The Edward H. Bohlin Lone Ranger Belt Buckle

We’ve already covered tops and bottoms of the ‘true’ cowboy outfit here, so I figured it is about time to focus on the center: Here’s a short excursion on the cowboy belt buckle.

Belt buckles come in all shapes and sizes, and, needless to say, in wide range of prices as well. Starting with $5 brass buckles, custom made options are available online for as low as $99, with the top line of diamond studded silver and gold going up in the ten thousands.

The Postercowboy usually likes to buy ‘top shelf’, but unfortunately lacks the necessary income to go completely crazy. While Richard Stump’s buckle designs (richardstumpjewelry.com/) are absolutely adorable, they are clearly out of my reach. And as much as I like to look at them, I can’t really see myself walk around with a $30,000+ buckle on my belt. And, truth be told, they are also more than a tad too bling-bling to suit my style. I have seen them advertised as ‘wearable art’ and while I perfectly agree with that, I ran out of wall space a long time ago. So getting one of them framed is not an option either.

Also, the Postercowboy is not only tradition and fashion conscious, he also loves all things vintage. Furthermore, he loves things that actually mean something.

With that in mind, today I want to show you one of my all-time favorite belt buckles. This is a three-piece ranger set, made by the Edward H. Bohlin company in Hollywood. Bohlin was a Swedish immigrant, and a self-made millionaire. Starting out in the 1920s, his top of the line designs and craftsmanship made him famous. He created high-grade buckles, saddles, and other silverware for many of the big stars in Hollywood, including Hopalong Cassidy, Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Dean Martin, and Robert Redford.

Shown here is an older set that was made in the middle of the 20th century, most likely in the 1950s when this model was most popular:

This is one of company’s earliest designs. It is called the Bohlin #5, and has been in constant production since the 1920s. It was made from 925 sterling silver and is fully hand engraved.

What makes this TRULY SPECIAL for the Postercowboy: This is the exact same style that Clayton Moore wore as THE LONE RANGER both in the original TV series that ran from 1947 to 1959 and the two feature films. (Click HERE to see the original US Onesheet, the original German poster, the best German lobby card, and a US scene card for the first film.)

I have a few single piece buckles, but I always wanted ONE ranger set, and for me, this is the one. As far as I’m concerned, nothing comes even close to it.

Below is a nice shot of the Lone Ranger on a British 7″ vinyl single I found on ebay. THE ADVENTURES OF THE LONE RANGER originally came out as a single 12″ record in the US, but Brunswick (the UK outlet for Decca Records) decided to release it as three extended play 7″ singles in the UK. These are not really worth any money, but they are actually quite rare. As was common at the time, the cover image was hand-tinted, which explains why both the Lone Ranger’s buckles and his gun are gold, where they should of course be silver.

Clayton Moore also wears the bigger version of this buckle on his gun belt, but this is still Berlin, so even I have to limit myself at some point.

Besides the Lone Ranger angle, there’s one more thing I absolutely love about this buckle, and that’s the craftsmanship. This set is handcarved, and it boasts with tiny micro-details. To give you an idea of the size: The small keeper is 1″ wide, the tip about 3/4″. The digital camera brings them all out very nicely, but many of these details are so small, they are actually not easy to see with the naked eye. If this was a painting, the smallest engravings seen here would be done with a one-hair brush.

If there are still craftsmen out there who do this kind of work, they do not work for the current owners of the Bohlin company. I have seen detailed images of a contemporary version of the #5 buckle, and while it still looked ‘nice’, it also lacked all the tiny details that set this piece apart. I have noticed the same thing with other Bohlin buckles as well, it seems the quality is just not there anymore.
Not really a surprise I guess, it’s merely another example of what happens once the ‘investors’ take over.

The buckle came with the belt you are seeing above. With this background story, a black belt is mandatory of course, nothing else would work here. This is a 1 1/4″ belt, tapered to one inch. It was made by the J.B. Hill Company, still one of the finest bootmakers in Texas. This is a top-shelf belt and I guess it would cost you at least $250 these days. And the best thing is, it came in my size!

Below are a few detail images. This could of course be polished for an almost like-new look, but I actually appreciated the vintage patina: