MEDIEVAL BUCKLE

1350

An incomplete Medieval cast copper-alloy 'locking buckle' (c. AD 1350-c. 1450).In plan, the frame is rectangular with slightly rounded corners. The outer edge is 4.88mm in width and 3.24mm in thickness and is rabbeted throughout its width to accept and secure the U-shaped arm attached to the pin bar. The end of the bar is missing due to a break. There is a small notch on the upper face of the outer edge for a pin-rest. In side view the sides of the frame are expanded to accommodate the off-centred pin bar.The copper-alloy pin and chape are integral and the chape is cylindrical and hollow to take the bar. The bar is circular in cross-section where it is within the chape and the outer part is pointed-oval in cross-section. The tapering pin is bevelled at the font and convex at the rear.This buckle has no patina and is a drab brown colour. The surfaces are abraded and no file marks are visible. The break is old.28.12 x 15.93 x 6.03mm. 7.45g.This artefact can be dated to the 14th century AD (Geake 2001: 28). Complete 'locking buckles' can be found illustrated in Ward Perkins (1940: opp. 273, Plate LXXVII), with a reconstruction drawing in Egan 2005: 37-38; refs: 116, 117. Similar buckles are recorded on The Portable Antiquities Scheme database. For example, see finds:BERK-9BC3F5; HAMP-9E1F63; HESH-544E97; IOW-8D1121; KENT-139072; SF-547011; SOM-62A024; SUR-EAF581; SUSS-E6CAE2 and SWYOR-937365.