{"id":14228,"date":"2026-03-17T14:41:35","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T14:41:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vrharbor.com\/?p=14228"},"modified":"2026-08-08T20:09:01","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T20:09:01","slug":"find-26-the-clasp-maketh-the-garb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vrharbor.com\/?p=14228","title":{"rendered":"Find 26: The Clasp Maketh the Garb"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"top\" \/>\r\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"14238\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/vrharbor.com\/?attachment_id=14238\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/vrharbor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/WILT-06A431_69ab00fc192df.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"500,358\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-title=\"WILT-06A431_69ab00fc192df\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/vrharbor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/WILT-06A431_69ab00fc192df.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-14238\" src=\"https:\/\/vrharbor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/WILT-06A431_69ab00fc192df.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"358\" srcset=\"https:\/\/vrharbor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/WILT-06A431_69ab00fc192df.jpg 500w, https:\/\/vrharbor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/WILT-06A431_69ab00fc192df-197x141.jpg 197w, https:\/\/vrharbor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/WILT-06A431_69ab00fc192df-400x286.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" data-path-to-node=\"4\"><b data-path-to-node=\"4\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">Unique ID:<\/b> WILT-06A431 <br \/><br \/><b data-path-to-node=\"4\" data-index-in-node=\"23\">Date:<\/b> c. AD 1500\u20131650 (Early Post-Medieval)<br \/><br \/><b data-path-to-node=\"9,2,0\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">Size:<\/b> 37.8mm long and weighing 5.21g.<br \/><br \/><b data-path-to-node=\"9,3,0\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">Material:<\/b> Cast copper alloy.<\/p>\r\n<p data-path-to-node=\"6\">When this first came out of the soil, my mind went straight to military hardware. Given the size and the attachment loops, I originally thought it was a sword belt strap fitting, very similar to a previous find of mine (<a href=\"https:\/\/finds.org.uk\/database\/artefacts\/record\/id\/973396\"><b data-path-to-node=\"11\" data-index-in-node=\"220\">WILT-336B57<\/b><\/a>).<\/p>\r\n<p data-path-to-node=\"6\">In an age before zippers and mass-produced buttons, how you held your clothes together said a lot about who you were. This cast copper-alloy clasp is the &#8220;eye&#8221; half of a hook-and-eye set. While the hook portion is missing, the surviving piece is a beautiful example of early post-medieval craftsmanship.<\/p>\r\n<figure id=\"attachment_14240\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-14240\" style=\"width: 850px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"14240\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/vrharbor.com\/?attachment_id=14240\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/vrharbor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Gemini_fastener.png\" data-orig-size=\"1207,864\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-title=\"Gemini_fastener\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/vrharbor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Gemini_fastener-1200x675.png\" class=\"wp-image-14240 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/vrharbor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Gemini_fastener-850x478.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"850\" height=\"478\" srcset=\"https:\/\/vrharbor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Gemini_fastener-850x478.png 850w, https:\/\/vrharbor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Gemini_fastener-1200x675.png 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-14240\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Diagram showing how the fastener may have been used. (AI generated image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n<p data-path-to-node=\"7\">The oval panel features delicate foliate and floriate decoration; a moulded relief with three round knops (studs) and a collared end. It\u2019s a reminder that even functional items were rarely plain; someone took the time to make this fastener look as good as the garment it held. It just goes to show that &#8220;heritage&#8221; isn&#8217;t just about coins and crowns; it&#8217;s about the everyday items\u2014from sword belts to lady&#8217;s gowns\u2014that people used hundreds of years ago. To hold a clasp that likely fell off a garment in the 1500s connects you directly to the person who lost it.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&nbsp;<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Unique ID: WILT-06A431 Date: c. AD 1500\u20131650 (Early Post-Medieval) Size: 37.8mm long and weighing 5.21g. Material: Cast copper alloy. When this first came out of the soil, my mind went straight to military hardware. Given the size and the attachment loops, I originally thought it was a sword belt strap fitting, very similar to a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14238,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11513,11488],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-everyfind","category-metal-detecting","has-thumbnail"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pDxlf-3Hu","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/vrharbor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/WILT-06A431_69ab00fc192df.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vrharbor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vrharbor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vrharbor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vrharbor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vrharbor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14228"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/vrharbor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14228\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14277,"href":"https:\/\/vrharbor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14228\/revisions\/14277"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vrharbor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vrharbor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vrharbor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vrharbor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}