File:Medieval buckle frame (FindID 217223).jpg

English: Medieval buckle frame; cast copper alloy single loop, trapezoidal buckle frame with an unusual shape and a short, integral, box-like buckle plate. This buckle is unusual but seems most likely to be a variant on buckles of the late 15th century. The buckle frame has a long, roughly triangular aperture with a broad triangular piece on either side of the triangle, meeting at the apex of the triangle. This gives the buckle frame a roughly rectangular outer shape with a triangular inner shape. The base of the triangular aperture forms the buckle plate, with a notch in the centre where the pin bar and pin would have fitted. Both are now missing. The buckle plate is vestigial, consisting of an extension of the copper alloy sheet on both the front and back of the buckle, giving a two piece plate with a narrow gap between to fit the strap. This is reminiscent of the integral box plates of some late medieval buckles. However, the plate as it remains does not seem long enough to effectively hold a strap so it may represent part of a larger, composite buckle plate.

Length 26.5mm, width 20.5mm, thickness 4.6mm, weight 6.47g

Refs: See Whitehead pages 37 & 38 for examples of late 15th century buckles with integral box plates. Egan pages 102, 104 and 105 illustrate further examples.