It’s also great information to have when I’m shopping for future additions to my collection.
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@Steve Super helpful, thank you
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