MEDIEVAL BUCKLE

1200

A Medieval gilt copper alloy buckle dating from about AD 1200 - 1500. It has a trapezoidal frame with narrowed bar and is decorated with closely spaced engraved grooves on all of the front face of the sides and outside edge. The plate is rectangular, wider than it is long, with a pin slot, frame recesses, wide hinges and three copper alloy rivets connecting the two plates. There are traces of rocker-arm (wigglework) engraving under the corrosion. The buckle and plate would probably have been gilded, but no traces survive. The buckle is 38mm wide, 16.8mm long and 6.9mm thick in its current arrangement, with the buckle plate corroded into position bent behind the buckle. 8.5g. The buckle is similar to number 132 on page 26 of Whitehead's buckles and can be compared to NMS-D5B656, KENT-37BD65, PUBLIC-92ED2F, PUBLIC-8402F3, and BERK-F301F7.