Howard Hawks had a number of Red River D belt buckles made for the main cast and crew members in his classic film Red River. All the belts were made with the name of the film, the year of release, 1946, the initials of the recipient and the D logo for John Wayne's character's ranch in the film. According to accounts by Michael Wayne and David Hawks, it appears that Hawks and Wayne swapped their belt buckles and Wayne wore his [Hawks'] belt buckle in a number of his films for sentimental reasons. The original buckles were made in silver with the Red River, date and initials in gold. It was this original belt buckle that John Wayne wore in a number of his films including Rio Bravo, El Dorado and Rio Lobo. John Wayne later had reproductions of his buckle made so that the original would not get damaged during filming. Some reproductions were made by the Western Costume Company for Wayne and his stunt doubles and Wayne also had some more made independently by an unknown silversmith for friends during the 1960s. It appears that this buckle is one of those reproductions of John Wayne's original buckle that he had made in the 1960s.

This belt buckle was given by John Wayne to the vendor's Father-in-law, Carl Prosser, during the filming of True Grit. Mr. Prosser worked on the film, helping John Wayne and painting store fronts on location. When filming was finished, Mr. Prosser never received a crew jacket along with the rest of the film crew and John Wayne took off his belt buckle and gave it to him by way of consolation.