1890's Vintage Buckle

Sterling silver ingot was hammered and hand-crank mill rolled into heavy gauge sheet used for the buckle.  Its tongue and the opening center bar serves as both leather strap anchor and tongue bar.

There are saw and file marks on the edges of everything.  One can clearly track the artist's thinking, as this buckle was made with only the most basic tools.  Five, possibly six hand-cut stamps were used to decorate this buckle, which is light enough and small enough for an elegant hat band.

Along with the many wearable possibilities, comes to mind a nice leather bracelet using this buckle as its top closure and focal point.

"Unknown artist" is appropriate when a work of art is unsigned and a supported opinion about who made it is not available (on Savvy Collector).. "Attributed to" precedes the name of an artist when information suggests that it likely was made by that artist (on Savvy Collector).