Real buckle or fake, totally confused

Randy Dowdy

Cadet
Joined
Jan 13, 2020
We recently dug this about a foot deep. A couple hundred feet from a cemetery with just rocks for headstones, on private property where I do have permission to be. This is in Danville Va, so you know the history of the area. I've gotten different answers, but I'll not post them yet. I just need to find the truth. Thanks in advance for the help.

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Its a real belt plate but it is not of a pattern of any of the Civil War Virginia plates. What are the dates and are there any CS Vet graves in the cemetery as it could be a post war UCV piece. Still a nice find
 
We recently dug this about a foot deep. A couple hundred feet from a cemetery with just rocks for headstones, on private property where I do have permission to be. This is in Danville Va, so you know the history of the area. I've gotten different answers, but I'll not post them yet. I just need to find the truth. Thanks in advance for the help.

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I agree with my learned friend @ucvrelics this particular seal was displayed on the state flag during the war, but oddly enough the buckles and buttons of state troops had the gladius in the right hand and spear in the left. The "official" seal in 1851:

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Apparently there were so many variations that the assembly had to meet to decide on an official seal in 1903, which strongly resembles the one on your plate. I would also opine that most war date plates were relatively square, sometimes with rounded or clipped corners. Very nice find and a real curiosity!
 
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