File:Post-Medieval Copper-alloy Spectacle Buckle with Acorn Decoration (FindID 561792).jpg

English: An incomplete copper-alloy spectacle buckle of Post-Medieval date, c.AD1550-1650. The buckle weighs 10.20g, has a length of 54.27mm, width of 34.69mm and thickness of 3.19mm. A small rounded knop protrudes from the external edge of the frame above and below the central bar. This central strap bar is semi-circular in cross-section. The pin is no longer present. To either side of the strap bar are the oval (in plan) loops of the buckle frame, which have ovolo shaped (quater round) cross-sections, being flat on the reverse, straight inner edges and convexly curved outer and upper surfaces. At the centre of each end of the buckle frame the bar of the frame expands. These two expansions of the frame are formed of slight curves on the inner edges and larger, more pointed expansions on the external edges. These expansions are in the form of an acorn. The curve on the inner edges representing the base of the acorn, the cup, and the external expansions representing the upper parts of the acorn. Two small shallow grooves help define the different parts of the acorn. The upper surfaces of the buckle are smooth and shiny. The reverse of the buckle frame has a rough mat surface and is slightly concave along the centre of the frame. The concave underside of the frame might possibly suggest that the alloy was cast into a mold that was open at the back allowing the set buckle to be tipped out ready to be finnished off in a similar way that one might tip ice-cubes out of an ice-cube tray today.

See Whitehead, R. Buckles: 1250-1800. Greenlight Publishing 2003. p.65, no.405.