Buckle (a); Avon Box (b)

Worn on shoes, belts, the knees of breeches, and at the back of the neck, buckles served as functional and decorative accessories as well as valued emblems of wealth and good taste in eighteenth-century America. Silversmith Joseph Richardson, a prominent member of Quaker society in Philadelphia, furnished fine silver and goldwork to affluent clients. While he carried buckles with flamboyant motifs, including repousse scrolls and leafage, this plain gold buckle, with its restrained curves and unadorned cross bar, expresses a sober prosperity. The reverse bears Richardson’s maker’s mark together with the engraved initials, IC, possibly for Joseph England, member of a landowning Quaker family known to have patronized Richardson’s shop. Its scale and shape suggest this was a stock buckle, used at the back of the neck to secure a man’s stock—a long, narrow scarf worn as a collar around the neck.