MEDIEVAL BUCKLE

1100

Gilded copper-alloy buckle plate. The upper plate is decorated and has two projections forming the hinge loops, one broken and one which although apparently complete seems to be bent over to form the loop and then simply end, making a very weak construction. Normally one would expect the loop to continue, widen and be pierced to allow it to be joined to the upper plate by a rivet, but here, although there are two copper-alloy rivets, they have a separate sheet rove (made of a slightly different colour alloy) which would appear to prevent the loop from continuing. The upper plate is basically a long triangle in shape and is decorated with engraved lines made with a very slightly rocked engraving tool. The wider half of the plate (near the hinge loops) have a simple border, but the narrower half is shaped and lines added to make what may be a stylised bird's head in profile. The top and bottom of the head both have an incurved edge, with a dot eye at the top; the pointed end has lines to form an open beak with a saltire in it. There are two copper alloy rivets near the hinge, and a third cutting through the engraving at the angle of the open beak. All are rather large and crudely made, but are of the same colour metal as the plate and do not appear to be replacements. This buckle plate is of unusual construction and decoration.From its decorative technique, it is almost certainly medieval (the rocked technique is known from some very late Saxon items) but as it is so unusual it cannot be dated more closely within the period.