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Latinitas suis omnibus salutat 8) .
To be sure, was it usual to gild the belt parts during the first century AD? Until now I have seen brass belt pieces or tinned or silvered pieces. I havn`t seen much gold plated belt parts. A common soldier was paid about 7,5 gram gold each month, so gold was very expensive for him. Did they have it? If so, I will gild my parts 8)
(aka Niels)
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I haven't heard of roman belt plates gilded in gold. Bare brass, tinned, or silvered [leaf?] are the options.
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What about the plate from Kalkriese? Were the side scroll bits not goldplated?
As in the plates by E. Konig?
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I am not sure about this concerning Romans, but soldiers and mercenaries constantly on the move tend to carry all their fortune with them. Using their money for gold plating, jewelry and decorations of armor (that can be later extracted) is a very convenient way to achieve this.
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The Early Roman “Hoard of Vrhnika”: A Collection of Finds from the River Ljubljanica, by Janka ISTENI?
http://av.zrc-sazu.si/pdf/54/AV_54_Istenic_zaklad.pdf
Scroll down to; 4. A BELT-PLATE FROM A MILITARY BELT
"It may therefore be safely assumed that the front of the belt-plate was only partially gilded and that the effect of the decoration was enhanced by the contrst of the gold and silver surfaces...."
More papers here: http://av.zrc-sazu.si/En/54/AV54.html
TARBICvS/Jim Bowers
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Thanks Jim, thats great info.
Visne partem mei capere? Comminus agamus! * Me semper rogo, Quid faceret Iulius Caesar? * Confidence is a good thing! Overconfidence is too much of a good thing.
[b]Legio XIIII GMV. (Q. Magivs)RMRS Remember Atuatuca! Vengence will be ours!
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Hey thanks
That link is very usefull!! I understand that we can certainly assume that they partially gilded their plates. That`s nice to hear. But did they also gild the whole plate (lets not talk about the back side, just about the visible part of the plates) It`s all about the nielled plates. Brass corrodes, so I want to protect it against rust and that kind of things. Silver will become black by the influence of sulphur, so I have to clean that when it`s too black, and I dont like cleaning :roll: (hope this sentence is correct :? ) Gold does not have this property, so it`s the best candidate. What about pure or almost pure silver? Did they use that too for belt fittings or is it too soft?
(aka Niels)
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Glad to hear that Byron.
Another snippet, to illustrate it's not a one-off example:
"The Kalkriese example is gilded like the one from the Ljubljanica."
TARBICvS/Jim Bowers
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I have that belt form Erik, which is why I am glad to see info on it.
Great to hear!
Visne partem mei capere? Comminus agamus! * Me semper rogo, Quid faceret Iulius Caesar? * Confidence is a good thing! Overconfidence is too much of a good thing.
[b]Legio XIIII GMV. (Q. Magivs)RMRS Remember Atuatuca! Vengence will be ours!
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Eheu, posting at almost the same moment. I wish I had the belt of eric, very beautiful!!
See my post over Jim`s one  .
(aka Niels)
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His work is excellent! So far I have only worn it once, for a off duty dress impression.
One day will have the guts to wear it in full kit mode.
:roll:
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So I can safely gild my whole plates? (No only a part of the plate, just the whole plate gilded.)The backside doesn`t matter, only the visible part.
(aka Niels)
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Quote:So I can safely gild my whole plates? (No only a part of the plate, just the whole plate gilded.)The backside doesn`t matter, only the visible part.
Well, strictly speaking you shouldn't really, as there is no evidence for entirely gilded plates, only partially gilded. Even then, I believe only if your impression is Augustan (correct me, someone, if I'm wrong).
At the end of the day they're your plates, but be prepared for the belt to be challenged as authentic :wink:
TARBICvS/Jim Bowers
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Quote:Even then, I believe only if your impression is Augustan (correct me, someone, if I'm wrong).
My impression is not augustan, just later, from nero to vespasian. Did you mean its sure that they gilded the whole plate during the augustan time? It`s not posible to gild my plates partly so when it is not common during the time of nero until vespasian I have to silver them  (I dont like that because silvering is really very dangerous.... Much more than gilding.
(aka Niels)
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If your plates are brass then there are plenty of off-the-shelf silver cleaning products that only require a decent cloth. Some of these products leave brass silvered, and I mean gleaming with not a hint of brass. Do a search on RAT for 'silvering'.
Here's one (bottom of the page) which does a great job:
http://www.tableauproducts.com/sections/METAL-CARE/1
It even has a video to show how well it does the job.
The ball in the photo in this thread is also silvered by the above solution (as it's Peronis' I assume it is):
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I've also part-silvered a Weiler type cavalry helmet, which can be done carefully using masking tape and a sharp craft knife/scalpel.
TARBICvS/Jim Bowers
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