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Description: | A medieval copper alloy buckle with entended sheet plate and internal spacer. The buckle frame itself is oval, having a neatly-made wall only 1mm broad but 4mm thick, and slightly chamfered outside on the upper edge. At the middle of the outer-edge is a small v-shaped notch for the pin to locate upon. The oval frame is 22mm in breadth, but 15mm from pin-bar to fore-edge. The arched sides form shoulders at either end of the pin-bar, and the plate, which is folded around the pin-bar, is recessed at either side to receive the shoulders. The fold in fact consists of two loops each 4.5mm wide, with a central rectangular slot of similar dimensions to admit the pin, which is lacking. The plate is 17mm wide and 54mm long and consists of one sheet of metal which has been folded over and cut away at the pin-bar as described, but is folded to double length, the two square ends of the same sheet together forming the trailing edge of the plate. Over 37mm of their length they are held apart by another sheet of metal placed internally as a spacer, occupying the full width of the plate. This is approximately 1mm thick and terminates leaving a gap between the outer plates for the remaining 10mm of its length, for the strap to be admitted. At the trailing edge there are two rivet holes , one at either side, going through both plates, and at the centre a thirdset slightly further in. The two outer holes on the back plate are countersunk to admit the foot of the rivet, but the central one is roughly pushed through with a coarse rim, suggesting that it is a secondary repair. The upper surface of the plate has engraved and pierced ornament of a fairly elaborate kind, representing a fourteenth-century style of architectural window or niche. Towards the buckle-frame, there is displayed an engraved lozenge, at the centre of which is a regular quatrefoil cut completely through the plate and central spacer in openwork fashion, and chamfered upon the cut surfaces in the thickness of the plate. Below this are engraved two pointed arches, their upper inner sides forming the lower sides of the lozenge described above: within each arch the upper plate and central spacer (but not the back-plate) has been drilled to a diameter of 3mm to imitate an upper circular light. Below this, in the upright section of the archways, two upright rectangular spaces measuring 3.5mm wide by 7.5mm high are cut right through the plate in openwork. At this point the upper leaf of the plate is also doubly indented at either side to enhance the quasi-architectural effect. Below the arches is an engraved horizontal zone of ornament, consisting of a single line above,and a double line below, with doubled chevron ornament between. This is an idiomatic piece of 14th century ecclesiastical metalwork. There is no sign of gilding.
Original Image | Publisher: | http://finds.org.uk | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Identifier: | http://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/r... | Go to resource |
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