France Is this french?

[Matt R]

Hello,I need some help with the identification of this badge

thanks

[Bear]

Hello Matt,

It looks like a part of a fancy snake belt buckle hook thingy. I'll see if I can find a picture on the web.

thanks,

barry

[Bear]

I found this on the web.

Reproduction English snake buckle

I think alot of countries used them.

Edited February 16, 2009 by Bear

[peter monahan]

I found this on the web.

Reproduction English snake buckle

I think alot of countries used them.

It was the standard buckle on British belts of the 1888 (Slade Wallace) which was worn from '88 until at least 1903, when replaced with a different pattern "bandolier" equipment. Tens of thousands of them, maybe hundreds of thousands, would have been produced in those 23 years and they are certainly common enough, I'd think, in any part of the old Empire. Usually attached to the brown leather belt with the D rings on the top for attachment to the shoulder belts. Had one myself (the belt, with "snake" buckle as I've always heard it called) but lost it somewhere.

Peter

[Matt R]

It was the standard buckle on British belts of the 1888 (Slade Wallace) which was worn from '88 until at least 1903, when replaced with a different pattern "bandolier" equipment. Tens of thousands of them, maybe hundreds of thousands, would have been produced in those 23 years and they are certainly common enough, I'd think, in any part of the old Empire. Usually attached to the brown leather belt with the D rings on the top for attachment to the shoulder belts. Had one myself (the belt, with "snake" buckle as I've always heard it called) but lost it somewhere.

Peter

Thank you Bear and Peter!

I think then it might be british: it was together with french and british insignias.

Matt

[Brian Wolfe]

It was the standard buckle on British belts of the 1888 (Slade Wallace) which was worn from '88 until at least 1903, when replaced with a different pattern "bandolier" equipment. Tens of thousands of them, maybe hundreds of thousands, would have been produced in those 23 years and they are certainly common enough, I'd think, in any part of the old Empire. Usually attached to the brown leather belt with the D rings on the top for attachment to the shoulder belts. Had one myself (the belt, with "snake" buckle as I've always heard it called) but lost it somewhere.

Peter

I have a photo showing three out of 11 NCOs wearing one of these buckles, that would have been after 1909 and probably into WWI. Seven others are wearing the buckle you mentioned and one wears a regimantal insignia buckle. It looks like the "S" buckle was well on its way to being phased out by the early years of the Great War.

Regards

Brian

[peter monahan]

I have a photo showing three out of 11 NCOs wearing one of these buckles, that would have been after 1909 and probably into WWI. Seven others are wearing the buckle you mentioned and one wears a regimantal insignia buckle. It looks like the "S" buckle was well on its way to being phased out by the early years of the Great War.

Regards

Brian

Matt

Yes, very definitely British.

Brian

Given the way the Slade Wallace equipment was passed on to "deserving" colonies and Dominions, it wouldn't surprise me to see it in wear as late as WWII, especially in places like India, or the African colonies.

Peter

[Dave the Snake Guy]

Matt,

As others have posted, you have two thirds of a snake buckle. Another keeper would hook into the open end of the snake link. This particular style of snake dates from the late 1800s to the early 1900s. They are a British thing that lingered where ever Brits were - especially their colonies. Your example could be military or police (Constabulary). The French have used them as well, but with different keeper styles - such as the rectangular keeper style in the repo example of a Napoleonic era snake buckle that Bear has posted. Most of the French snakes were used with medallion style keepers that depict the branch of service of the soldier. Brits have also used snake buckles in civilian life, but those buckles utilize thiner wire keepers.