File:18th century buckle frame (FindID 393610).jpg

English: A fragment of a copper-alloy two piece buckle that would have original been square or rectangular in shape. The buckle is too fragmentary to determine its dimensions however the frame of the buckle is 8.05mm wide and 1.99mm thick. The surface is decorated along the inner and outer edges by a row of closely set pellets that have a diameter of 1.16mm. Immediately inside these rows of pellets is a single moulded ridge 0.99mm wide. A third moulded raised ridge, of the same width, is present along the centre of the frame, spaced equally between the outer two. At the corner of the frame this central raised ridge ends to provide space for a moulded flower, which has a single pellet at its centre. The frame thickens on the reverse to 3.83mm allowing for a cylindrical perforation that has a diameter of 1.45mm. The perforation would originally have held the second part (separate spindle) of the buckle, allowing it to pivot. If the perforation was located centrally in the frame the buckle can be estimated to have been approximately 62.06mm in length. Unlike the two examples referred to below this buckle did not have a flower motif on the frame above the perforation suggesting that the design was only present at the corners. The fragment weighs 3.33g. The buckle is 18^th century in date and is likely to have been a shoe or knee buckle. Two similar examples can be seen in Whitehead, R. 2003, (p.105, No. 670 & 671).