A friend of ours 'found' a couple of belt buckles years ago. One was at a fort in a neighboring state and the other around Spanish Fort.
He just unearthed them from where he had stored them and sent them to me so I could drool over them but I have to give em back. One is CSA, and it's clean and very light in weight. The other, is clean on the front. (I bet he did that Brasso stuff) but the back is thick with something. I believe it may be leather or some sand and shell mess that got very hard and stuck to the metal. It has a very small area where the 'crusted crud' is gone and it looks as if there are some numbers on it but I cannot make them out. Only the tips of them show and then I have to use my eyeball ---on a stick.

My question. Should he remove that crud if he can without damage to the buckle to see if there's a number or even an initial on it? He is asking me for an answer. My usual answer is not to touch it but since he's 'shined' it I'm not sure what to tell him.

Pam

ps-- he found these as I said, many years ago. When no one said not to dig.