I didn’t want to take away from a new members post about their buckle, but @TAH posting the info about spincast pieces made me wonder about my mom’s buckle. I always assumed it was handmade (told it was sandcast), but now I’m not so sure. What do you very knowledgeable members think? I guess I’m still not quite understanding what “flow lines” look like exactly.
Thanks!!
Only my opinion but it looks like bubble voids in the wax from casting and file finishing marks.
Hey @Ziacat, I’m not wanting to step on @TAH’s toes, but the lines you point out in your photo appear to me to be simple scratches.
The spin casting method makes use of centrifugal force to “flow” the molten silver into the cavities of the mold. The molten silver is poured while the mold is spinning, and the flow lines that @TAH pointed out on @Rick8’s buckle can be the result of insufficient casting temperature, underfilling, or issues with the wax pattern used for the mold.
It’s a make more, more quickly approach, as opposed to the traditional casting method.
@TAH and @mmrogers, when you both find convenient, please correct me or provide more valued insight than my own thoughts and opinions, which stem from a very limited amount of experience with this method when we worked with a local company on some silicone molds for the process.
Thank you! I kind of always assumed they were file lines, but didn’t know. So I’m still wondering if it’s sandcast or wax, as @StevesTrail mentioned. By the time I knew enough to ask my mom about it she didn’t remember, she bought it in '69 (I was 4 so I had no clue). But a number of people out west told me they thought it was sandcast.
Lost wax cast, @Ziacat. Vacuum is more likely. Looks like some solder fill was used on the back.
Well that’s disappointing. At least it has a really nice stone in it.
There’s quite a bit of lost wax cast made from sand cast masters floating around out there. Much faster and less expensive to make in quantity. Less processing time after the fact as well, since there usually isn’t as much clean up involved, and the items can be tumbled en mass to a semi finished state.
Yeah, that’s even more disappointing. It’s such a pretty buckle from the front, with very possibly a smokey Bisbee stone in it.
I had it in the sandcast thread, so I went back and edited that.
Lost wax is still very much a skilled, labor intensive process. Would love to see of shot of the buckle from the front.
Thank you, I’ll try to snap a good one. It was my mom’s, and she loved it so it will always be special. I think she bought it at the Hopi house at Grand Canyon, but I’m not 100% on that.
Here is the front …
It originally had a nicer patina, but when I had the stone tightened they polished it a wee bit too much for my taste.
And it’s always good to know the truth!
Nothing fundamentally wrong with or “non-traditional” about lost wax casting. It’s been around for thousands, and thousands of years, and the vast majority of jewelry produced today still uses this process.
It’s gotten a bad rap in the Native American jewelry world because it isn’t the process originally used by Native American silversmiths in the 19th century. The real rub is that lost wax cast is so often misrepresented as sand cast because sand cast usually carries a higher perceived value in the eyes of the consumer.
There are plenty of Native American jewelers using the lost wax process today, and why shouldn’t they? Everyone else in the world is free to do so without the implied stain of in-authenticity. As long as the method of creation is honestly represented, an artist should be able to work in any medium they choose.
Really lovely buckle, @Ziacat!
Thank you! And I don’t think this was misrepresented to my mom, because she had no recollection of what they told her. It was what I was told later on when I would wear it while traveling out in the southwest. Mom would have cared about how well something was made, but if she loved it, it wouldn’t have mattered to her the what the exact process was.
Thank you again for all the good information!
Hi Zia,
Good chance the seller didn’t even know how this buckle was made and simply described it as “sandcast” by default. Please don’t let my post take away from your mother’s buckle. Everything about it and its story is beautiful. Your mother had great taste in Native jewelry and it shows in this piece. I’d wear that thing with pride in a heart beat. 
This is all that matters 
I understand your curiosity and wanting to learn about it, but I must say that I concur with @TAH on all points. This is a lovely buckle with heartsrings attached, and a definitive winner in my book.
I should probably change the title of that thread to “The Tufa Cast / Sandcast / Centrifuge Spin Cast / Cement Cast / Lost Wax Cast and any other type of casting Thread”. 
Thank you, @Ravenscry and @TAH, you are so kind. No worries, I still love it!
@TAH, I don’t know if they even told my mom anything about it. My brother had a big box with my dad’s vacay receipts and hotel reservation letters (that’s how you did it waaaay back then in the 60’s) in his basement. I should take them off my sister in law’s hands, and see if there is a receipt for the buckle.
@Ravenscry and @TAH, I wore it today with joy!
Pretty kitty 
Our kitties like rubbing their chins on the hubby’s leather belts. 
