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Appraisal Collection | All Our Appraisals from Hotel Del Coronado

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Confederate Brass Belt Buckle

Value (2019) | $1,200 Auction – $1,800 Auction
Watch  

GUEST:
It's a Confederate belt buckle. It's part of a collection that my grandfather had. He grew up on Missionary Ridge, in Tennessee, and he found most of the items in his collection. He would find things on his way to school. Family lore says that he found a Confederate rifle with full... with full bayonet on his way to school one day.

APPRAISER:
The Battle of Missionary Ridge was the second part of the Battle of Chattanooga. The Confederates had pushed the Yankee Army into Chattanooga after they had won at Chickamauga, and they took a position on the heights around the city, trying to blockade it and starve the Union Army out. They came out November of '63, fought the Battle of Lookout Mountain, pushed the Confederates away, and then the next day, the Battle of Missionary Ridge. It really was the beginning of the end for the Army of Tennessee. You got a neat, Confederate, egg-shaped belt buckle. They're fairly cheaply made. They're just made out of stamped brass with a very high copper content. And instead of being lead-filled on the back with studs or hooks, they just soldered telegraph wire onto them, and that's how they created the belt hooks. It's not uncommon to find them without that telegraph wire. It was not real sturdy. Obviously, this rusted away and disappeared. The telegraph wire hooks, the lack of them, hurts the value of the belt buckle. These belt plates were made mid-war. They got issued a lot to the Army of Tennessee circa 1862, '63, and you do find a lot of them related to being found at Missionary Ridge and Lookout Mountain. In today's market, at auction, this buckle is worth somewhere between $1,200 and $1,800.

GUEST:
That's all right-- amazing.

APPRAISER:
If this still had the telegraph wire, $3,000...

GUEST:
Wow.

APPRAISER:
Maybe up to $4,000.

Support provided by: Learn more

Appraisal Details

Appraiser
Tim Prince
Arms & Militaria
College Hill Arsenal Civil War Antiques
Nashville, TN
Appraised value (2019)
$1,200 Auction – $1,800 Auction
Featured In
Ca' d'Zan, Hour 3 (#2306)
Event
Sarasota, FL (April 12, 2018)
Category
Arms & Militaria
Period
19th Century , Civil War
Form
Belt Buckle
Material
Brass

Executive producer Marsha Bemko shares her tips for getting the most out of ANTIQUES ROADSHOW.

Value can change: The value of an item is dependent upon many things, including the condition of the object itself, trends in the market for that kind of object, and the location where the item will be sold. These are just some of the reasons why the answer to the question "What's it worth?" is so often "It depends."

Note the date: Take note of the date the appraisal was recorded. This information appears in the upper left corner of the page, with the label "Appraised On." Values change over time according to market forces, so the current value of the item could be higher, lower, or the same as when our expert first appraised it.

Context is key: Listen carefully. Most of our experts will give appraisal values in context. For example, you'll often hear them say what an item is worth "at auction," or "retail," or "for insurance purposes" (replacement value). Retail prices are different from wholesale prices. Often an auctioneer will talk about what she knows best: the auction market. A shop owner will usually talk about what he knows best: the retail price he'd place on the object in his shop. And though there are no hard and fast rules, an object's auction price can often be half its retail value; yet for other objects, an auction price could be higher than retail. As a rule, however, retail and insurance/replacement values are about the same.

Verbal approximations: The values given by the experts on ANTIQUES ROADSHOW are considered "verbal approximations of value." Technically, an "appraisal" is a legal document, generally for insurance purposes, written by a qualified expert and paid for by the owner of the item. An appraisal usually involves an extensive amount of research to establish authenticity, provenance, composition, method of construction, and other important attributes of a particular object.

Opinion of value: As with all appraisals, the verbal approximations of value given at ROADSHOW events are our experts' opinions formed from their knowledge of antiques and collectibles, market trends, and other factors. Although our valuations are based on research and experience, opinions can, and sometimes do, vary among experts.

Appraiser affiliations: Finally, the affiliation of the appraiser may have changed since the appraisal was recorded. To see current contact information for an appraiser in the ROADSHOW Archive, click on the link below the appraiser's picture. Our Appraiser Index also contains a complete list of active ROADSHOW appraisers and their contact details and biographies.

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