3 Rodeo Trophy Buckles

LOT OF THREE VINTAGE WESTERN BELT BUCKLES - TWO SIGNED COMSTOCK GERMAN SILVER AND ONE ROCKMOUNT OF DENVER EARLHAM QUARTER SHOW TROPHY BUCKLE Three vintage western belt buckles with applied copper and brass figural overlays, two of them signed by Comstock Silversmiths and one an actual awarded show trophy buckle marked Rockmount of Denver, Colorado. The first is a small bright oval with a copper bronc rider on a bucking horse over an engraved mountain and sagebrush landscape with clouds and a plain arched panel above. The second is a large heavy oval with a brass mounted roper working a brass calf across an engraved scene of corral panels, mountains, brush, and starburst rosettes. The third is a scalloped rectangular trophy buckle with a hand-engraved scroll field, four applied brass rosettes at the corners, a brass roper and calf, and a brass ribbon banner engraved EARLHAM QUARTER SHOW, making it a genuine horse-show award rather than a blank stock buckle. All three have intact back bars and hooks and are wearable, and together they make a strong grouping for a western room, shadow box, or a rodeo and horse-show buckle collection. Sold as a lot of three pieces. Description Piece one: small oval bronc-rider buckle, copper bucking horse and rider in relief, engraved mountains, clouds, grass, and beaded rim line, blank arched banner area at the top, brightest and most polished of the three. Reverse marked COMSTOCK / GERMAN SILVER / SILVERSMITHS - approximately 2-1/2" to 2-3/4" wide and roughly 2" tall per the tape-measure photograph Piece two: large oval calf-roping buckle, brass mounted roper and brass calf, engraved corral panels, mountains, brush, and starburst motifs, beaded rim line. Reverse marked COMSTOCK / GERMAN SILVER / SILVERSMITHS - approximately 3-1/2" to 4" wide and roughly 2-1/2" tall per the tape photograph; an old seller's listing shown in one photo described this same buckle as 2-1/2 inches by 4 inches and 81 grams Piece three: scalloped rectangular trophy buckle, engraved scroll and swirl field, four applied brass rosettes, brass roper and calf, brass banner engraved EARLHAM QUARTER SHOW, brass back bar. Reverse marked ROCKMOUNT / DENVER, COLO. / NICKEL SILVER, with additional faint stamped or engraved lettering on the reverse that is worn and not legible in the photographs - approximately 3" to 3-1/4" wide and roughly 2-1/4" tall per the tape photograph Construction on all three: stamped and hand-engraved nickel silver bodies with soldered applied overlay figures and soldered back bars and hooks German silver and nickel silver are the same material, a copper, nickel, and zinc alloy that contains no actual silver content Bidders should verify all dimensions and the back-bar strap width from the photographs Attribution note Comstock Silversmiths traces to an 1886 San Francisco silver shop that produced badges and, later, parade saddle silver and western buckles. Christian Stegman bought the firm in the 1920s, and his son Howard Stegman renamed his buckle and jewelry portion Comstock Silversmiths, after Nevada's Comstock Lode, moving it to Carson City around 1970, according to accounts published by Comstock Heritage and by Beal's Cowboy Buckles. Comstock Heritage states directly that pieces stamped Comstock Silversmiths were their lower-priced brand and were discontinued when Howard Stegman retired, which places these two buckles in roughly the 1970s to 1990s range. The third buckle's mark, Rockmount of Denver, Colorado, points to Rockmount Ranch Wear, the Denver western wear house founded in 1946 by Jack A. Weil that has long carried belts and buckles among its western goods per the company's published history and Denver press coverage; Rockmount-marked buckles of this type were made for or sold under that name, though a specific Rockmount buckle production date could not be confirmed. The engraved banner reads Earlham Quarter Show, most likely a local quarter horse show award, and no further show records were located. Old eBay printouts appear incidentally in several photographs and are prior purchase records, not part of this lot. All identifications are offered as the consignor's photo-based opinion and are not guaranteed. 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, breaks, splits, or repairs are visible. The small bronc-rider oval presents the best of the three, bright and clean on the face with only light handling marks. The large roping oval shows fine surface scratching and scuffing across the field, softened polish and darkening on the brass roper and calf, and mottled tarnish with light green spotting across the reverse. The Rockmount trophy buckle shows coppery tarnish and discoloration across the reverse with the secondary stamped lettering worn nearly smooth, darkened brass on the rosettes, banner, and back bar, an