3 German Silver Buckles

LOT OF THREE VINTAGE WESTERN GERMAN SILVER BELT BUCKLES - IRVINE & JACHENS AND COMSTOCK SILVERSMITHS, COPPER AND BRASS OVERLAY Three vintage hand-engraved western belt buckles in German silver, two marked by Irvine & Jachens of San Francisco and one marked by Comstock Silversmiths, each with applied copper or brass figural overlay and deep engraved scroll and feather work across the face. The first is a cutting-horse scene with a mounted cowboy working a calf against an engraved ranch background with corral fence, barn, and windmill. The second is a rectangular pillow-shaped buckle with three copper horse heads over engraved scrollwork. The third is an oval with a copper cowboy on a walking horse framed by engraved rosettes and feather scroll. All three have intact back bars and hooks and are ready to wear on a western belt or to display as a group in a shadow box, western room, or tack-room collection. Sold as a lot of three pieces. Description Piece one: oval cutting-horse buckle, mounted cowboy and calf in copper-tone overlay on an engraved ranch landscape with fence, barn, and windmill, beaded rim border. Reverse marked in block letters IRVINE & / GERMAN SILVER / JACHENS INC. Piece two: rectangular pillow-form buckle with three copper horse heads over engraved scroll and feather work with a sawtooth rim border. Reverse marked COMSTOCK / GERMAN SILVER / SILVERSMITHS Piece three: oval buckle with a copper cowboy on a walking horse, engraved rosettes, feather scroll, and grass detail, beaded rim border. Reverse marked IRVINE & / GERMAN SILVER / JACHENS INC. Each buckle measures roughly 2-3/4" to 3-1/4" wide and approximately 2" to 2-1/2" tall per the tape-measure photographs; the tape is shown alongside two of the three, and bidders should verify all dimensions and the back-bar strap width from the photographs Construction: stamped and hand-engraved German silver bodies with soldered applied overlay figures, soldered back bars and hooks German silver, also called nickel silver, is a copper, nickel, and zinc alloy and contains no actual silver content Attribution note Both marks trace back to the same San Francisco origin. J.C. Irvine opened an engraving and badge shop in San Francisco in 1886, rebuilt after the 1906 earthquake and fire, and the firm was renamed Irvine & Jachens in the 1920s, operating at 1068 Mission Street from 1926 to about 1950 before moving to Daly City, where the badge business still operates, according to the company's own history and badge-collector research from Police Guide. Christian Stegman bought the company in the 1920s and produced silver work for parade saddles; his sons later divided the business, and Howard Stegman renamed his buckle and jewelry portion Comstock Silversmiths, after Nevada's Comstock Lode, moving it to Carson City around 1970 to 1971, per accounts published by Comstock Heritage and by Beal's Cowboy Buckles. Comstock Heritage states plainly that pieces stamped Comstock Silversmiths were their lower-priced brand, discontinued when Howard Stegman retired, which places Comstock Silversmiths-marked buckles in the roughly 1970s to 1990s window. Two of the photographs show old eBay printouts titled "Irvine & Jachens Vintage Cutting Horse Belt Buckle" and "Silver Horse Head Belt Buckle by Comstock," dated 2010; those papers are prior purchase records shown incidentally and are not part of this lot. No specific production year is claimed for any of the three buckles, and the maker identifications rest on the stamped marks shown in the photographs. Bid on the items as pictured. Condition Used vintage condition, sold as-is. All three buckles are structurally sound in the photographs with intact back bars, hooks, and overlay figures, and no bends, splits, or repairs are visible. No breaks or missing overlay pieces are visible in the photographs. Expected wear is present and should be expected on pieces of this age: surface scratches and hairline scuffing across the polished faces, most noticeable on the oval cowboy-and-horse buckle, along with rubbing and thinning of the copper and brass overlay high points where the figures have taken contact. The reverses show darkened tarnish, oxidation, and mottled staining, and one reverse shows tan paper or adhesive residue where an old label or tag was applied. Light tarnish darkening sits in the engraved recesses on all three, which many collectors prefer to leave in place. The overlay figures and their solder joins, the back bar solder points, the hooks, and the thin rim edges are the vulnerable areas and should be examined closely. Photos are part of the description. Notes for bidders German silver polishes up brightly with a soft cloth and a non-abrasive metal polish, but go gently around the applied copper and brass figures and the engraved recesses so the contrast and the aged patina are not scrubbed away. Do not use dips or abrasive pads. Only the three buckles pictured are included in this lot; belts, stand