BUCKLE

Post Medieval buckle with cast copper alloy double loop buckle frame and cast strap plate, the pin is missing. The frame has two oval loops with slightly widened outer edges. The front and back are bevelled and the front is decorated with a raised rim around the inner side of the loops and raised foliate patterns (the pattern is discribed by Whitehead (see below) as vine scroll). The strap bar is narrowed and recessed with lobed knops at either end, also decorated with leaf shapes. It is 36.2mm long, 28.8mm wide and 2.6mm thick.  The attachment plate is formed of a similar shaped front and back piece with a large loop attached to one corner of the front sheet. It was cast as one and looped 180 degrees over the strap bar. There is a rectangular pin slot with plain rectangular tabs to either side. Below the pin slot the plate widens slightly before narrowing to a waist then expanding to a tri-lobed terminal. One corner of this terminal on the front plate expands into a large lobe with circular hole (6.3mm in diameter). The wider section and terminal are decorated with foliate decoration similar to the frame. There are two circular rivet holes in the plate filled with iron corrosion: one in the lobed terminal and one in the wider section about half way along. The plate is 32.2mm long, 23.0mm wide and 3.5mm thick.  The piece weighs 11.70 grams. Whitehead (2003) illustrates a similar buckle (page 68, No.423) which he dates to c.1550-1650. The similarity of these buckles, in particular the tri-lobed buckle plate, to contemporary sword belt hangers (Cf. Read (2001), fig.26, no.373) suggests they are part of a suite of items for a sword belt.