File:Post-Medieval Incomplete Copper-alloy Spectacle Buckle (FindID 561711).jpg

English: An incomplete copper-alloy spectacle buckle of Post-Medieval date, c.AD1500-1650. The buckle weighs 6.45g, has a length of 37.45mm, width of 34.84mm and thickness of 2.45mm. The frame has a slightly angled outer edge at either end of the length axis. The double looped frame has a flattened external edge either side of the central vertical strap bar however the frame curves in slightly at the centre of the lower edge of the frame, below the strap bar, to form a small inverted notch. Opposite the inverted notch, on the external edge of the upper bar of the frame, are two diagonal shallow grooves. Between these grooves is a triangular field of copper-alloy that has a similar thickness to that of the buckle frame. It is unclear whether this was originally intended to be a lobed knop as is present many of the spectacle buckles of this period. It is important to note that most of these spectacle buckles tend to be designed to be almost symmetrical along an axis (symmetrical along the horizontal axis and/or symmetrical along the vertical axis). This buckle frame is symmetrical along the vertical axis but it is unusual that the same can no be said of the horizontal axis. Is the triangular field between the grooves a poorly cast lobe (or intentionally designed as a triangular field) and the absence of the same below the strap bar evidence of the frame having been miss-cast? Alternatively does the triangular field represent the location of a casting sprue and the intention to remove the copper-alloy between these grooves in order to finish the buckle off after casting which never took place? A third possibility is that the buckle was originally similar to the example of a sword belt hanger shown in Whitehead, R. Buckles: 1250-1800. Greenlight Publishing 2003. p.72, no.450 which has a circular lateral suspension loop projecting from the same area as the triangular field on this artefact. If this is the case the break is extremely worn and the theory inconclusive. The pin no longer survives and no pin rest is present on the upper surface of the frame. The reverse surface is flat and rougher than the upper surface. The buckle frame has a trapezoidal cross-section.

See Whitehead, R. Buckles: 1250-1800. Greenlight Publishing 2003. p.55, no.313, 317-321 & p.56, no.322.