More on the buckle

So I've asked around on some other forums about the buckle I found. Cryptic from allempires.com helped me eliminate a lot of possibilities, so that I now can say for certain that it is hand forged. Heres what he said as a conclusion:

"I think that the buckle was hand forged because:

- It is not perfect

- No mold lines

- The edges on some parts of the pin and some parts of the buckle look sharp. (first, third picture)

-The scatch (file) marks that you circled are all in the same places on the buckle. This implies personal attention and not mass production from molds

- The pin looks like alot of personal attention was put into making it square (first picture)

My guess is that it was hand forged as an individual buckle in a small shop before 1750."

On my metal detecting walk today I didn't find anything else than a round piece of metal under a large tree root (took me 45 minutes to hack the root away.. poor tree). My walk wasn't all bad though. I met an old couple who asked me what I was doing. So I told them of the buckle I found, and they nodded in agreedment. They told me that appearently this forest path is one of the oldest in Vollen (where I live)! It was used by pilgrims many hundred years ago, and the path it self was probably made around year 1000!

After hearing this, I can easily imagine some man from the 1750's running in the forest, and maybe ripping his pants, so the buckle fell of. I will have to search the area I found the buckle more thoroughly after a while, but for now I will continue up the forest where I went today, since there is much less trash there.