Georgian man’s shoe buckles. Provenance: England. Buckles were made to be attached to the shoe’s two straps, or latchets, securing them over the instep. A pitchfork-shaped double prong, called a tongue, fastened one latchet, and two short spikes on the loop, or chape, attached the anchoring latchet. This tongue and chape mechanism was often made of the same material as the buckle base, eg sterling for the more expensive buckles, but was also made of steel. Shoe buckles were sold separately from the shoes, and were meant to be transferable from one pair to another. They were treated like jewellery and kept in special cases to protect them (http://candicehern.com).
Silver metal with blue cut glass (?) stones. The buckles are in excellent condition.
Original case in very good condition.
Label: NODES * Goldsmith, Jeweller & Sword cutler * New Bond Street near Grosvenor Square
The goldsmith atelier from William Nodes was between 1769 and 1776 registered on this address.
Measure: ~ 6 x 7 cm
Case: ~ 8 x 16.5 cm
Price: 1.400 Euro