BUCKLE

A complete cast copper alloy large annular single looped buckle, dating from the Medieval period, between AD 1250 - 1400 (diameter: 45mm; thickness: 11mm; weight: 16.49g). This annular brooch single loop buckle frame is undecorated with the cast copper alloy pin (length of pin: 45mm; width of pin: 5mm; thickness of pin: 11mm) still looped around the frame. The square-sectioned pin has a small moulded and raised platform across its width, which is positioned immediately below the loop of the pin around the frame. The pin then tapers towards a blunted point at the opposing end to the loop. Overall, the brooch is worn and poor condition with very little of the original patina remaining. Similar examples are illustrated in Egan & Pritchard’s ‘Dress Accessories: Medieval Finds from Excavations in London’, 1991, pages 51, 57-65. The distinction between plain circular-frame annular buckles and plain annular brooches is not immediately clear. Those with the pin free to move around the entire circumference of the frame are described as buckles, while plain annular and other open frames in which the pins are attached to a constriction at one point can be classified as brooches (Egan & Pritchard, 1991).