Description
Vintage Comstock Sterling silver Belt buckle. Nice old vintage buckle, light
surface wear, no bends or dents. Hand engraved, 3" x 2", fits a 1.5" belt. 39.7
grams.
It’s probably safe to say that even Henry Comstock—or George Hearst, John
Mackay, Mark Twain, Julia Bullette or any of the myriad historical figures who
descended upon Nevada’s historic Comstock Lode——ever dreamed of hanging
something like the “Blue Diamond” on their waists. Not liable to make anyone
blue, it’s a hand-filigreed sterling silver buckle set, hand-engraved and
antiqued with 1.5 carats of radiated blue and yellow diamonds. Retailing for
$9,500, it’s among the many hand-crafted products created by Comstock Heritage,
which bills itself ad “America’s Oldest Western Silversmiths” and is based in
Carson City, Nev.
“Really,” President James Stegman says of his company, “there weren’t any
buckles made before us.” Then he breaks out laughing. But the boast isn’t quite
all comical. After all, Comstock Heritage’s history dates more than a century,
and few silversmiths, then and now, have earned a reputation that matches these
artisans. The biggest surprise you’ll find at Comstock Heritage, Stegman says,
is … well … Stegman. “I would have been voted in high school the least likely to
work with my hands,” he says.
The company began in San Francisco in 1886 when J.C. Irvine partnered with a man
named Jachens (his first name has been lost to history) and began making brass
and silver conchos (and later badges) at the J.C. Irvine Company (later Irvine &
Jachens) on Mission Street. In the 1920s, Christian Stegman bought the company,
doing silverwork for saddles for Keyston Brothers and others until parade
saddles fell out of vogue in the late 1950s. By 1971, Christian Stegman’s sons
had divided the business, with Howard Stegman pushing silver buckles instead of
badges and moving his company, rechristened Comstock Silversmiths, to Carson
City. Irvine & Jachens, by the way, still makes badges outside of San Francisco.
In the ’70s, my dad was doing literally hundreds of buckles a month,” James
Stegman says, “inexpensive rodeo buckles, good buckles, handmade 20-40-40-dollar
wholesale buckles. It was something I never really thought I would do.”
Caught up in the Yuppie movement of the go-go 1980s, Stegman had no interest in
following his father in the buckle-making business. Since age 7, he had planned
on going to law school, and while attending the University of Washington, he
worked for attorneys. But then he realized something: “It’s not the noble love
of the law and justice. It’s a business, and it’s a hard business, and I
thought, ‘You know, I can make this type of money doing something else.’”
In 1990 James Stegman moved his family back to Carson City and worked for his
father, and soon began pushing his father to try more expensive looks, using
gemstones and better materials. Three years later, he got the go-ahead and
Comstock Heritage was relaunched.
