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Philippine Made Belt Buckles


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PhilippineBuckles

@Hink411 -- Hey Chris, thank you for showing everyone your collection of Liberty Buckles! You have some really nice ones. I like the VX-5 Vampires Commanding Officer as well as the German U-Boat "fantasy" buckle (which my guess is that some USN sailor/officer had custom made either to wear, as a souvenir, or as a joke). So far I have not seen any foreign navy Philippine belt buckles, but I do suspect that some exist.

 

@dpcsdan - Thank you for posting your VP-47 buckle. I remember this selling on ebay back in 2012. I really liked with the smoke coming out the "tailpipe" which helps indicate (along with the clouds and distant shoreline) that the plane is in flight.

 

@easterneagle -- It's always nice to see a USAF show up for sale, but someone else can add this one to their collection for $100. Here is a USAF buckle for E.E. Branson

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vforvictory1945

I plan on heading over to Vintage Productions this Saturday 10/05/19, and will photograph Bob's available Philippines belt buckles. For myself I'm pretty much focused on buckles up through the Korean War or 1950s at latest but if you guys want me to photograph all his buckles, up through Vietnam era and beyond, I can do that. I will try and post them all on this forum thread by Sunday evening at latest. If anyone is interested in purchasing any of the buckles from Vintage Productions' current inventory you can contact Bob for pricing at https://www.vintageproductions.com/ .

 

Thanks, Ryan

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PhilippineBuckles

Hey Ryan - I for one would be interested in seeing good photos of all of Bob's Philippine buckles if you're willing to photograph them. If you're lucky, perhaps Bob will let you photograph his personal collection which he posted a (low resolution) group shot in an earlier post.

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vforvictory1945

Late 50's US Naval doctor's belt buckle I purchased (SOLD) from VINTAGEPRODUCTIONS today.

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One of the buckles I forgot to photograph. Here's an instagram photo. This buckle is also AVAILABLE from VINTAGEPRODUCTIONS.

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I will be posting some Philippines Belt Buckles I photographed at Vintage Productions today. The buckles posted will be shown as NFS (Bob's Collection), AVAILABLE (Bob's Current Inventory), and SOLD (Buckles I Purchased Today)

 

This first buckle is NFS and part of the VINTAGEPRODUCTIONS collection.

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Another really cool buckle that is NFS and part of the VINTAGEPRODUCTIONS collection.

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The last of the NFS belt buckle photos. I was told this ship started the Vietnam War (correct me if I got this part wrong as I'm not very schooled on my Vietnam War history). This buckle is part of the VINTAGEPRODUCTIONS collection.

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The first of the AVAILABLE for purchase belt buckles at VINTAGEPRODUCTIONS. This one includes a canvas belt.

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Nice 1945 Signal Corps belt buckle AVAILABLE for purchase from VINTAGEPRODUCTIONS.

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This one is a cool late 40's or early 50's Coast Guard buckle with name on top edge that is AVAILABLE for purchase from VINTAGEPRODUCTIONS.

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Here's the nice large sized late 1940's / early 1950's USN Gunner's Mate belt buckle AVAILABLE for purchase from VINTAGEPRODUCTIONS.

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Early 60's USN Aerographer belt buckle AVAILABLE from VINTAGEPRODUCTIONS.

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I'm guessing this one is an early 60's Vietnam era named USN Aviation Electronics Technician buckle AVAILABLE at VINTAGEPRODUCTIONS.

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1950's USN Cruise belt buckle AVAILABLE from VINTAGEPRODUCTIONS.

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Here's a Late 50's / Early 60's Naval Aviator belt buckle available at VINTAGEPRODUCTIONS. The Fighter Squadron is engraved on the top edge. 156? I can't recall.

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Guessing this one is an early 60's Marine Corps Parachutist buckle AVAILABLE from VINTAGEPRODUCTIONS.

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Likely early 60's USN logo belt buckle AVAILABLE from VINTAGEPRODUCTIONS.

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Vietnam War era Coast Guard belt buckle AVAILABLE from VINTAGEPRODUCTIONS.

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Here's a newer 1980s? belt buckle with nice Coast Guard Eagle logo AVAILABLE at VINTAGEPRODUCTIONS.

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Late 40's Motor Machinist Mate USN belt buckle this is SOLD. I picked this one up from VINTAGEPRODUCTIONS today along with the two others posted below.

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Late 1950's / Early 1950's era USN Cruise belt buckle (SOLD). I picked this one up at VINTAGEPRODUCTIONS today as well. Notice the creative spelling of TINIAN. Engraved name on top is NICK.

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Another cool 1945 buckle AVAILABLE from VINTAGE PRODUCTIONS.

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Nice Vietnam War era ATC buckle with belt AVAILABLE from VINTAGEPRODUCTIONS.

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Salvage Sailor

I will be posting some Philippines Belt Buckles I photographed at Vintage Productions today. The buckles posted will be shown as NFS (Bob's Collection), AVAILABLE (Bob's Current Inventory), and SOLD (Buckles I Purchased Today)

 

This first buckle is NFS and part of the VINTAGEPRODUCTIONS collection.

 

Nice buckle, Submarine Service Radioman from the look of it.

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Salvage Sailor
On 10/5/2019 at 8:16 PM, vforvictory1945 said:

Nice Vietnam War era ATC buckle with belt AVAILABLE from VINTAGEPRODUCTIONS.

 

USN Aircrewman (Airedale), Naval Support Activity Saigon

 

NAVSUPPACT Saigon Plaque 1970 001.jpg

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PhilippineBuckles

Thank you Ryan for posting all the photographs! And thank you to Bob for letting you photograph them!

 

Lot's of cool buckles!

 

Not the fanciest buckle (Post #201 Philippines 1945, John M. Beck) of those just posted, but I have the "brother" (perhaps literally) buckle for Geralo E. Beck, Manila P.I. 1945. Somewhat amazing how internet can bring things together again.

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vforvictory1945

Salvage Sailor - Thanks for setting me straight on a couple of those buckles!

 

PhilippineBuckles - That is quite the coincidence on the buckles that both you and Bob have. That would be crazy if the two guys were brothers. I've seen a few other brass toned Philippines buckles on my Worthpoint searches. They definite seem to be rarer than the others. Pretty cool.

 

Regarding the photos from VINTAGEPRODUCTIONS I only photographed about half of what he has in stock and mostly the earlier ones.

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vforvictory1945

Here's the temporary buckle arrangement I have going until the display rack comes in. One mistake I made on a couple of the buckles that I wouldn't do again was polishing them to a high luster. I did it on 3 or 4 of the buckles using metal polish, but in doing so you loose that brassy flash rust highlighting in the background and dulled down patina in the foreground. You definitely see the details better unpolished and you keep the pieces most original as well. Learn from my mistake. Never again! :(

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vforvictory1945

Trenchbuff & Hink441 - Thanks for the kind words and you're most welcome. I'm constantly on the hunt for these buckles as I'm sure you guys are. Other than Ebay, Vintage Productions, and Flying Tiger Antiques I haven't really been able to locate these buckles at any local flea markets. I'm assuming Militaria shows or flea markets could have them but I have been only really been finding them online to date or at Vintage Productions warehouse showroom in Huntington Beach, CA. Happy hunting and collecting!!! Ryan

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vforvictory1945

Here's a real unique one. This picture came from Worthpoint but I can't recall ever seeing a Philippines Railroad related GI belt buckle like this one, Very cool indeed!

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PhilippineBuckles

@vforvictory1945 -- Hey Ryan, your collection looks real nice as displayed! I'm glad you learned your lesson about not aggressively trying to clean or polish any more buckles. The only thing I do is sometimes is to use hawthorns to pick off any contaminates that are stuck in the engravings -- hawthorns (nature's wooden toothpick) won't scratch / damage the metal. I will also sometimes dip q-tips in acetone and then wipe off organic contaminates.

 

Gift buckles are kind of neat as they show that sailors & soldiers appreciated the skill of Philippine buckle engravers as well as reminding us how they were thinking about loved ones back home.

 

In terms of RR buckles, here is a picture of an undated Manila Railroad buckle which has an engraved train engine (BTW it looks like someone polished this buckle at some point).

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vforvictory1945

@PhilippineBuckles - Bill, thankfully when I did the polishing it was just with some metal polish and a microfiber cloth so there wasn't any damage or swirling, but just loss of patina. I do like your toothpick or acetone idea though as I have a few buckles with some old gunk on them that could come off though I would like to keep the rest of the patina.

 

That Manila Railroad buckle is pretty cool . I saw that on Worthpoint a while back. I wonder who owns those two Railroad buckles as they are very unique and cool.

 

The level of skill and detail work on the Philippines buckles, especially the pre 1960's examples that have nearly the entire surface area covered with some sort of engraving, are quite fascinating. Its even more amazing given the size of these buckles, as it seems they are in the 1-3/8" x 2-1/2" range mostly, so the craftsman had to hammer everything out in such a small area. I definitely have a great respect for the craftsmanship involved in these buckles. I wonder what the average labor hour allotment was for the average belt buckle? No clue.

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vforvictory1945

Easterneagle87 - That's cool one.

 

Here's a late 40's / early 50's Coast Guard buckle I picked up a couple of weeks ago.

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When I was in the Navy in the mid 1980s I had this made in Olongapo, PI. Wore it on the ship for several years. I didn't realize the tradition went back to WWII, but I'm glad I had it made (overnight if I recall).

 

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vforvictory1945

USN Patrol Squadron Four (VP-4) stationed in Naha, Okinawa, Japan circa 1956. The squadron flew reconnaissance and Anti-submarine Warfare (AWA) missions to counter the Communist threat to the islands of Matsu and Quemoy. (Source: Squadron History - The Skinny Dragons). My guess is this buckle is in the 1956 - 1959 range. I believe the rank is Aviation Electronics Technician but please correct me if I'm wrong.

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  • 2 weeks later...
easterneagle87

So now that I've seen these, I have been gathering a "few" myself. Never know something exists and then they start popping up all over the place. Here is a grouping of 9 that I got on an ebay deal.

USN AIR WARFARE
USN OFFICER SURFACE WARFARE
ENLISTED SURFACE WARFARE
OFFICER USN NAVAL FLIGHT OFFICER
F-14 FIGHTER JET
F-18 FIGHTER JET
NAVY FLIGHT SURGEON
BATTLE SHIP MISOURI BB-63

MEDICAL CADUCEUS

 

They're nothing special, except for the USS Missouri one (it was marked as "sample"). Found out he is a retired Navy Chief who is cleaning out his stuff and quitting selling so he can go fishing. He told me his wife had a shop out side of one the Florida Naval Bases and they were purchased and shipped from the big PI back in the 80's. Even though they are modern and not named, I still think they are cool. Just another rabbit hole to toss money at.

They each came sealed in the original cellophane wrapper. I got the last of his singles but understand he still has Air Warefare ones left.

 

 

 

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