Name/Title
Buckle, shoeEntry/Object ID
2012.1.1-2Description
Pair of 18th-century silver shoe buckles, possibly descended through Herbert-Carlyle family (last owner was the donor's father, Arthur Herbert Holt). Very plain; decorated with two bands of small, close-set diagonal lines, one at very far exterior edge and one at very far interior edge. Silver in good condition with only minor rust deposits where secondary metal has touched silver; second metal is rusted and pitted with some white and orange deposits. All moving parts still move freely, if not a little slowly. Both physically numbered on underside of buckle.
Buckles appear to have the original chape and tongue, in either iron or steel, and because they are uniform / identical, are likely the original pieces. They are likely from the last third of the 18th century (best guess: 1760 - 1790), based on neoclassical design, straight lines, and repeating geometric pattern (if they were from an earlier period, they would be more Rococo-like, with embedded stones, flowers, curvy decorative elements; but these are very simple and understated). Information from Sarah Rivers-Cofield.
From 2012 appraisal: The makers mark can been seen incised into the silver on the underside of the buckles, and looks to be either NW or MN, depending on which way it is seen, in a rectangle with rounded edges. No mark could be found for NW, but a similar MN mark was found for Mark Nelson, a silversmith that worked in Portsmouth, NH from 1753-1785. Considering the trade that occurred along the eastern seaboard at this time, and that John Carlyle was a merchant in Alexandria, it is logical that the buckles could have been either purchased by Carlyle, or someone else, during a trip to Portsmouth, or were part of a cargo to Alexandria, and purchased here.