Italy, Facist State. An Army Officer's Belt with Buckle, c.1937

The belt with a 56.5 mm (w) x 50.5 mm (h) fire gilt bronze buckle at the right end, illustrating the left-facing Italian eagle standing upon a fasces, surrounded by a wreath created by two branches of laurel leaves, with a matching receiving clip on the left end. The belt is composed of two pieces, the longer piece incorporating a 15 mm wide black embroidered centre flanked by 12 mm wide strips of patterned fine gold-coloured bullion wire on either side on the upper, smooth finished butterscotch-coloured leather backer stitched in place with off-white threading, two sliders on the belt with patterned fine gold-coloured bullion wire uppers, along with an elongated oval bronze gilt bracket on the left end bearing a fasces and wreathing. The tab-like shorter piece with a matching design to that of the longer piece is stitched in place on the right end behind the buckle, the two piece comprising the belt measuring 42 mm in width x 1,180 in length overall, with an additional 20 mm long piece folded over and cotter pinned in place on the reverse on the left end. It exhibits limited wear and creasing on the upper. Better than very fine.