DRESS FASTENER (UNKNOWN) 447243

Description: A slightly corroded cast copper-alloy post-medieval dress fastener. The main body of the object is broadly heart shaped, with an integral T-shaped bar at one end and sub-rectangular attachment loop at the other. The main body is openwork with a heart-shaped aperture. The sides of the body expand from the base in pointed lateral knops. They echo the end of the attachment loop which are pointed bilobes. At the other end the heart is divided by a transverse groove from the bar. The T-shaped bar curves downwards through almost ninety degrees (W.: 10.5mm). The artefact is almost entirely covered in grey/green corrosion product with small patches of red-brown metal showing through. Traces of tinning survive on the upper surface. An identical fastener can be found illustrated in Read (2008, 187; ref. 704), who has classified it as Class F, Type 1 and suggests they were used with 16th-/17th-century sword belts.

Date: 1550 - 1700

Object type: DRESS FASTENER (UNKNOWN)

Last import: August 15, 2017