August 18 & 19, 2020 Edged Weapons, Armor, & Militaria
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 8/18/2020
A spectacular framed grouping of Civil War buckles and buttons actually recovered, many years ago, on the battlefield of Gettysburg. This display, consigned from the estate of a prominent Maryland Civil War collector, prominently features at bottom a Confederate "wishbone" frame buckle with its original brown ink tag reading "Rebel," and noted on the reverse of the frame to have been found in the 1870s near the "Angle," which (as every student of the battle knows) refers the the angle of of the stonewall on Cemetery Ridge defended by Union forces and the target of Pickett's Charge. The collection has been archivally and professionally framed and mounted with a colored lithograph of James Walker's famous painting of the climax of Pickett' Charge, published by the "National Art Company in Boston." Below this are mounted 4 buttons recovered from the battlefield. From left to right, these are a Confederate Block-A artillery button, a U.S. general and staff officer's button, a North Carolina state seal button, and a New York state seal button, representing the CS and US services and 1 southern and 1 northern state prominently involved in the battle and the war. Between these buttons are mounted a U.S. oval plate at left and right, and a classic Confederate general service belt buckle termed by collectors a
"wish-bone frame buckle" from its simple, but effective open construction and use of 2-pronged tongue. All 3 buckles are in very good condition, and as noted the Confederate buckle retains a very nice label, certainly indicating it is an early battlefield pick-up. We have not examined these out of the frame to see whether the US plates are buckles or cartridge box plates. The plate on the left still has some leather behind it and may be a box plate. The one on the right seems to be a buckle. Either way, these are Gettysburg plates with an impeccable provenance. SR
Item Dimensions: 34 - 1/2" x 22".