POST MEDIEVAL DRESS FASTENER (UNKNOWN)

1600

An incomplete cast copper alloy dress fastener of Post-Medieval date, probably seventeenth century (AD 1600 – AD 1700). The fastener is largely sub-oval in plan and flat. It would have had an integral hook or loop at one end which is now lost due to an old break, just above the break is a slight raised band on the front. At the end opposite the break, and at the centre of each side, are integral, perforated, flat rounded projections with projecting knops on the outer edge; the one opposite the break is now mostly lost. The front of the plate is decorated with lines of punched annulets making a floriate design within a border. The rear face is flat and plain. Length: 26.5mm; width: 26.8mm including knops, 15.4mm excluding and 1.0mm thick; weight: 2.44g.Read (2008:171) illustrates several similar fastners which he suggests are probably 17th century in date, although all his examples have engraving as well as punched decoration. No.643 is most similar to this piece as it also has a raised band at the end of the plante.