The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

No idea how old this is but it was in an old wooden box with a whole lot of early phonograph parts that I bought at least 25 years ago. You can clearly read "VICTOR" on the Berliner Gramophone on the buckle. I'm presuming it's not real old but it shows wear consistent with a buckle that was used daily for quite a while. This buckle may be as late as the 1970's but I have no idea. I CAN tell you that the leather belt that this buckle was on was WELL worn, stiff and old looking so I cut off most of it. It's pretty hefty for a belt buckle and I sure don't need any extra weight there.

Send me a PM with interest. Thanks.

Doug

These were made in the early 1970s by a shady guy in England. Initially he only made fake 'Wild West' buckles, many marked "Tiffany" on the back, and was very successful. Prices started to soar on the resale market. When the fad started to cool and some doubts were raised he wrote an ostensibly "old" book and "republished" it to try to give some plausibility to the fakes. He supplied these in quantity to resellers, who would sell them for a few dollars or even give them away with any order. This worked for a while since a lot of people took it as proof these were not new fantasy creations. But: part of the text was blatantly plagiarized from a real scholar's article in a journal. That writer understandably went ballistic once he found out. Since the fake book didn't have a genuine copyright the scholar was able to appropriate the text, insert explanations detailing all the fakery in the book, and published that under his own copyright as "New Belt Buckles of the Old West." That finally prompted the hobby press, like Antique Trader, to write exposés and spread the word. The market for the fakes imploded.

Once the word got out that they were all fantasy pieces and the book was a sham the faker moved on to other collectable categories like Coca-Cola -- and this Victor buckle.

I have one but it's been 45 years since I had a belt wide enough to fit it!

Yeah: wore one of those in the late '70s / '80s....

Bill