What!?

I asked on a metal detector forum what kind of metal the buckle was. The response I got was nothing short of shocking.

"It's no belt buckle , it is a colonial knee buckle. most are made of brass but they are made of various other metals too. It could be silver or pewter or even a tombac material. It's hard to tell from the pictures what exactly it is composition wise. But it is a neat find."

... Colonial knee buckle? Now, I live in Norway, so it can't be a colonial one, but appearently these buckles was used universally. Appearently it might be as old as the late 1700's! I seriously hope it is this old, but it might be newer.

The inner core seems to be iron, since it's very corroded. Appearently one of the "handles" have broken off (maybe the reason it fell off?). It seems very much like it is hand made, since there are irregularities all over it. I can't see any sign of a signature, but there are scratch marks all over it. It feels quite heavy.

I'm going to research this more, and probably take it to someone who knows their stuff about this period. I'm seriously psyched about this, and really hope it's old.