Spring Rowel Spur
Not on view
The neck of this spur is screwed to a bent strip that slides into a socket and holds it in place. When the neck is unscrewed it can slide out and can be removed when not used. Such a spur would have been used for occasional and casual riding.
This type of spur is described in the entry Eperon in the Swiss Encyclopédie d'Yverdon published in 1772 by Fortuné Barthélemy de Félice. He calls it a 'spring spur' (éperon à ressort). There, it is explained that the drawback of such spurs is that once the neck is separated from the heel plate, it is so small it is easy to loose. One of the other problems is you cannot move it to another pair of boots or shoes without asking a craftsman to remove the heel plates and to fix them back on another pair.
Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.
This artwork is meant to be viewed from right to left. Scroll left to view more.
