The Buckle

  I had pretty good luck hunting last year, as I spent the summer working on North Haven, a small island off the coast of Maine. The place seemed relatively untouched and I left in the fall with a small box full of trinkets and coins with dates as early as 1775. The most exciting find, however, was a Civil War-era buckle I unearthed from the backside of an old stone wall. I had followed the toppled structure through a field and into a stand of new-growth trees, where my detector started giving off multiple strong signals.
  I excavated a couple of caps still attached to some broken nineteenth century liquor bottles, followed by a silver-plated salt shaker and the sound-board from a harmonica.  I was immediately struck by how close to the surface these items were, as I am every time I hunt on North Haven. You see, a hundred years ago, there wasn't a tree standing on the whole island and the ones there now haven't been there long. Therefore, there has not been a lot of organic waste--such as branches and leaves--to decompose and turn into soil; that coupled with the fact that most of the island's sub-soil consists of ledge just inches below the surface, which prevents small objects from sinking and makes farming an impressive feat.
  A  few moments later I dug what appeared to be a small buckle, about three inches in diameter, with a wreath-like design around it. Wonderful, I thought, an old brass buckle. It was at least five minutes later and ten feet away before I found the other half, emblazoned with the unmistakable Naval symbol of the "fouled anchor", or the rope-encircled anchor. There was still a small strip of wizened leather attached to the end of one side. I put the two together and marveled at what I had just found. I knew it was military, but I had no idea of its age or origin.

  I did some research when I got to a computer and found that the buckle was known as a tongue and wreath buckle and was popular in style during and just after the Civil War. I searched the internet diligently and found many similar buckles, but was ultimately unable to come up with a match. I took it to antique dealers and even a Maritime Museum, but no one could give me any more information. Over the winter, I listed it on ebay and it sold for 500.00 to a man in Barbados who was very happy to find it. He wrote me back later and said he thought it was British.