There’s so much to like about buckles—from the human connection (who was wearing this the day it fell off or got discarded?), to the history. The shoe buckle in the top left is probably 18th century, while the second buckle in that row is from 1350-1450. The one at the end of the second row is from 1550-1650, and the one below it is a bit older, from 1350-1500*. Even the accretion of rust on some of the iron buckles catches my eye, and I love the beauty of the broken fragments. You can zoom in on the photo to see the details.

Thank you to members of the “Buckles through the ages” Facebook group for information on the types and ages of some of these.