Sale: CNG 69, Lot: 2287. Estimate $500.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 8 June 2005.  Sold For $650. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

[Antiquities] MEDIEVAL. Silver-gilt fittings for a belt or purse. Circa 11th-12th century. Settings consist of a strap, 11.5 cm long x 2 cm wide, decorated with filigree spirals attached to a buckle with terminals engraved with small crosses. Associated with the strap are three shield-shaped blazons, 3.5 cm long, which appear to have originally had inset jewels or other decoration, and forty-one anchor-shaped appliqués, thirty-nine with plain ball bodies, two with repoussé rosettes. Sandwiched between the two flat panels of the strap, and on the back of some of the appliqués are remnants of a coarsely woven burlap-like fabric. One of the appliqués broken, the rest of the pieces in good condition. Rare medieval decorative items. Forty-five (45) pieces total in lot. ($500)

The use of the fabric in the body of the piece, rather than more durable leather, suggests this may have been a utilitarian belt, or perhaps an ornate waist purse with a buckled flap closure, like a pilgrim's purse.