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Well it seems that the solder joint is actually VERY strong; I looped a piece of rod through the hinge loop and put as much force on it as I could and finally the loop uncurled and the buckle twisted a bit, but the joint remained solid. To be honest, I'm actually surprised the loop was so hard to uncurl :lol: So, with the base section being one piece, soldered at two points and with two loops, I now see that the buckle would be very much up to whatever force might be put on it by normal use. Of course this is an obvious truth or the Romans wouldn't have made them this way, but considering I'm not exactly sure how different modern materials and methods are from the ancient ones, I couldn't be sure the former were as good. Fortunately, they certainly seem to be
Matt
See FABRICA ROMANORVM Recreations in the Marketplace for custom helmets, armour, swords and more!
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Matt, thanks for PM.
What is the length of the pendant?
SB
a.k.a. Sebastiaan. "Timeo Danaos et doughnuts edentes" ;-)
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Ave Sebastiaan,
Sure thing- feel free to email me any time.
The pendant's full length is 77.5mm.
Matt
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Here is a more complete buckle which shows why it was so thin in the center and probably broke. The fullered center was for the prong to lay into.
http://www.netmarshall.co.uk/roman%20(1 ).jpg
Dean
Dean Cunningham,
Metalsmith, Father, dilettante
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DANG, Matt, NICE WORK! I will have to send you some customers.
There are 8 or 9 buckles in the Vindonissa catalog which seem to be made like yours, soldered from pieces of sheet. There are also about 40 that are pretty clearly cast, plus 17 made of bone. Lots of options!
Valete!
Matthew/Quintus
Matthew Amt (Quintus)
Legio XX, USA
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.larp.com/legioxx/">http://www.larp.com/legioxx/
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Thanks Matt
It is interesting to see the variety of techniques they used to make things- I suppose since we're talking centuries of time here, it shouldn't be surprising.
See FABRICA ROMANORVM Recreations in the Marketplace for custom helmets, armour, swords and more!
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Matt,
The size of the pendant is another hint at cavalry harness (or other decorative) use..It's a bit too big for a balteus but falls nicely in the range of other known cavalry pendants. I have no clear answer to the holes or the typical loop shape.
Have problems finding a scan opportunity for the Augstbuckle but I will send it you asap...
Sebastiaan.
a.k.a. Sebastiaan. "Timeo Danaos et doughnuts edentes" ;-)
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Thanks Sebastiaan for the information. Is it simply size that separates Balteus termini from cavalry pendants? I wouldn't have thought this one to be too big to be an apron terminus- but then I'm hardly an expert
The open nature of the loop and the holes make me think more and more that this is just an applique piece as opposed to an actual hanging pendant; unfortunately I can't say there's any clear evidence of rivets ever having been in the holes or anything definitive like that, so it remains just a reasonable possibility...
Matt
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Some time ago most pictures in this thread were still visible and I remember it is an very interesting topic, but unfortunately the pictures are "dead" now. Matt hasn`t been online for six months, so does anybody know how I can contact him? An email should be usefull.
(aka Niels)
