STRAP FITTING

A complete post-Medieval copper-alloy hooked plate from a sword-belt fitting (1600-1700).

These strap-fittings tend to consist of a mount with three suspension loops from which hang a trio of hooked plates; the scabbard straps would have been attached to these plates. The ensemble features foliate decoration on their visible faces. For an illustration of a complete sword-belt fitting, see: Read (2001, 43; ref: 373).

This single hooked plate is sub-triangular in plan and flat on both faces. From the hook end (width 4.1mm) the plate flares out to a width of 14.3mm. Aligned with the base of these side protrusions is a central circular rivet perforation; on the rear face this is countersunk. Below, the object narrows to a waist 9.0mm wide beyond these protrusions, before widening again to 17.1mm. Below these latter, and above the trefoil terminal (width 20.2mm), is another waist at which the plate narrows to 9.9mm. At the front, centrally aligned with the beginning of the trefoil, is a second circular perforation; on the lower face this is countersunk. At the front a moulded scrolled foliage pattern consists of a central vertical branch with fronds veering towards the edges at each side. There is a moulded leaf at the hook end. The rear face is plain. The rearward projecting hook is circular in cross-section and terminates with a globular knop.

This fitting is reddish brown with some light green corrosion products and flecks of a green patina. Within the crevices at the front there are flecks of a black substance that may be lacquer.

Height: 47.6mm; width: 17.1mm; thickness of plate: 2.0mm; thickness including hook: 11.1mm. Weight: 6.42g.

Such fittings are rarely found complete. Incomplete and fragmentary examples are far more common. An illustration of another complete sword-belt fitting can be found in Read (2001, 43, fig. 26, ref: 373). Such fittings 'proliferate in the 16th and 17th centuries' (Geake 2001, 35). Their design and decoration are relatively standardised.

Read, B. 2001. Metal Artefacts of Antiquity. Portcullis Publishing. Langport

Geake, H. 2001 Finds Recording Guide Version 1.1.