MEDIEVAL STRAP FITTING

1300

Strap-end, now probably incomplete, made from two sheets of copper alloy. The sheets are cut into an ornate shape and there is a central longitudinal line of rocker-arm engraving on one sheet. They are very tightly and precisely joined together and it is very hard to see what joins them; perhaps solder, or perhaps a very well-concealed rivet. At the (presumably) broken end the two sheets come apart very slightly. As the sheets are so tightly joined, with little room for a strap between them, perhaps this is an extremely long terminal from a 14th-century composite strap-end.