Introduction Please note that this guide has not been fundamentally changed from the original print version of the Finds Recording Guide (Geake 2001), written when the database contained just 8,800 non-numismatic records. Clog clasps will rarely be included on the database, as they are of late post-medieval or modern date. They often have anchor-shaped ends …more
Category: Clothing and Personal
Purses
Introduction Purses are pouch-like containers, generally made of leather or fabric, used to store and carry coins. Metal elements from medieval and early post-medieval purses include the arched hanger onto which the strings of medieval purses were tied, and the purses with metal sub-structures of the late medieval and early post-medieval period. Metal mounts were …more
Hooked Tags and Other Dress Hooks and Eyes
Introduction Read 2008 is the main source, and covers hooked fasteners of every type and period. Read has a comprehensive classification for hooked tags and other dress hooks, but unfortunately the classifications for several different objects all start at class A, type 1. How we resolve this and quote a searchable Read classification is not …more
Lace-Tags
Introduction Generally formed of sheet copper alloy folded or wrapped on itself to form a cylinder or tube, lace-tags provided pointed terminals for a lace of leather or textile to aid threading through a corresponding eyelet in garments (see Egan in Egan and Pritchard 2002, 281; fig. 181). Laces aided tighter, figure-hugging fashions documented from …more
Badges
Badges are known from the medieval and post-medieval periods. We use the term to mean an object type which is mainly an emblem or sign, and which does not fit into any other category such as brooch, mount or pendant. Badges can be sewn on via loops, or fixed onto cloth using a loop and pin, or can have a pin but no catch.
Wrist-clasps
Introduction Wrist-clasps were used to fasten the cuffs of women’s clothing in the early Anglo-Saxon period. They are found almost exclusively in the Anglian culture-province (East Anglia, Cambridgeshire, the East Midlands, North and East Yorkshire). Occasionally the top of the slit in the cuff was covered with a triangular metal fitting called a gusset plate. Hines …more
Buttons (2001 guide)
Please note that this guide has not been fundamentally changed from the original print version of the Finds Recording Guide (Geake 2001), written when the database contained just 8,800 non-numismatic records. Introduction Fasteners analogous to buttons dating before the medieval period are discussed by Read (2005); see also our own guide to recording Late Iron …more
Finger-rings
Introduction A finger-ring is a circular object worn on the finger, usually just as an ornament. It can be a complete circle or penannular (with open ends); it can be a plain hoop, or have a bezel. Finger-ring designs can be simple and conservative, and so unstratified examples can be very hard to date. PAS …more
Pendent Loops
Introduction Pendent loops are small copper-alloy looped objects that hung from medieval bar mounts with integral hooked ends. Two such hanging loops found on the same strap in London suggest that other objects could have been suspended from them, perhaps knives or purses (Egan and Pritchard 2002, 219, 221; fig. 138, bottom). Certain forms can …more
S-shaped Fasteners (2001 guide)
Please note that this guide has not been fundamentally changed from the original print version of the Finds Recording Guide (Geake 2001), written when the database contained just 8,800 non-numismatic records. Introduction These are thought to have been used to fasten belts. State whether the decoration is only on one face, or continues all around …more
