BUCKLE

A bent and incomplete medieval copper-alloy sheet buckle plate, decorated on its upper surface. The rectangular plate is wider than is long (see dimensions below), as is not uncommon for buckles of this period, with oval frames in particular (see Whitehead 1996, 19). The plate was formed of a folded sheet, with the upper half slightly longer than the lower one (L.: 19.25mm). At the attachment end there are two perforations, towards the edge and each corner; the rivets and in situ having thick, flat heads. They connect the upper sheet to the lower. In the centre of the plate, slightly closer to the frame end, is a third extant rivet. At the frame end the sheets are connected by curved strips, with a recess between them for the pin; both tabs have broken through and abraded. One of the tabs of the upper surface has been lost. At the junction of this latter and the plate there is a small perforation, presumably part of a repair at a weak point. On the upper surface is a neat design within a linear border, with the field divided in two by a longitudinal incision. In both halves is a quatrefoil flower formed of thin oval petals with a median incised line. A similar design can be found on a buckle illustrated in Whitehead (1996, 19; ref. 62), with another example recorded on this database, ref. NMS-B75503. The artefact has a dark-green patina, largely overlaid with dusty off-white corrosion product, particularly on the lower surface. The rivets are of a red-brown colour. As alluded to, the sheets have been bent slightly in profile as a result of old damage.