Rarest of the Rare – South Carolina Sword Belt Plate

By Shannon Pritchard · Originally published April 2018 · p. 12

The style of officer’s waist belt shown here has a very unusual history. South Carolina adopted the Palmetto state seal and motto “ANIMUS OPIBUSQUE PARATI” (prepared in mind and resources) to commemorate the 1776 defeat of the British at Fort Moultrie. This plate however, was made in England. Cast of silver (or so heavily silver plated as to unable to determine any substrata) chased to bring out the detail, it is among the finest of the era. It was imported from England in Antebellum days for sale to South Carolina’s Militia in both brass and silver models. A wartime photograph of C.S. Brigadier General and Governor of South Carolina Milledge Luke Bonham exists, in which the Governor is wearing this pattern sword belt. Some were brought through or attempted to pass through the Yankee blockade during the war, as examples have been recovered from a sunken blockade runner off Charleston. The two halves are numbered, but the numbers on the two halves do not match and are not expected to do so. All indications are that these were brought into the South in crates and were belted here. They were so well made that the halves were interchangeable and the artisan who put them on the belt made no attempt to match them. This pattern is rated a seven on the Mullinax rarity scale, but he is referring to both the brass examples and the silver examples, individually, they are much rarer, especially the silver. These plates are often faked; there are far more fake examples in the collector world than real examples. It is easy enough to tell the difference, but if I point out the difference here, the faker/ fakers will learn of their mistake and correct it so that even I could not tell the real from the spurious. So while I am not willing to disclose how I discern between the good and the bad, I will be happy to authenticate these at no charge for any Civil War News subscriber. Shannon Pritchard has authored numerous articles relating to the authentication, care and conservation of Confederate antiques, including several cover articles and is the author of the definitive work on Confederate collectibles, the widely acclaimed Collecting the Confederacy, Artifacts and Antiques from the War Between the States, and Confederate Faces in Color.