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Philippine Made Belt Buckles


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vforvictory1945

@hink441 - Wow, that's definitely a tragic story but very interesting to know the history.  It seems that only a handful of these named PI belt buckles are even traceable due to the age and lack of information on the web.  Its so much nicer to be able to put a face with a name and even better when you can find the GI's back story / war history / obituary info.

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vforvictory1945

Here's an interesting Kodachrome slide up on Ebay entitled:  U.S. Navy Men w/ Python Snake in the Philippines in 1950's.  The end guy holding the head of the snake appears to be wearing a PI buckle though the belt looks like leather and not the typical fabric or denim belts you see.  I could be wrong though.

 

I'm currently on the hunt for any 1930's - early 60's original photos showing US GI's wearing their PI buckles or PI craftsman making the buckles.  It's a tough task to find any photographic history as it seems these buckles may have been stashed away and only worn on dress occasions?  No clue.

pi.jpg

buckle.jpg

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easterneagle87

Have been chatting w/ forum member ‘vforvictoty1945” and he directed me over to Worthpoint for other examples. This large size Liberty buckle stuck out immediately as it combines both Army and Navy elements. Text: US Navy Corpsman, Philippines with an Army Combat Medic Badge or CMB as the center piece.

34744C5D-D26F-41C7-AC77-89315DBC8D0A.jpeg

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vforvictory1945

I have been trying to catalog as many Philippines made buckles that I can find online into an easily searchable archive on Instagram and have over 650 buckles cataloged to date.  You should be able to view these links on a desktop without an Instagram account but if any of the links don't work please let me know.

 

Please note:  once in each link click on the pictures to enlarge them a bit.  You can also use the small white arrows as most of the buckles pictured have multiple shots, usually at least front and back and sometimes sides if there is engraving.  Pics came predominantly from Worthpoint, Ebay, this thread, and my collection.

 

All buckles can be viewed by clicking the link below:  

 

https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/philippinesbeltbuckle/

 

For 1930's buckles only click:  https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/philippinesbeltbuckle1930s/

 

For 1940's buckles only click:  https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/philippinesbeltbuckle1940s/

 

For 1950's buckles only click:  https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/philippinesbeltbuckle1950s/

 

For 1960's buckles only click:  https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/philippinesbeltbuckle1960s/

 

For 1970's buckles only click:  https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/philippinesbeltbuckle1970s/

 

For 1980's buckles only click:  https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/philippinesbeltbuckle1980s/

 

For 1990's buckles only click:  https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/philippinesbeltbuckle1990s/

 

There may be some year misidentifications but I believe for the most part the 1930's - 1960's ones are correctly identified but I know for sure there are mix ups in the 1970's - 1990's categories.

 

I try to add to these links all the time so there should be new buckles added as I find other pictures.  Enjoy!  Ryan

PI BELT BUCKLE ARCHIVE.png

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vforvictory1945

Apparently Instagram has all hashtag links disabled through the election so for the time time being all buckles can be accessed on my main IG account link, https://www.instagram.com/philippinesbeltbucklearchive/, though you'll have to pick through a bit of non-buckle content.  All links shown on the post above should be back working correctly the week of 11/09/20, all things being equal.  Thanks for nothing Instagram!  👎

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easterneagle87

Fellow forum member bird dogged this for me. VERY unusual, fire fighter themed;  AFD, Training Instructor. 

 

They offered a reduction and I got sucked in. 😉 

AFD Trng Instr.jpg

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vforvictory1945

Speaking of prices $345.00 is the most I've seen any Philippines Belt Buckle fetch on Ebay to date.  This buckle below was sold by Flying Tiger Antiques earlier this year after being up for sale for close to two years.  It's definitely a good one with really nice engraving.  Whoever got it has a really nice buckle, price aside.  Just so you're aware, anything Flying Tiger has up on Ebay listed with a Buy-it-Now can be purchased for 20% less on their website; so that's always something to keep in mind.  

 

It seems like the buckle prices are really all over the board and it always depends on who is bidding at the time and how the item is listed or if it's incorrectly listed (keywords are everything).  Whatever a certain buckle is worth to you is really what you should pay.  Many of these buckles are true works of art and compared with other intricately detailed theater made items they are actually priced rather affordably.

FLIGHT SURGEON 1945.png

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PhilippineBuckles

Thanks Ryan for sharing all the pictures on Instagram.  Of the buckles you posted, this may be the favorite one that I've never seen before.  I love the eagle and the actual belt is really cool too! 

rman1957.jpg

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vforvictory1945
3 hours ago, PhilippineBuckles said:

Thanks Ryan for sharing all the pictures on Instagram.  Of the buckles you posted, this may be the favorite one that I've never seen before.  I love the eagle and the actual belt is really cool too! 

rman1957.jpg

 

Bill - That's definitely a really nice combo.  I believe Bob of Vintage Productions told me that he sold that one to the now owner some years ago.  I would be curious to see a picture of the back side too to see how the buckle engages with the leather belt as you don't really see the PI buckles teamed up with leather belts due to the nature of how the clamping mechanism functions.

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vforvictory1945

I've been intrigued by both of these PI buckles for a while.

 

Firstly, the L.L. Devine buckle for the P-697 boat I was told was an Air Craft Rescue boat and not a PT Boat.  I'm curious because I thought only PT boats hat torpedo tubes.  Perhaps I'm wrong.  For anybody who has watched, They Were Expendable, with the PT boats stationed out of Cavite you'd think there would be at least a few PI buckles out there for PT boat captains or crew members.  On a side note it seems all PT boats I've seen have a PT-(number) on the side and this one has a P-(number) so I was just curious.

 

The second buckle, the U.S.S. St. Paul for Pedro L.G. Flores and the CA-73 Cruiser interests me because it appears to

be one of the earliest PI buckles I've seen to have have a full battleship / cruiser / destroyer engraved on the front.  My guess is this buckle dates somewhere in the 1950's.

 

Neither of these buckles are mine, pics come from Worthpoint, but I'm really interested in the earlier PI buckles with the full ship motif.  If anyone has any others besides the other P-441 Charlie Ellis buckle I'd be interested in seeing pictures.  I'm on the hunt for a PT, destroyer, cruiser, battleship motif buckle that's pre-1960.

 

 1448399853_P-697BOAT.jpg.3f75d556f0aba93ee0598db8167a8b39.jpg

CA-73 SHIP.jpg

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PhilippineBuckles

I don't know of any ships buckles from the 1950s.  Here are four ship buckle's from the 1960s. The only one of these that I own is USS Ingraham DD-694 one for CDR J. Ferrante Commanding Officer (1962-1964).  The USS St Paul buckle may actually be from the 1960s -- we need to research when Pedro L.G. Flores served to better date the buckle.

1960s ships.jpg

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vforvictory1945

Bill - I was going solely on the fact that the buckle is stamped Cruz*Sons on the back and with the 50/50 split style I figured the buckle was indicative of one that had to be made in the 50s but I could be wrong.  Its very similar in style to the USS Ingraham buckle on the front but the back of the Ingraham buckle appears to be 60s as its got the longer keeper area to shorter belt holder section.  Likely knowing the sailor's service history like you said would help to better pinpoint the date.

 

Thanks for sharing these other buckles as the two one the top I've seen before but the two at bottom are new to me.

ST PAUL BELT BUCKLE.png

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vforvictory1945

Here's a buckle an Instagram friend found with a WWII lot.  It looks like late 50's to me but could possibly be early 60's.  This one appears to be the earliest buckle I've seen to date with skull & crossbones motif.  There are definitely some oval Harley buckles from the 1970's or oval Swift / Deadly ones from the 1970's as well as a couple rectangular ones.  He's entertaining offers on this one but believe he's looking in the $250 range which I feel is a bit steep for this one even though it has rare subject matter.  I feel on Ebay it might land somewhere in the $75 - $150 range on a good day or perhaps much less if incorrectly listed.  Also, it seems that the buckles that don't clearly designate the service branch aren't as sought after though perhaps that's just my personal bias.

SKULL & BONES BUCKLE.png

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PhilippineBuckles

Well, I like the Snork buckle🙂  I love the skull & crossbones motif.  I agree with your comments.  I bought this similar style buckle for just $13.74 on ebay in 2011.  1954 -1958 P.N. Davis Montana Philippines 

1958.jpg

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vintageproductions
19 hours ago, vforvictory1945 said:

Here's a buckle an Instagram friend found with a WWII lot.  It looks like late 50's to me but could possibly be early 60's.  This one appears to be the earliest buckle I've seen to date with skull & crossbones motif.  There are definitely some oval Harley buckles from the 1970's or oval Swift / Deadly ones from the 1970's as well as a couple rectangular ones.  He's entertaining offers on this one but believe he's looking in the $250 range which I feel is a bit steep for this one even though it has rare subject matter.  I feel on Ebay it might land somewhere in the $75 - $150 range on a good day or perhaps much less if incorrectly listed.  Also, it seems that the buckles that don't clearly designate the service branch aren't as sought after though perhaps that's just my personal bias.

SKULL & BONES BUCKLE.png

The skull designs look like the unit insignia of the 32nd Infantry in the 50's-60's.

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easterneagle87

148871805_Union3021.jpg.b586dc7c1d384504319fe6818cd1a153.jpgContinuing the stream, here are two I find interesting. 

First, International Union of Operating Engineers Member Belt Buckle 302, although not military, probably made as a gift and sent back home.  

Second, Tsoying Taiwan BOY SCOUTS Troop 92, I find this one particularly interesting as dependents followed their military persons to all kinds of overseas deployments. What a great experience for a kid in the 50's or 60's!    

B Becker BSA Trp 92.jpg

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vforvictory1945

Ben - That's the only PI Boy Scouts buckle I've ever seen to date.  Based on the auction and with the backing the way it is my best guess is that it's of 1960 - 1964 era vintage.  Its pretty crazy to see how many designs were made, especially the non-military ones.

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easterneagle87

Had been alerted to this 3rd Recon Buckle and followed/bid on it. A nice piece. I volunteered (instead of vol-un-told to work extra hours this morning and missed it.  If a forum member got it, good job.  Win some, lose some.  

3rd recon oval.jpg

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easterneagle87

This one just sold on ebay and very interesting. Australian!! I always wondered if there were buckles from other navies. Many countries navies passed through Subic and it's finally nice to see an example of a foreign buckle.  

HMAS Parramatth RN DE-46.jpg

 

Here's one that sold today, was listed as;  MOBILE TRAINING TEAM MIDPAC PSI

 

It was in a mixed lot of buckles. I had sent the seller a note, if the lot didn't sell could they offer it as a single. After several turns of not selling, I sent a note to them late last night. They replied and had thrown it up as a BIN. By the time I got to it, it had sold. Interesting Surface Warfare buckle. 

 

IMG_3246.jpg

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PhilippineBuckles

I love the 3rd Recon buckle.  Thanks for posting.  I missed it on ebay otherwise I would have bid on it!  The winning bidder had the top three bids -- they really wanted it.  The buyer got a great deal $26.51 + tax.

 

I also missed the MOBILE TRAINING TEAM MIDPAC PSI buckle -- someone got a good BIN deal on that one too.

 

I did add the HMAS ParramattaDE-46 buckle to my collection -- it was the first foreign navy buckle I'd seen.

 

Another buckle that sold this week BIN quickly which I missed is this Coast Guard buckle fro D.B. Irvine

 

PictureCG.jpg

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