UP1174.    militia panel plate in excellent condition, the face features a raised wing eagle with patriotic shield, has laurel branches in one talon and arrows in the other, surrounded by a decorative border with 12 stars, has a pleasing mellow brass patina, the reverse has the belt loop and tongue hook, this is a well made plate with great detail and is slightly heavier than many I see

UP1173.    U S waist belt plate, it is the early style that has peened on stud hooks covered in lead, it is just as dug several years ago in Nashville, TN with only the dirt lightly rinsed off, the face has strong letters, one edge is bent downward, the reverse has full lead and all three hooks

UP1169.    Model 1839, "baby" U S waist belt plate in excellent condition, the face has a pleasing brass patina and no damage, the reverse has both hooks and full, slick lead, these were replaced by the larger three hooks plate because the two hooks didn't stand up to the weight of a fully loaded belt, if you have ever wanted an original buckle to wear today, this would be it 

UP1165.    eagle breast plate that has a cut from the bottom  to nearly the top, maybe a mighty blow from Johnny Reb's saber, or more likely a farmer's disc, just as dug with the dirt only rinsed off, good detail to the face, the reverse still has the lead, dug in Vicksburg, MS

UP1157.    Burnside eagle breast plate, scarce variant being slightly smaller than the standard breats plate, it is in good shape with an even dark brown patina, it has slight damage to the upper rim, the reverse has good lead with only slight loss at the edge

UP1144. Model 1851 sword belt plate in excellent non-dug condition, I've always thought these were about the most attractive of all the Federal plates, and this is a beautiful example, the face has the three piece applied silver wreath and great detail, it has a pleasing, mellow brass patina, the reverse has the short, narrow tongue and is bench marked 266, fantastic buckle

UP1143. U S waist belt plate in good dug condition, it is the style with the fat letters, the face has a medium brown patina, the reverse has full lead and the early style "puppy paw" stud hooks, the soldier peened his initials J W M lightly into the lead, it has a slight concave bend, displays well

UP1141. Federal carbine sling buckle in good dug condition, retains both tongue hooks which move freely, cast brass it is slightly heavier than most you see, the outer frame is in great shape, the cross bar has a slight upward bend, displays well

UP1137. Burnside eagle breast plate in good condition, the face shows wear but is in good shape, the reverse has full lead, it has one area on the left rim where the lead has been filled in, nice example of a scarce variant

UP1130. Model 1851 sword belt plate in very good condition, great detail to the face with wear on the high spots, the applied silver wreath is MIA, this style was the enlisted man's or NCO plate, retains the keeper, reverse has the narrow tongue, has a good body curve, pretty buckle

UP1121. Federal cross belt shoulder plate in great dug condition, the face shows good wear and is damage free, it has one small flattened out spot on the rim at 1:00, the reverse has full lead and retains all three of the hooks, rare to find one of these with the hooks still intact

EW1102. non-dug Model 1851 sword belt plate in great shape, in my opinion the most attractive of the Federal buckles, the face has strong detail, the silver wreath is firmly attached, it has a mellow brass patina, the reverse has the narrow tongue

UP1094. British made tongue for a two piece buckle, this is a buckle I'm not familiar with, I showed it to several of my dealer and collector buddies and the consensus is pre-war militia but some thought it was post war, I do know it was found in Mobile, AL, it is heavily made, the belt loop is 2.25" tall, disc diameter is 1.25", the design is very similar to an early rifleman button, either way a cool military tongue

UP1085. the earliest Model 1839 "baby" U S buckle with wire hooks, this style was made from 1839 - 1844 when the wire hooks were replaced with a brass hook set, the face is in good shape with only slight rim damage and one rust bubble, the reverse has full lead and remnants of the wire hooks, rare plate to find

UP1079. early style S N Y waist belt plate , the face has several dings , it is the style with the narrow letters, this style was produced from 1858 - early 1862, the reverse has full lead, one belt stud and the tongue hook are MIA

UP1060. early militia panel plate in good shape, it features a droop wing eagle clutching arrows and laurel leaves in it's talons, it is surrounded by 13 stars and a small shield, the reverse is missing the attachment hardware but you can see where it was, cool early plate that was used up into the Civil War

UP1049. beautiful, non-dug, Model 1851 sword belt plate, it is the officer's style with the cast wreath, fantastic detail to the face, the reverse has the mid size tongue denoting an 1863 production date, by far the most attractive of the Federal buckles