Belt buckle?

[DeTemple]

Dear all:

Please be so kind to help me identify the following object (please refer to the attachment).

Place of origin: Probably modern Algeria or Tunesia

Questions:
a) Did you ever encounter a similar object in the past?
b) What is it? Is it a belt buckle?
c) What about the types of armaments represented? Do they offer a clue concerning the bearer's ethnicity, his status (officer?) and the unit type he belonged to?

Many thanks in advance - best regards - Peter T.




---------------
Peter T.

[Matthew Amt]

Wacky!! Fastening a cuirass with a belt around the waist, as the embossed image shows, was common in the 17th century. At the same time you also see cuirasses with a flange at the bottom, and rows of embossed dots at the waist and armholes--exactly what we see here. So my guess is that this could be some sort of 17th century belt clasp. However, the style of clasp reminds me of even later pieces, and there were heavy cavalry known as cuirassiers still wearing "old-fashioned" armor even into the 19th century (compare to the modern British Horse Guards). So maybe 18th century or even 19th. French colonial, perhaps?

Vale,

Matthew

[DeTemple]

Wacky!! Fastening a cuirass with a belt around the waist, as the embossed image shows, was common in the 17th century. At the same time you also see cuirasses with a flange at the bottom, and rows of embossed dots at the waist and armholes--exactly what we see here. So my guess is that this could be some sort of 17th century belt clasp. However, the style of clasp reminds me of even later pieces, and there were heavy cavalry known as cuirassiers still wearing "old-fashioned" armor even into the 19th century (compare to the modern British Horse Guards). So maybe 18th century or even 19th. French colonial, perhaps?

Vale,

Matthew

Many thanks for your help.
:oops:
For years I had thought this buckle could be coming down to us from a period more appropriate to this forum - despite the fact that the armour depicted on this artifact does not fit the corresponding time frame. Thus, you taught me a nice lesson concerning what we perceive when we eagerly want it to be true.
Best regards - Peter T.

[LUCIUS ALFENUS AVITIANUS]

It's a french army buckle of cuiraissers, Napoleonic wars time. I have found that picture, very similar, but oval in form:

[DeTemple]

It's a french army buckle of cuiraissers, Napoleonic wars time. I have found that picture, very similar, but oval in form:

Many thanks for this identification - wonderful job.

Please accept my apologies for having bothered you all due to my overeagerness as well as ignorance with something that belongs to a different epoche .

Best regards - Peter T.

[Matthew Amt]

Nah, no apology needed! It's neat old stuff, eh? But also a good warning--the world went through a big Neo-Classical phase in the 19th century, and a lot of the stuff they churned out has been mistaken for actual ancient stuff, both by antiquarians and by cheap repro vendors. There are all kinds of places to buy a rather good repro of an American Civil War artillery short sword, but it's advertised as Roman!

Vale,

Matthew