Philippine Made Belt Buckles

[TheMariner]

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!

[mds308]

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.

[mds308]

My latest Philippine Buckle

 

 

[vforvictory1945]

The IrversonWoodWorks buckle rack is finally done. It turned out really cool.

[vforvictory1945]

At a slight angle.

[hink441]

Very nicely done.

 

Great collection of buckles, very impressive.

 

Chris

[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!

[vintageproductions]

One I just bought.

 

 

 

 

 

[skir]

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

[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!!!

[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

[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!

[mds308]

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?

 

 

[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!

[sigsaye]

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.

[trenchbuff]

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.

 

[mds308]

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......

[trenchbuff]

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......

 

Good one

[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.

[PhilippineBuckles]

Hi Ryan,

 

I think it's possible that this US Army Air Corp buckle for Herbert W. Lawrence was made in the Philippines. The style and technique is similar but then again it's not exactly the same. Some websites say that the 7th Bombardment Group (Heavy) served from the South Pacific at the start of WWII before eventually ending up in India. However, the following official Air Force History doesn't confirm that the air echelon actually flew out of the Philippines. It does say that the ground echelon was on its way to the Philippines but was diverted to Java after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. So maybe the buckle was made in Java or India. It's the only buckle I've seen like it so far which makes it a mystery buckle until more examples of a similarly manufactured buckle turn up or until Herbert Lawrence's war record itself helps narrow down the time period when this was made.

"The group was on its way to the Philippines when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 Dec 1941. The ground echelon, on board ship, was diverted to Australia and later sent to Java. Six of the group’s B-17’s, which had left the US on 6 Dec, reached Hawaii during the enemy attack but were able to land safely. Later in Dec the remainder of the air echelon flew B-17’s from the US to Java. From 14 Jan to I Mar 1942, during the Japanese drive through the Philippines and Nether- lands East Indies, the group operated from Java, being awarded a DUC for its action against enemy aircraft, ground installa- tions, warships, and transports. Moved to India in Mar 1942 and as- signed to Tenth AF. Resumed combat with B-17’s and LB-30’s; converted to B-24’s late in 1942. Operations were di- rected primarily against the Japanese in Burma, with attacks on airfields, fuel and supply dumps, locomotive works, railways, bridges, docks, warehouses, shipping, and other targets. Also bombed oil refineries and railways in Thailand, hit power plants in China, attacked enemy shipping in the Andaman Sea, and ferried gasoline over the Hump to China. Received second DUC for damaging the enemy’s line of supply in southeast Asia with an attack against rail lines and bridges in Thailand on 19 Mar 1945. Returned to the US in Dec 1945. lnactivated on 6 Jan 1946." p43-44 from "AIR FORCE COMBAT UNITS OF WORLD WAR II" https://media.defense.gov/2010/Sep/21/2001330256/-1/-1/0/AFD-100921-044.pdf

 

Here are a list of stations listed in the cited document above...
Ft Douglas, Utah, 7 Sep 1940 - 13 Nov 1941

Brisbane, Australia, 22 Dec 1941 - Feb 1942

Karachi, India, 12 Mar 1942

Dum-Dum, India, 30 May 1942

Ka- rachi, India, 9 Sep 1942

Pandaveswar, India, 12 Dec 1942

Kurmitola, India, 17 Jan 1944

Pandaveswar, India, 6 Oct 1944

Tezpur, India, 7 Jun 1945

Dudhkundi, India, 31 Oct - 7 Dec 1945

Camp Kilmer, NJ, 5-6 Jan 1946

Ft Worth AAFld, Tex, I Oct 1946 - 16 Jun 1952

 

Any experts or others who want to speculate on this buckle?

 

Here another theater made mystery buckle but this one I don't think was made in the Philippines. It's for the 7th Calvary which was stationed in Australia before being sent to New Guinea in January of 1944.

 

[vforvictory1945]

Here's a better pic.

[PhilippineBuckles]

Here is a neat -- but no longer politically correct -- civilian clothes liberty buckle. Everything's bigger in Texas. The buckle is something like 5" x 4".

Lone Star Beer And Big Tit Women

No Place But Texas

[mds308]

There was Dallas, from Phoenix. Cleveland, he was from Detroit. And Tex was, well, I don't remember where Tex come from.

[PhilippineBuckles]

MDS308's quote is from the 194 movie Forrest Gump -- I admit to having had to Google search where the quote came from.

 

The more I think about this buckle, I think this sailor or marine was probably a little homesick (even it he was just trying to be funny). Imagine being in the Philippines --San Miguel beer aplenty -- and lamenting about what one is missing back home in Texas.

 

[PhilippineBuckles]

Oops - I meant to say 1994 not 194.

 

Fun facts:

 

"MANILA – (UPDATED) Filipino women have the smallest natural breasts in the world, according to a study published in the Journal of Female Health Sciences.

The study compared the mean breast volume and cup size of nearly 400,000 women aged 28 to 30 years old from 108 countries.

 

It found that women from the United States have the largest cup size compared to females from other nations, while Filipinas have the smallest.

 

It added: “A typical Caucasian woman born in the USA has a breast volume of 1,668 ml and the highest quartile of Caucasian US women has a mean breast volume as high as 2,986 ml. In the Philippines, the mean breast volume is only 111 ml and even the highest quartile of Filipino women has a mean breast volume of only 179 ml.”

https://news.abs-cbn.com/life/07/07/16/study-ph-women-have-smallest-breasts-in-the-world (2016)

 

The original scientific article can be read in detail at https://www.sciencedatabaseonline.org/ADB1/Scientific%20Article%20JOFHS.pdf

 

So one might argue that the person who had this buckle made was actually very perceptive.