Antique jewelry glossary

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Belt buckle

A belt buckle is a type of buckle for fastening a belt, early examples being attached at one of its ends to the belt and having a tongue at the other end that fastens through a hole in the other end of the belt.

Some examples of Anglo Saxon jewelry are massive and made of gold, decorated in ribbon style, or with zoomorphic filigree motifs. Such buckles were the main article of male jewelry in the late 6th and early 7th centuries, and were used to clasp a broad belt worn around the waist or hips.

From: An Illustrated Dictionary of Jewelry, autor: Harold Newman, publishers: Thames and Hudson