CS "Sardine Lid" belt buckle, Virginia-style. Die-stamped brass, soldered brass belt hooks, lacking two. 3 1/4 x 2 1/8 in. Gavin 73; Kerksis 286; Mullinax 113-114. 

An extremely scarce "Sardine Lid" belt buckle associated with the Army of Northern Virginia. This example's letters are double-struck. Gavin speculates that "these plates appear to have been made up for one particular regiment early in the war. One has been found at Manassas and two others in an 1862 battlefield and camp site. The writer believes that the plates were worn by one of the early Mississippi regiments assigned to the Army of Northern Virginia, because one of those mentioned was recovered from a Mississippi brigade camp site of the winter of 1862-1863." (Gavin pp. 11-112). 

This example exhibits an attractive, warm, coppery patina. 

[Civil War, Union, Confederate]  [Relics, Militaria, Accouterment, Equipment, Uniforms]