Clint Orms Gold and Rubies Bucking Horse Buckle
As you know, I have a cowboy buckle website with approximately 700 buckles for sale of all types and prices (Beal’s Cowboy Buckles). It is a good business but more importantly for me I enjoy seeing the highly creative work that top silversmiths produce and calling many of them friends is an honor.
High end cowboy buckles often have gold in them. Exactly is gold and what are the different types used?
Edward Bohlin Calf Roping Gold and Sterling Trophy Buckle
It has been a highly sought-after precious metal for coinage, jewelry, and other arts since the beginning of recorded history. The metal occurs as nuggets or grains in rocks, in veins and in alluvial deposits.
Gold is dense, soft, shiny and the most malleable and ductile pure metal known. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Gold has served as a symbol of wealth and a store of value throughout history.
James Stegman Santa Barbara Buckle with 14K Gold Horse
Sometimes it is applied to buckles in what is called gold electroplate. A thin layer of gold is electroplated (electrically bonded to the surface) for a rich and lustrous finish.
Gold fill is the other common method. The buckle maker uses a metal plate with gold 10-20% of the thickness on top, normally at least 10 karat gold, usually bronze underneath that. The gold layer must be at least 1/20th by weight of the total combined gold and metal to be classified as gold filled. A marking of 1/10th by weight is higher in gold content. Intricate deep carving requires the deeper depth, lots of times on older buckles the 10% fill wears off through use and you can see spots where the bronze or other materials shows through.
You can see many cowboy buckles with gold on them at my Beal’s Cowboy Buckles website by clicking HERE.