This is a neat looking portion of a belt buckle! This is the belt buckle from the state of New York. It is the style pictured as figure #545 in O'Donnell's buckle book. He lists it as the infantry pattern enlisted man's belt buckle. It has the majority of the lettering on the face that is from the "SNY" that stands for the state of New York. This is the classic style that was worn by the soldiers from New York during the Civil War. The face has a the edge losses of the brass as you see. On the back of the buckle it has all three original belt attachment hooks intact. Both of the puppy paw hooks are intact. It has a piece of excavated belt leather accompanying it and it could be from this buckle but we can't say for sure.
The verbal history that accompanied this piece is that it was recovered in 1993 in Brandy Station, Virginia. This is a good bit of an original State of New York belt buckle that has a great price!