RomanArmyTalk

Can anyone help with images of buttons please

which period?

I personnaly like these pretty well, from Arbeia/South Shields on Hadrians Wall, 2nd century:


Also, just little pieces of horn or antler will do fine.

Cheers J. However I dont think I can make those. Are there any more plain ones? I could copy.

Well, I use antler buttons both round and antler tips, if thats any help.

And I made some little wood toggles from dowel, passing them through a simple leather loop on the closure side.

Quote:Well, I use antler buttons both round and antler tips, if thats any help.

Byron's antler buttons are very nice!! i've made some myself, you can pick up antlers cheap on ebay, and use a saw to cut them, make sure you do this in a well ventalated area tho, as cutting bone STINKS!!!

Quote: Byron's antler buttons are very nice!! i've made some myself, you can pick up antlers cheap on ebay, and use a saw to cut them, make sure you do this in a well ventalated area tho, as cutting bone STINKS!!!

To say nothing of being carcinogenic! There are plenty of ready made antler buttons too. ready drilled and ready to go!

Mike.
I think the one on the left should not be to difficult a type to make, ( these are just some among my collection )

http://www.listuo.com/sextima/btf073.jpg

You could probably get ones like the ones Jurjen posted up from Peronis (Armamentaria), as I believe Nodge Nolan makes them. However, bear in mind that unless you are doing an early to mid second century AD impression they would not be appropriate.

Crispvs

I have a copy of J P Wild's article: Button and Loop Fasteners in the Roman Provinces in Britannia Vol 1 (1970).

He makes the point that these are normally found in military contexts in the first and second century AD, and that he has seen no evidence for these worn on clothing.

Interestingly he also cites the find of 'a sword sheath from Mainz... said to have been with two fasteners adhering to it as if they were the means of fastening it to the sword belt.'

A button and loop fastener has also been found on a sword belt from Vindonissa, and such fasteners have also appeared with Roman military equipment in graves in Slovenia.

Wild also makes the point that there is evidence for their use in Late Pre Roman Iron Age contexts also, and I have seen very similar pieces used for La Tene sword suspension.

Is there any evidence that button and loop fasteners are for cloaks? I am starting to feel that they are actually for sword suspension.

There are some kind of button/loop fasteners shown on a sculpture of a soldier's paenula, but others look like the garment is just sewn shut for the first foot or so below the neck. I've done both. (On different garments, of course. :lol: )

Do you mean the 'Camomile Street Soldier'?
http://www.romanarmy.com/cms/component/ ... Itemid,94/

I've seen this in the Museum of London. The fastenings do not look like button and loops to me, (certainly no visible loop) and given that they span the join of the cloak could equally be two different pairs of fibulae.

Yes, that's exactly the one. However, I've only seen the drawings, not the original...but from only the drawing, they could be button/loops (or maybe not. Dunno.) My toggle/loops look like the bottom one in the set of the fasteners shown on the sculpture. More like little cylinders than discs. I used some soft leather "string" (can't say "thong" any more, since they turned that word into ladies' underwear) for the loops and the toggle holders.

Mine look like this, turned edgewise (neck at right) to save page space
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd29 ... ols004.jpg

I would say button loop fasteners go thro' button holes as the name suggests and they are most certainly used on cloaks.

Quote:I would say button loop fasteners go thro' button holes as the name suggests and they are most certainly used on cloaks.

Mine are made so the "button" goes through the loop. I'm pretty sure buttonholes are much later in history. And they're absolutely used on MY cloak. :lol: