belt & buckle from US navy vet family

[josephc]

Here are some pics of the belt and buckle I am purchasing from the Grand daughter of a US Navy WWII vet. I am not sure if it is damaged and will verify when I get it. The front insert looks rather coarse compared to others I have seen. Any ideas?

[lach470]

I'd like to see a decent picture of the back if possible. Looks like it might be a "put together" buckle. Roundel does not seem to "fit" nicely on the buckle box.

Rob

[Ben Evans]

Looks like what could be a aluminium roundel on a zinc box, better pics especially of the rear would be good if possible?

[Neil Hever]

Size 105 belt looks good. NH

[josephc]

belt and buckle should have shipped today. her grandfather served on the USS Denebola AD-12 which i believe was a command vessel during the invasion of southern France; he was a signal man. I am curious as to how he may have come in possession of this while being on a ship. Maybe he won it in a game of dice.

[josephc]

The belt and buckle arrived today. The reason why roundel(?) looks misplaced is because since the latch is broken on back of the buckle the hook was forced up behind the insert to latch onto the body of the buckle, two of the small tabs are broken so the round piece is not tight.

It is still odd looking though. There is a gold color to the back of the buckle and the back of the insert. There is some gold on the hinge and there are small amounts on the front of insert. There is some on the box around the hinge pin.

I can not tell if the front of insert lost its gold color or if it was painted over with silver paint? Should I try to wide with acetone? Should I remove the insert rest of the way to get a look at the back? It also feels very smooth. I can not find any makers marks on buckle.

The belt has a hook with some grey/green paint left. There are initials EH on back of buckle and on the belt. And there is a word or name painted on belt. Only other mark is the 105.

Any ideas on this one? Could it be German Navy? Is the writing on belt a name?

[Ben Evans]

Mmmm, thanks for the extra pics Joe and a bit of an enigma? All the bits of the belt and buckle are original, nice large size belt (must have been a fat boy at 105) the buckle for me is a put together at some point. It looks like the original roundel to the two piece buckle was lost or damaged, there was then added a separate roundel which had sustained more damage than the buckle box and the at some point it was either sprayed gold or some parts of it was? Look at the rear, you can see where the spray or paint has gone through the improvised catch and caught some of the backside of the roundel whereas some bits have none on! Thats my opinion Joe from what I can see from the pics, all orginal but on the buckle side a hoch poch of bits.

[josephc]

I removed the roundel and its back is totally and evenly colored gold. The silver on front does not remove with acetone but was able to take a little off to reveal gold paint there also. With the wear overall I believe these parts have been together and were in use as a unit. Were kriegsmarine buckles this color gold? I have tried to find an example of a two piece navy buckle but not easy - I attached pic of what I found that was close to type I have -

[Ben Evans]

Is the box aluminium or nickel Joe? From the patination on the box it could be a nickel box with a later added aluminium roundel added. Like I said before for original but messed with buckle

[josephc]

Is the box aluminium or nickel Joe? From the patination on the box it could be a nickel box with a later added aluminium roundel added. Like I said before for original but messed with buckle

It is non-magnetic and appears different than the hinge/prong metal which I think is aluminum.