French, 2nd Empire, Lancer Regiment, Enlisted Buckle
This item is listed for historical interest only. It was listed on our site previously but has been sold and is no longer available for purchase.
Sold for: $175.00

Original era manufacture. Stamped brass enlisted buckle, as worn by the troopers of French Lancer regiments of Napoleon III. The buckle measures 75x83 mm, and is maker marked on the reverse. A fair amount of original fire gilded finish remains, with personalized markings visible on the reverse edge.  France disbanded her Lancer regiments in 1871, immediately after the end of the Franco-Prussian War, making these buckles fairly easy to date epoch-wise.I am not sure of the reason for this, however the Lancers de la Garde had a very hard time of it at the battle of Vionville-Mars La Tour,  16 August 1870. This was a day long battle between von Alvensleben's III Army Corps, and Bazaine's Army of the Rhine. The last great cavalry battle on the European continent occurred there, when over 15,000 French & German mounted regiments clashed in titanic struggle late in the afternoon. The French Lancers de la Garde where not wearing their characteristic white tunics that day, clad in light blue instead, and were set upon by their own countrymen mistaking them for Prussian Dragoons.