25/50 Belt buckle, any history on them?

Hello All,

I have a 25/50 Anniversary LP and last week I was lucky enough to pick up a belt buckle on eBay for $50, not bad. So now I have a belt buckle to go with my guitar, which I don't plan on getting rid of anytime soon, but I think having the buckle is cool. My question is, what's the story with the buckle? I heard that they didn't make one for every 25/50 guitar, is that true? Anyone know how many belt buckles may have been made? And lastly, any proper way to store it? I don't want to wrap it up in a zip lock bag and put it in the case if that's going to cause it to tarnish or something.

Thank you,
Sam

I think Big Al knows about these, I know somebody in here has discussed these. Try searching, it's here someplace.

samdjr74 said:

Hello All,

I have a 25/50 Anniversary LP and last week I was lucky enough to pick up a belt buckle on eBay for $50, not bad. So now I have a belt buckle to go with my guitar, which I don't plan on getting rid of anytime soon, but I think having the buckle is cool. My question is, what's the story with the buckle? I heard that they didn't make one for every 25/50 guitar, is that true? Anyone know how many belt buckles may have been made? And lastly, any proper way to store it? I don't want to wrap it up in a zip lock bag and put it in the case if that's going to cause it to tarnish or something.

Thank you,
Sam

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I recently was able to pick up a few of these from a person who had purchased them in a huge belt buckle collection. I have the 25/50 logo buckles in mint condition. I think they are worth quite a bit of $$$. I also own a 1978 25/50, with all the case candy. even the original form you had to fill out in order to get the buckle.

I have a RD Artist belt buckle that I believe was made around the same time. Not sure how many different types of belt buckles were made.

P.S. Just looked it up on eBay. Two of them going for $150.00. I would be surprised to see them sell for that...……

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vtg-70s-Gibson-RD-Artist-Electric-Guitar-Promo-Collectible-Rare-Belt-Buckle/173855719689?hash=item287a9bc109:g:tbcAAOSwmetcnprF

Grog said:

I have a RD Artist belt buckle that I believe was made around the same time. Not sure how many different types of belt buckles were made.

P.S. Just looked it up on eBay. Two of them going for $150.00. I would be surprised to see them sell for that...……

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vtg-70s-Gibson-RD-Artist-Electric-Guitar-Promo-Collectible-Rare-Belt-Buckle/173855719689?hash=item287a9bc109:g:tbcAAOSwmetcnprF

Click to expand...

Checking a sold Reverb listing one went for $65. For me, I wanted one for my 25/50, just because it completed the package, but I wasn't going to spend $1K for the thing. I was luck to grab one for $50 but on average they are selling for $300 which to me is crazy.

samdjr74 said:

Checking a sold Reverb listing one went for $65. For me, I wanted one for my 25/50, just because it completed the package, but I wasn't going to spend $1K for the thing. I was luck to grab one for $50 but on average they are selling for $300 which to me is crazy.

Click to expand...

I usually buy any original brochures, etc.... that document the guitars that I've collected. That is the only belt buckle I've ever bought. I doubt I paid more than $20 for it at the time...………

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Here is a youtube video of the 25/50 belt buckle explaining why they are worth a pretty penny.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bk_UIZci0KU

I was lucky enough to grab a few of these off of somebody. A lot of the employees of Gibson hoarded these back in the day figuring they would be worth something someday. There were far more 25/50 Les Pauls then there were the original 25/50 Les Paul Belt Buckle. Not everybody was able to get one of the original buckles. I have with my 25/50 the original case candy from '78. Sales receipt, warranty info, Belt Buckle card/form, tags for the case, and the belt buckle, etc. I swapped out the original Tarback pickups because one was not working. The belt buckle actually adds to the overall worth of the guitar if you were to sell. Makes them more desirable.