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Philippine Made Belt Buckles


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PhilippineBuckles

@easterneagle87 -- Nice grouping. Thanks for posting. I personally like the F-14 & F-18 ones the best. Could you please post a close up of the USS Missouri buckle? I'd like to see what is engraved on the bottom line.

 

Just a note that this thread now has over 50,000 views -- thank you everyone for reading and contributing!

 

Although you might not find the following buckle very exciting, it is only the second plain (non-engraved) Philippines buckle I've come across. The back clasp with the home-plate shaped opening is what identifies it as a Philippines buckle and dates it to circa 1945. That said, what is different about this buckle is that it is a brass rather than the gray metal of most of the engraved buckles.

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vforvictory1945

In response to Bill's last post about the brass baseball diamond belt buckle I just picked this one up. Its the only buckle I own with the diamond backing true and true brass tone. It seems on some of the other buckles they are either chrome plated over brass or some type of silver metal and when the silver metal is engraved the newly carved metal rusts slightly to produce the golden huge. I'm not sure though as this is only a guess. This is my conclusion though as when I polished a few buckles a month or so ago the polishing removed the brass tone so I suspect that it was just surface rust? That's my best guess.

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USS ESSEX CVA-9

 

You paid a fortune for this piece! I was shocked that it actually sold! I bought all of the patches that came from the grouping! Interesting it ended up in Canada! Very nice piece glad to see it went to a forum member!

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My latest acquisitions are these two Radioman (RM) buckles from the 1960s What I find interesting is that they are for postings far from the Philippines...

NAVCOMSTAPHIL

COMFAW-5 NAS NORVA

 

 

Hi philippinebuckles,

You bought the pair of Radioman buckles from me. They are nice.

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vforvictory1945

Chris - Thank you very much. Your Barometric Buzzards and 1947 Mermaid / Fish belt buckles are definitely two of the best Philippines buckles I've seen to date!

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Here is one I got by chance. The owner was a career USN pilot and had asked me to sell his G1 patched jacket. I had listed it on ebay and sold for a good price. So much so the owner was very happy and offered to throw a couple of more items in for the buyer that went with the jacket. I emailed buyer asking for a few days before shipping so owner could get me the items. Buyer hit the roof, screamed I was trying to scam ect ect so I shipped the jacket the same day. Bob brought over the items a few days latter with this buckle and a shrapnel riddeled DD M35 helmet. Bob had flown the Berlin airlift and thats where the helmet came from. I still have both items today

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vforvictory1945

@vintageproductions - That has to be the craziest Philippines buckle I've seen to date!

 

@skir - Your buckle is super cool. That winged shield & anchor for VR-8 is expertly done and I really like that style of the angled engraving on the named Bob McIntire section. That style of engraving seems alot harder to find on the Philippine Buckles and I haven't seen it done on anything newer than 1949. Great acquisition!!!

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PhilippineBuckles

@vintageproductions - Thank you for posting the "Rape Pillage Plunder Burn" Viking boat buckle. This is one of those buckles which I imagine officers might not have (officially) appreciated seeing someone wear while on duty!

 

@skir - Cool buckle. Thanks for sharing. The (VR-8) Shield & Anchor with wings is neat.

 

@vforvictory1945 -- Hey Ryan, if your talking about the unique font of "Bob McIntire", here are some earlier buckles using it...

 

1945 Jack R. Kirk

1946 Geza Bela Fliezar

1945 James C. Hanks

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vforvictory1945

@philippinesbuckles - Yes those are all great examples. That style is my favorite type of engraving on the Philippines buckles. I hope to find at least one someday. Thanks for sharing!

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Found another one today in an off the beaten path antique/junk shop. I doubt they knew what it was. After a little Internet digging I found his obituary. Art (Arthur) Howard Von Steuben. He died back in 2017. He was a Vietnam Veteran and Yeoman Senior Chief Petty Officer. No disrespect meant and nothing personal against the CPOSenior but this has to get the award for the most boring Philippne buckle. The center field is a high polish. Super clean. I wonder if he ever served on the USS Von Steuben?

 

 

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easterneagle87

Found another one today in an off the beaten path antique/junk shop. I doubt they knew what it was. After a little Internet digging I found his obituary. Art (Arthur) Howard Von Steuben. He died back in 2017. He was a Vietnam Veteran and Yeoman Senior Chief Petty Officer. No disrespect meant and nothing personal against the CPOSenior but this has to get the award for the most boring Philippne buckle. The center field is a high polish. Super clean. I wonder if he ever served on the USS Von Steuben?

 

 

 

There are a lot more boring ones. This one is atleast personalized. Good find!

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Found another one today in an off the beaten path antique/junk shop. I doubt they knew what it was. After a little Internet digging I found his obituary. Art (Arthur) Howard Von Steuben. He died back in 2017. He was a Vietnam Veteran and Yeoman Senior Chief Petty Officer. No disrespect meant and nothing personal against the CPOSenior but this has to get the award for the most boring Philippne buckle. The center field is a high polish. Super clean. I wonder if he ever served on the USS Von Steuben?

 

 

. The one I wore the most is like this one, but with my crossed SM flags. These were already made up. You picked it out of the case and wrote your name down, paid the 20 or so Pesos and went and had a beer. Theyd have it done for you in an hour or so. How fancy you got, depended on how much time and Pesos you had to spend.
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Found another one today in an off the beaten path antique/junk shop. I doubt they knew what it was. After a little Internet digging I found his obituary. Art (Arthur) Howard Von Steuben. He died back in 2017. He was a Vietnam Veteran and Yeoman Senior Chief Petty Officer. No disrespect meant and nothing personal against the CPOSenior but this has to get the award for the most boring Philippne buckle. The center field is a high polish. Super clean. I wonder if he ever served on the USS Von Steuben?

 

 

 

Wow! Small world. Art and I both served as yeoman together on the CINCPACFLT staff in Pearl Harbor. Art was VADM Hunt Hardisty's flag yeoman. He was a really great guy. My PI buckle is similarly as boring, but oh the memories :) :) :) As a side note, my wife's uncle made these buckles for sailors from the 60s to the 80s. Just had a nice visit with him last year in Olongapo City. He still sells souvenirs to merchant seaman and I love getting together with him and his family for fun and karaoke.

 

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Hi trenchbuff,

 

Great story. It is a small world. I found his buckle probably a 2 hour drive from where he resided. The people who own the shop go everywhere to buy. I wonder if they found it at his estate sale or bought it from somebody who was there.

 

PS your buckle is only a SAMPLE...... :D

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Hi trenchbuff,

 

Great story. It is a small world. I found his buckle probably a 2 hour drive from where he resided. The people who own the shop go everywhere to buy. I wonder if they found it at his estate sale or bought it from somebody who was there.

 

PS your buckle is only a SAMPLE...... :D

 

Good one :D

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  • 2 weeks later...
vforvictory1945

I've been trying to figure out if the attached buckle is an early Philippines variety or something else? It looks similar to the Fort Mills style buckles that were in the 1936 - 1940 time frame. With a bit of research it appears the MORS AB ALTO is latin for "Death From Above". You'd think the buckle would have to be 1940's because of the use of US Army Air Corps. The back also has early Philippines styling. The pictures come from Worthpoint and the buckle appears to have sold on Ebay within the last 5 years.

 

On a similar topic, I'd be interested to see people's earliest Philippines belt buckles. I have a US Army Eagle design dated 1939 - 1940 and I believe Bill has a US Army Eagle motif buckle dated 1936 as well as some early Fort Mills designs, one I recall dated 1936 - 1940. I'm just kind of curious to see what's out there as I have pics of five Fort Mills buckles and two early US Army ones, but that's it. The Fort Mills ones seem to be fashioned into really cool contoured shapes unlike most of the standard rectangular PI buckles.

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