I thought I would share this, because it's something we sell a lot of, but not many people know what they are. Horse brasses are brass ornaments that were...and still are...used to decorate the harnesses of draft horses as well as identify the owner. Horse brasses were developed sometime in the 15th century as good luck charms or amulets of protection and developed over the years into decorative items for harnessing. They were made for all manner of occasions from royalty to clubs, organizations, guilds or trade unions, travel souvenirs and you name it!
They were morphrd into decorative items in the early part of the 20th century and became popular to hang in pubs and in homes around the fireplace as a look back to the Victorian era when they were wildly popular as there were so many horses in harness. They were reproduced in several areas of England until the 1970s and now you can find tourist brasses that are made in China. But they are easy to spot when you know what to look for.
This is a more traditional horse brass from 1898 commemorating the famous English jockey Fred Archer. Fred Archer was the greatest jockey of the 19th century by winning the Derby 5 times but killed himself in 1886 and became a bit of a legend.
The rose design ceramic center horse brass was made in the 1960s as a decorative item and is very pretty. I have actually seen some used on horses in the UK, but they are usually only hung on the wall.
A fun Englsh collectible. To see more horse brasses at Time Was Antiques, click on the photos.
4 comments:
Very interesting. Love the pink floral one. Happy Pink Saturday! Pat
My great grandfather had a factory in Walsall, Staffordshire in the late 1800's where they made these and other stable gear.
Wow, that is so interesting to see and learn!
Thanks, once again, for the lessons.
That is definately a pretty one!
Thank you for sharing this! I had never heard of harness brasses before and this was so interesting to read. Of course, the pink floral is my favorite.
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