User:Soupy2444/sandbox

Collecting
Over the years belt buckle collecting has started to die off, but around the 1980s and 1990s it was pretty common.

Some people would purchase limited edition as an investment, they would hope to sell it in the future for more than they bought it. Other people liked collecting belt buckles because certain buckles link with different historical events. Fred Cooley who is the 1987 Flatlander Buckle Club president said that "some buckles commemorate historical events, such as centennials and anniversaries. Often they contain back-plate inscriptions that can be, for upcoming centuries, acceptable records of today’s events.”

Basically Buckles Magazine
Belt buckle collecting got so large that there was a magazine named Basically Buckles Magazine that ran for about five years. The magazines contained information about buckles where you could buy them, companies that were selling buckles and even dates for the buckles that were all around the US.

Buckle Clubs
Buckle collecting was so big there was many club that were created just for collecting these buckles. Some of these clubs were the Nebraska Buckle Club, Flatlanders Buckle Club, and The Oklahoma Buckle Club. The buckle collects wanted to make buckle collecting the same as comic book or stamp collecting, unfortunately it didn't take off like they wanted and mostly all the clubs are not around anymore.

Rambling Boy
Rambling Boy or also know as Robert Brandes is know for his collect of belt buckles. Many people also refer to him as "The king of Western belt buckle collectors" his collection consists of around a thousand different buckles. Brandes thinks of these buckles as a "art form that was peculiar to the United States” and "that they were worth preserving.” As of 2016 Brandes has the largest collect of belt buckles, but there are few others that are starting to challenge his collection, but are still not very close.