Ridgeway Civil War Research Center A virtual examination of artifacts of the American Civil War
	Civil War Plates and Buckles
	by Harry Ridgeway

Plate6399-Virginia-439-v12-FAKE-FANTASY-REPRODUCTION Virginia-FAKE-FANTASY-REPRODUCTION Virginia, shoulder plate, state seal. John Bracken Research Center: Plate6399-Virginia-439-v12-FAKE-FANTASY-REPRODUCTION . Details click: http://relicman.com/plates/Plate6399-Virginia-439-v12-FAKE-FANTASY-REPRODUCTION.html

P3223 ### F1223 Virginia shoulder plate Editor note: This piece of shit was sold to my father in 1962, by John Bracken. We were brand new collectors at the time, had not found a dozen plates by then. The good news was, my father was so pissed off he never bought another relic again from anybody! Technically this is a fantasy, it is not a copy of a period plate. The die is totally different from any of the authentic plates, and it is lead filled. The lead was once gray, it has gotten scratched up, this plate has been handled over the years more than most Civil War pieces ever were.It should also be noted that in the 1970's Kerksis issued his book on Civil War buckles. In the back of his book there is a section on fakes and repros. Item number one is another example of this plate. In the years that followed, many examples of this plate have turned up, presumably Bracken commissioned this plate and must have sold a lot of them. It at least is a poor quality reproduction, and is nothing at all like the original. So technically this is a fantasy, nothing like this ever existed during the Civil War.John Bracken later opened a museum in New Market Virginia. I visited this museum around 2010 and noted that he had a dozen or so Virginia uniforms on display, you guessed it, each was bearing one of these plates. By then Bracken had developed quite a reputation in the collecting community. Research Center: Plate6399-Virginia-439-v12-FAKE-FANTASY-REPRODUCTION . P3223 F1223 Picture only submitted.

This is the "Ridgeway Civil War Research Center", a research tool for educational purposes only, and is provided at no cost to the reader. Some of the relics listed are retained in the author's collection, most reside in other collections and are not owned by the author. None of the items listed in this section are for sale, please refer to relicman.com sales listings for items offered for sale. This is a work in progress, I list items as I get to them, there are many patterns that are not listed yet, this list will be regularly updated as I get pictures and descriptions for more items. I will also correct mistakes, so if you see any please tell me. All items listed are believed to be authentic to the Civil War or as otherwise described. Any excavated relics have been recovered from private property with owners permission.This information is available for research purposes, pictures may be used by permission only.

Most information on this page is from:
Plates and Buckles of the American Military 1795 - 1874, by Sydney C. Kerksis.
Confederate Belt Buckles & Plates, by Steve E Mullinax.
American Military Belt Plates, by Michael J. O'Donnell & J.Duncan Campbell.

Ridgeway Civil War Research Center, A virtual examination of artifacts of the American Civil War Plates and buckles Research center, plates, click: http://relicman.com/plates/Plate0000-Index.html. Research center, plates and buckles, click: http://relicman.com/plates/Plate0000-Index.html.

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Civil War Relicman, Harry Ridgeway, Civil War plates and buckles, Relicman sales catalog. Sale listings click: http://relicman.com/plates/Relicman-Sales-Plate0000.html. Sale listings click: http://relicman.com/plates/Relicman-Sales-Plate0000.html.