Reproduction Railroad Buckles
by Dan Allen

Of the many different hoaxes involving fake express or railroadiana items, one of the most elaborate involved brass belt buckles. Fake brass belt buckles were made in the late 50's and and early 60's by a man in England who set up at gun shows and ran big ads in gun collector publications detailing the fabulous hoard of "authentic" belt buckles that he had discovered. This man is long deceased, but his sad legacy of deception lives on.

Some buckles were originally sold with a letter of "authenticity". The counterfeiter even went so far as to have a 90 page book printed by a "Percy Siebert" copyright "1950", detailing each buckle, its scarcity, how many manufactured, quoting Tiffany Company records, the different manufacturers, how they were used, when they were issued, etc! So when he came out with his phony belt buckles, he would already have a "reference" to quote from, and to back up their authenticity. These buckles were sold as for as much as $150 each when they first hit the market, and I have even heard of higher prices. Recently, a couple authors of Old West and Civil War collectors guides have mistakenly listed these buckles in their contents, detailing rarity and prices.

As far as anyone knows, there were never ANY buckles produced for use by express company or railroad employees. Just the quantity of buckles that are on the market would tell you that they are mass produced fakes. Authentic Wells Fargo items are very rare and are in big demand, with the prices to match. But any search of internet auction sites will turn up several dozen Wells Fargo and other company buckles. Some are sold as authentic originals, still bringing several hundred dollars, even to this day. They are of very heavy construction, of well cast solid brass with the belt loop soldered on the back. Most people associate reproductions with items of recent and cheap construction. The fact that these buckles were so well made and 40 + years old add to their authentic look. The fact that many of these buckles have been in collections for 40+ years only adds to the aura of authenticity when they reappear on the market.

Wells Fargo is the most common name found on these buckles, with a 10 to 20 variations being made, but they are also found marked American Express, Butterfield Overland Stage, Adams Express, Western Union, Central and Union Pacific Rail Road Co (mistakenly thinking that 2 separate companies would have issued a joint buckle!)

Backmarks found on these buckles are:

The bottom line is that these buckles are fine as collectibles, or fantasy items. They look good and are well made. But they are NOT express or railroad company issue, and only date to the 1950's at the earliest. As far as any of the experts know, there were NO authentic belt buckles ever issued to any express or railroad employees.

Update: There is a great new website that discusses fake buckles. See http://www.bogusbuckles.com

Note that recently several railroad companies have issued buckles as safety rewards, retirement gifts, etc. They are easily identified as such and won't be mistaken as something supposedly issued over 100 years ago.