tinning on pugio frogs and buckles

[Matt Lukes]

While I haven't seen buckles and frogs specificially, the bunch of other silvered bits I have (pendants, etc.) are only done on the front, and I'd doubt this would be any different for other components either. The Romans seemed to be very pragmatic with respect to this stuff- looks nice on the side you see, but as long as it works, it's not always so nice where it's not seen. And when you consider that silver is a precious metal, I'd think a minimum would be used whenever possible.