Shoe buckles for Period (GAoP) Shoes

[Gentleman of Fortune]

Somebody had asked about shoe buckles a while back, and I promised I would go into more detail, so here it goes.

For GAoP, sailor shoes should have a narrow buckle. Shoe buckles start to come onto the scene in the 1660s, and were very small at that time. Period shoe buckles for GAoP can be the same size as knee buckles, and its my belief that shoe buckles are often mis-identified as knee buckles.

First thing you have to do is get those big ass buckles on shoes of the Rev War period out of your mind, because they keep you from having a proper perspective on the evolution of the shoe buckle.

Before I continue, here are the parts of the buckle:

Now the buckle attaches to the shoes via the buckles chape and the shoe's latch. The latches are two pieces of leather that come together over the instep. For the GAoP, there are three styles of chapes.

Stud chapes, Anchor Chapes, and Loop Chapes.

Ideally, you want a buckle between 1/2"-1" for 1670ish to 1720. The closer you get to 1720, they can be a little larger, but smaller buckles were still being used at that date.

I have had some made and have them for sale, see the link below to check them out (or PM me)

If you want to know more about buckles and see some examples, go to my Pirate Footwear Page,

Its still a work in progress, but I have posted examples of what buckles should look like.

Here is a taste....

Hope that helps

GOF

[blackjohn]

More than I ever cared to know... or, in other words...

BRILLIANT!!!

Dude, you rock!!!

[madPete]

Since all the photo links are bad/gone, I'm posting the loyalist buckle here as a near reference. The loyalist buckles were available several years ago, and I bought a pair then to replace the silver GOF buckles that disappeared in the divorce 10+ years ago. These are near identical to the GOF buckles.

Overall Dimensions:

1-1/2 inches long

1 inch wide

These fit 5/8-11/16 wide straps.  If memory serves the GOF fit 3/4 inch, but that was a long time ago