Buckle sets are a specific type of buckle made up of 2-4 pieces. The most popular ones are three pieces: one a buckle, another for the the tip of the belt and the third is a piece called a keeper that helps hold the end of the belt flat. Sometimes they come in four pieces with two identical pieces helping hold the buckle and those are technically Ranger sets although most people use the term to describe either a 3 or 4 piece buckle. Generally more of a dress up buckle than a day-to-day working buckle but buckle sets are highly prized and increasingly being given as a prize at rodeo events.
Chase Holland, a famous early Texas jeweler, says that there was a copyrighted Texas Ranger belt in the 1930s and that he combined it with a Holland buckle and the combination became known as “Ranger Buckles”.
There are generally two sizes mentioned – the width of the part of the buckle that the belt loops around and a usually smaller dimension for the buckle tip.
I have many buckle sets on my buckle website. Just click HERE to see them.
(the picture is a Chet Vogt 1″ buckle set known as “Top Hand”)