Bob,
I've worn it some, don't even know where the box is anymore? most of the time it sits in it's place of honor in the corner of my gun cabinet in the living room. Being an "Old Cowboy", I've got plenty of trophy buckles to wear and compare it to and seen plenty more (done a little roping and rodeoing when I was younger), Silver trophy buckles are just part of the "uniform" with cowboys. I'll say THIS;
The Tilden buckle isn't quite up to the obvious quality of something from Montana Silversmiths, or Gary Gist or the like but then-----these ones start at prob'ly $150 or so and go up------to maybe $1000 each. Rodeo is getting five to ten or fifteen dollars apiece from a grandstand full of paying spectators to the performance to help with the award fund and they're giving a buckle to the event winner of each of maybe seven events, plus all-around that's 8 buckles for the whole multi- day show.
Did you ever count the number of awards (trophy buckles or whatever) given out at a large shoot like the state shoot?? Let's see? Event winner, runner-up, AA, A, B, C, D classes or 19-21, 22-24, 25-27 yardage group, Jr, sub-Jr, Vet, senior-Vet, Ladies, HOA------shall I continue?? And that's every day for prob'ly five days. If you think you should win a trophy for "C" class in the "Joe Blow Doubles" on day two of the state shoot?-------I agree, you should! So should everybody else that won something of note at the state shoot, all 125 of them! But don't expect a $500 buckle.
Personally, I think Tilden makes some damn nice engraved trophy buckles in what I'd guess is a price range that's feasable for a committee that's looking to award something nice to fifteen to twenty five "winners" per day in a sport that's totally self financed for the most part.
You want a big shiny enuf buckle to dazzle the rodeo queen from the far side of the area??--------better learn to ride bulls
John C. Saubak