Beautiful Confederate 2- piece tongue & wreath belt buckle. This is one of a variety of buckles known collectively as \"Virginia\" plates, because they\'re usually recovered or associated with locations and people connected to the Army of Northern Virginia and associated commands. This particular type is known as \"exaggerated serifs\" due to the decorative, bulging serifs on the ends of the letters. I recovered this one in 1974 in Caroline County, Virginia in the area the Union and Confederate armies moved and fought in 1864 from the Battle of Spotsylvania to the battles along the North Anna River. Buckle is in fine, original, excavated condition. Has a very dark patina mixed with light green from neutralized verdigris (the destructive green stuff- but neutralized here.) Both belt loops are bent but not cracked or broken. Note the casting vents on the back side of each part. This particular style is quite scarce. It comes complete with the Riker display / storage case. On the current regular market, this buckle would quickly sell for between $3,500 and $4,000. Probably more. I\'ve placed an extremely low opening offer on this sale with . I will ship it free by Priority Mail. NOTE: IF I RECEIVE AN ACCEPTABLE OFFER BEFORE THIS sale HAS ANY offerS, I WILL ADD A \"BUY IT NOW\" OPTION AND SELL IT IMMEDIATELY. This can ONLY be done BEFORE the sale has any offers. Once it has the first offer the sale will have to run the entire 7 days. So if you\'re seriously interested, I suggest you either offer early or contact me with a REASONABLE offer because someone else might beat you to it! But please don\'t waste my time and yours with ridiculous, lowball offers. Please note that I RARELY state dimensions in my listings, and even less often in millimeters. The reasons are very simple. First, the dimensions noted in reference books apply ONLY to THE item in THAT photo. Period. Second, NO -- repeat, NO -- buckles and buttons used in the Civil War were manufactured using metric measurements, with the exception of a few made in France. BUT- the metric system at that time was NOT the SAME as today. It wasn\'t standardized as we know it now until the 1960s! Third, aside from a few highly specialized professions (engineers, scientists, etc) it would\'ve been very difficult to find anyone in what was the US of 1860 who\'d ever HEARD of a millimeter, much less one who had a good idea what it was. In short, people who get all hung-up on precise millimeter measurements in regard to artifacts from the Civil War period are wasting time and effort on a subject that is TOTALLY IRRELEVANT. This includes many of the self-proclaimed \"experts\" out there. Basically, the whole confusing nonsense resulted from people who didn\'t have a grip on the historical context of the period (i.e., amateurs, not trained, professional historians) putting data in books that did not apply. If this ticks some people off, I really don\'t care- it\'s the truth. I never sold any of my recovered artifacts until about a year ago (not even a bullet.) I\'ve been metal detecting since 1961- over 55 years. I\'m retired from the US Army and am rated as a Permanently & Totally Disabled Veteran due to wounds and injuries received on Active Duty. I also have a Doctorate (Ph.D.) in Military History and postdoctoral study in field archaeology. I pursued this profession for a long time. I decided to finally list some of my private items for sale to supplement my fixed income and clear out some of the little \"treasures\" I\'ve accumulated throughout my very active life. All excavated artifacts I sell were recovered legally. Due to some incidents in which I provided written statements to buyers, supposedly for their own records but actually intended to jack up the prices when they resold the items, then trying to get me in the middle of their transactions, I must decline to do so or provide any information beyond what\'s in the listing. buyers/ buyer must be aware that this is an excavated historical artifact that is over 150 years old. It is delicate and should not be handled, carried around, or played with. It has already been as cleaned, washed, brushed, etc as it should be, according to professional/ academic archaeological preservation standards. No additional \"cleaning\" of any type should be undertaken. Further, any alteration to the condition of the item, no matter how slight - under Federal law and the policies of both and Paypal -- voids all return/ refund options. Before I offered anything for sale I heard horror stories of the harassment, threats, and terror tactics of the retail dealers and their cronies against people like me who refuse to do business with them. This has proven to be true. HOWEVER- EVERY HIGH-VALUE ITEM I EVER BOUGHT FROM A RETAIL \"EXPERT\" DEALER TURNED OUT TO BE A FAKE!!! AND THE ONLY FAKES I EVER GOT SCAMMED ON WERE BOUGHT FROM THESE SO-CALLED \"EXPERTS,\" \"BATTLEFIELD HISTORIANS,\" OR WHATEVER OTHER MADE-UP TITLE THEY GIVE THEMSELVES!!! Some even came with \"Letters Of Authenticity\" from another so-called \"expert.\" For many years I\'ve adamantly refused to sell to them, consign thru them, or be associated with any of them in any way. I\'ve been called as an Expert Witness against a number of them in their civil and criminal trials in State and Federal Courts for their slimy activities. I will be listing a number of Civil War artifacts for sale this week so check my other sales!