Today on Gus’ Gear I present a selection of belt buckles. There are a number of collectors here that have extensive collections of German and German State’s buckles that I hope will post, as my selection of German buckles is very small.
These are some of the more common German buckles that can be found, at the top is a Bavarian M1895 brass buckle, with the motto “In Treue Fest” Firm in Loyalty. The second buckle is the Prussian M1895 with the motto “Gott Mit Uns” God With Us. And the bottom is an M1915 Prussian buckle made of steel due to the shortages of brass. The reverse of the buckles can be seen on the left.
This is an example of an Ottoman buckle, made of brass with the Ottoman emblem soldered in place of the German emblems. This buckle was manufactured in Germany and is the same as the M1895 German buckles.
These are Austro-Hungarian buckles, the top is an Austrian buckle with the double headed eagle that is very similar to the Romanov Eagle, but has the Habsburg coat of arms on the breast of the eagle. This buckle also differs from the Russian buckles as the Russian buckles are a flat plate with the hook and belt loop soldered to the back, while the Austrian buckles are folded buckles, very similar to the German design.
The lower buckle has the Coats of arms of Hungary and Croatia under the crown of St. Stephen and was worn by the Honvéd soldiers.
These are examples of Russian buckles, at the top is infantry with the double headed Romanov eagle embossed with the coat of arms of St. George slaying a dragon on the breast of the eagle. It is marked on the hook with А.О.Ч. for Актионерн Общество Чикинь (public held company Tschikin). On the wings are the coat of arms of the territories of Russia. The second is an artillery buckle with the same Romanov Eagle superimposed on crossed cannons. The third is a pioneer buckle with the eagle superimposed on crossed axes. The forth is a navy buckle with the eagle superimposed on crossed anchors and bears the These are examples of Russian buckles, at the top is infantry with the double headed Romanov eagle embossed with the coat of arms of St. George slaying a dragon on the breast of the eagle. It is marked on the hook with А.О.Ч. for Актионерн Общество Чикинь (public held company Tschikin). On the wings are the coat of arms of the territories of Russia. The second is an artillery buckle with the same Romanov Eagle superimposed on crossed cannons. The third is a pioneer buckle with the eagle superimposed on crossed axes. The forth is a navy buckle with the eagle superimposed on crossed anchors and bears the marking БР. БУХЪ for one of the more common manufacturers, Brothers Bruch. The last is a militia buckle of unadorned steel worn by the ополчение.
This is a French M1845 buckle, it is a simple brass plate without any emblem and was replaced in 1903 with a two pronged roller buckle but the M1845 belt and buckle saw service well into the war.