Valentines Day Special: Love tokens

Today I present themed links for valentines' day. In fact the theme is love, and gifts of love. I'll look at extant gifts of love, particularly heart shaped objects, and also modern reproductions that you could give your lover.

Extant heart shaped broaches

There are surprising numbers of heart shaped broaches of the medieval period which have been found. The first type I noticed was broaches with an outline of a heart formed in a flat section which allows some of them to have inscriptions (or fake 'pseudo inscriptions') on their surface. This is a beautiful example of the style:
A 13-15thC copper alloy broach with traces of gilding

Some broaches of this style are a simple flat shape of a heart outline with a pin reaching across the heart:
A 13-14th C copper alloy broach

Fancier versions of this style can also be found:
15th C silver gilt broach
15th C gold broach originally enameled, decorated and with inscription.
c1400 gilt broach with inscription and formerly enameled decoration


In contrast, some have the pin diving the badge in two (pointing to the point)- Here are a few examples of these downwards facing pinned shaped broaches:
A 13-14th C copper alloy broach with pseudo inscription
A probably 13-14thC (almost symmetric heart shaped) copper alloy broach
A 'medieval' gilded copper alloy broach with intact pin
13-15th C gilded copper alloy broach with illegible inscription
13th-14th C cast copper alloy broach

These could be much more elaborate, I don't know if these are later, or just more expensive examples:
A 15th C silver gilt broach with inscription on the back
15th C silver gilt broach with inscription and decorative images
14-15th C gold broach with heart shape formed by arms with clasped  hands
14-15th C gold heart shaped broach formed by two arms with hands clasping

I find the two orientations of broaches interesting - I understand the broaches that pin across the heart shape, but the pins that reach downwards are more confusing - does this mean the modern idea of a heart being always oriented point downwards is a more recent development postdating the broaches? Or was the pin worn pointing downwards thorough the fabric? I think a downwards pointing pin would be less secure than across if you wished to hold something shut, but I may be wrong, or the pin may be purely decorative, in which case a downwards point may come open, but is less likely to fall off a garment.

The final broach on this list of fancy broaches with pins across the heart shape also has loops for pendants hanging from it confirming that the heart should face point downwards on this example, but i can find no such clues on the downwards pinned broaches.

Some broaches break all the rules - such  as this 14th C copper alloy broach which probably had 2 pins (on horizontal, one vertical). Or this apparently deliberately asymmetrical heart shaped broach, where all the above examples are symmetrical. This gold 'medieval' broach is also interesting because it is not a flat outline, but more like a wire shape. Whereas this 16th C copper frame broach is also an asymmetric heart shape (although the description says 'pointed oval') with a heart decoration on top - if it is just a pointed oval then this is an example of use of a heart as decoration instead of as shape of the broach. These oddities just prove how much there was a standard form of heart shaped broach though.

Other objects with hearts on them

While we are looking at extant objects with hearts, you could also branch out into objects other than broaches, for example one item that appears to be a common 14-15th C lover's token (according to the blurb on this find) is a heart shaped badge or lover's token, of which there are several examples, one even betrays it's purpose with the inscription 'hert be true". while other badges with hearts might have less specific meaning.

Another gift is a finger ring either with a heart shape soldered on to it  (and another)  or as part of a design moulded onto it (and another, and another, in fact a heart sprouting flowers is very common, very very common), while angel's holding hearts are common too) or a 'fede' ring (and another, apparently often used a betrothal rings), or with an engraved love inscription (and another, and another) which are clear lover's tokens (eg "all my desire"). This ring uses hearts in what might be a marriage ring rather than a lover's gift, while other rings may be more innocent in meaning or definitely have religious meaning.

There are also a lot of 15-16th C spindle whorls decorated with incised markings including hearts, or mostly consisting of hearts - I wonder if it was a nice gift for a man to give to his female lover? Although some usages appear more religious than love tokens. Heart shaped buttons are also a nicely feminine gendered gift of the affordable nature (and sturdy enough to survive burial so we rediscover it), and there are plenty of examples from the 15th C (and another) and many from the 15-17th C

I'm surprised there are not more thimbles decorated with hearts (this example is even a heart pierced by an arrow - clearly a love allusion) given they are similarly small and gendered gifts.

Looking for traditionally masculine gendered gifts for a man, I am astonished by the number of 15-16th C scabbard chapes (another and another and another and so many more) which makes me wonder if this was a common love gift or just a popular pattern with manufacturers. While some could be for ladies eating knives, I think some belong to swords, a clearly gendered item in medieval times.

Personal seals can have lots of connotations of love because they can be used to make love letters private. I wonder if the owners of these might have had a separate seal for sending to their lover that wasn't the one they used for their other friends? (they'd have a different seal for business mail) I certainly can't imagine sending your best friend a letter sealed with the words "I keep love's secrets" although an arrow piercing a heart might not provoke comment, while a seal with a 'sacred heart' is not at all a lover's symbol.

On hearts and love

There appears to have been a fad for heart shaped motifs and lover's tokens in this shape in the 15th-16 C. That's when most of the above examples date from. But was the heart motif in use earlier? Did it symbolise love earlier? The earlier examples I can find are rather more ambiguous as to the extent to which they are deliberate heart shapes or have symbology of love, for example a heart shaped hair pin from 6-11th C Leicestershire.

It mustn't be forgotten that hearts were also used for more ordinary objects, for example as part of a 15-16th C merchant's mark, as a purse fitting, a lead weight (and another) or as a decorative feature amongst other decoration, for example on a 15-16th C stud,  , a 15th-16th C dress tag and a  16th C dress hook, (and another) on a book fitting, vice handle, on various and decorative mounts and swivel mounts and suchlike. Heart shaped appears to be a standard shape for chafing dish handles (and so many more). I doubt these chafing dish handles are deliberate uses of a heart, and I wonder how many of the other uses symbolise love? We can only be sure the heart symbolises love when it's use is tied to objects that we know have love symbolism (eg rings) or is accompanied by further imagery that underlines the symbolism (eg an inscription, or the flowers sprouting from a heart symbol).

While the heart as a motif might just have been decorative earlier, or might not have enjoyed popularity as a universal symbol of love, an object that has an incidental heart shape might convey such a meaning to modern reenactors. In the same way there might be many of pre-15th C items which conveyed love to their recipient and maybe even to an audience that today we cannot tell apart from ordinary objects. For example a plain ring without a design of hearts on it might be a love token, but tells us nothing of it's use.  Given the rapidity with which the heart shaped objects occur, it seems probable that it was not a society shattering rapid increase in the practice of love token giving that was occurring, but that merely the exact form of the love token changed rapidly with fashion, now enabling us to identify them. Indeed we have plenty of literary references to the practice of giving love tokens earlier and a few objects which make their purpose clear. As reenactors, perhaps the exchange of objects with shared meaning between the participants would be better understood by a medieval person than worrying about a specific object type?

Adding a little raunchiness

All these heart symbols are very pretty and pleasing to give to a lover, but what if you'd like to give something a little more suggestive as a lover's token?  Rather than a heart shaped object, you might prefer a naughty "carnival badge", such as this extant example (these are not exactly work safe)

Or you might wish to be more subtle in your message, such as this badge shaped as a comb with a pretty design of um, foliage, yes definitely foliage.

I have no proof these were used as love tokens, in fact they seem more likely to have been not, instead being parodies of religious iconography.

Buying reproductions

If you want to buy some reproductions of heart shaped broaches, mainly medieval has a simple gem studded heart shaped annular and lorifactor has a 13-14th C heart broach with birds (I'm sure a number of other retailers have items too that I haven't spotted).

Mainly medieval also sell 15th C lovers tokens of a heart crowned and pierced by an arrow, a heart with flowers sprouting from it, a crowned heart, "true love" and "par amour".

If you are looking for naughty carnival badges, these seem to be much more popular with reproduction suppliers (obviously this takes the fancy of reenactors), with many offerings available (I'm going to number instead of name them to keep this work safe): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9,  and some are also offered by this store, but not on their website.

A sort of new broach

I found a charming sketch of a broach in the Museum of London book "dress accesories", and just had to make a copy (following on from my other experiments with twisted wire from this book). There are actually 2 examples listed in the book:

#1339 c1150-c1200 diameter 26mm
gunmetal frame, silver pin
Slightly damaged - some of the fine loops are broken. Frame is a wire ring with ends joined by opposed loops. in has D shaped cross section and was added without a gap in the wound spirals.

#1340 c1150-c1250 or later 24x22.5mm
bronze frame
Spirals wound around frame 35 times, with each circit of the frame taking 7-8 small loops. Pin added at the small gap in the ends of the fine spirals.

A broach from Bedern St in York in this style is also mentioned.

I think the York broach is the broach shown on this page, mentioned as being of twisted wire. This same broach is shown slightly bigger on the york archeology photo library, direct links are not available, but click on 'medieval' and look at the broach at the bottom of the page, ref no 002359.

If anyone knows more about this, or can acess the report please let me know.:

Daniels, M, 1979, 'Bedern Site' in Interim 6/3, York Archeological Trust 19-27

(I keep getting the idea I should be able to acess it from the York archeological trust website, or find it on their gazeteer, but it's thwarted me so far)

How to make this annular

materials:

• for the decoration: a very thin very flexible wire e.g. 26 gauge wire from my local art shop
  



• for the pin: a thick sturdy wire, that will not easily bend under strain e.g. 1mm brass wire, or in desperation I used a hat pin that wasn't too bendy (difficult to bend with bare hands). Preferably of the same material as the decorative wire.
  



• for the support: a moderately thick wire, that is at least moderately sturdy. This could be the same wire as the pin, so long as you have the means (eg pliers or hammer and anvil) to bend this into a circle, or a somewhat thinner wire (eg 0.5mm) could be wrapped around multiple times. As this will be hidden inside the broach, this doesn't really have to match the metal of the other wires. I used copper wire stripped from electrical cables, and found this a little weak. For best results it is important that this wire doesn't bend easily in your hands. A premade metal ring of suitable size (eg curtain ring, metal o-ring, cheap plain finger ring) is very likely to be suitable, maybe better, but I haven't tested this yet.

Step 1: Construct a support
Find a circular object the diameter of the desired broach. The archaeological examples are quite small - the size of a large finger ring, but you could make a larger one. The object must have a fixed diameter section, and no lips that protrude at the rim, so you can easily slide the object off. You could use a special jewellers ring form, or just a bottle lid, a fat pen, or any other mostly cylindrical household object, or if desperate you could try doing this step freehand.

Take the moderately thick wire and create a circle by bending it around the object. Grabbing the ends with pliers may help with this step, if it is a bit thick. If the wire is a bit thin (or a bit weak/too bendy), wrap the wire around several times instead of just once.

Finish by crossing the wires over, then sharply pulling the wire back in the opposite direction, creating a U bend which contains the other wire. This will be much easier by grasping the ends with pliers. For thicker wires, you may find it easier to use pliers (or a hammer) to shape the u-bend before you loop the two loops together.

Remove your support ring from your shaping form. It should hold it's shape, now squish the loops down so they don't stick out much more than the surrounding wire.


Step 2: Make a tiny spring
Find a long thin object of approximately 1-2mm diameter, with a nice even diameter, with at least one end (prefereably 2) finishing smoothly without a wider diameter at any point of the edge. I used a large darning needle. The interior ink case of a biro, thin knitting needles, stiff fat wire (like you might have used for your support) are also probably about the right size.

Leaving a few cm of unwound leader, start winding the very thin wire tightly around your object, creating a spring. If you start in the middle, and pull the needle (or other object) towards the end you are winding towards, you can make a spring many times the length of your needle.

Wind until you have a spring approx 5 times (I think - I need to test this more) the circumference of your supporting ring.

Step 3: decorate your support
Wind your leader tightly around the support, approx 3 times, ending at the start of the spring. Chop off the remainder of your leader. You will also need to cut your spring from any reels of wire.

expand slightly the first cm of the spring. Wind this expanded spring around the support, passing through the centre of the supporting ring. Keep expanding and winding until only approx 2mm of the supporting ring is uncovered. If your thickest wire is thicker than 2mm, make this 1mm wider than your thick wire. Tightly fasten the end of your spring in a similar fashion to the way the start was fastened, and clip off any remaining thin wire.

If you run out of spring, tightly fasten the end as above. Then wind a new spring and add this to the support as tightly to the first segment as possible. It should be possible to mostly hide the join, but write down how much extra was needed in case you plan to make another broach with the same materials.

Step 4: add a pin.
starting at the end of your thick wire, bend a U shaped curve, twice the thickness of your support. This is easiest by placing a pair of round nosed pliers where you wish the bend to be, and using another pair of pliers to bend the wire. This will be your pin.

Test that this U bend in your pin will slide onto your support. If it doesn't fit, adjust with pliers. Make sure there will be enough wire to bend and complete a circle around the support, but do not bend this yet. If there is more, cut the excess wire off, if less, unbend (or cut off bend portion) and try again.

With the pin still sitting on the support , mark the point where the pin just lies over the support on the opposite side to the bend. cut the wire at this point. If this is too short, the pin will pass through the decorative wire and fall off your clothes. If it is to long, the pin will be very difficult to fasten or release.

Remove the pin from the support, and sharpen the unbent end. Experiment with whatever objects you have to hand made for sharpening eg nail files, emery board, wood files, whetstones, sandpaper knife sharpening steel, etc, so long as the object is expendable. Don't break or ruin your best tools with this, unless you know this is the job they are designed for. If your file is coarse, it will be best to use a finer file to finish the job. Hold your pin so that it is at an approximately 15 degree angle from your sharpening surface (i.e., just enough space to almost fit a finger between it and the plane of the sharpener, and roll the pin along the sharpener, to create a pointy end.

Clean off your newly sharpened pin point on a rag or offcut of similar tightness of weave and thickness to the garments you will regularly wear the broach on. Test pushing the pin through the fabric, and make sure your pin moves freely through the fabric. If not, file some more, possibly with a finer file. If you plan to use your broach on white or very pale fabric, test your pin on a waste scrap of tightly woven pale fabric, poking it through the fabric to see if a dark mark is left. If so, such corrosion can be cleaned off your broach by rubbing it with a rag and tetsting by continuing to poke holes in your scrap (until it comes away without a mark), but note that if the broach is not used regularly, the corrosion is likely to return.

Attach your sharp pin to your broach support


With the pin still sitting on the support , mark the point where the pin just lies over the support on the opposite side to the bend. cut the wire at this point. If this is too short, the pin will pass through the decorative wire and fall off your clothes. If it is to long, the pin will be very difficult to fasten or release.

Remove the pin from the support, and sharpen the unbent end. Depending upon the composition of your wire, a number of substances may work: a metal file, sandpaper, a whetstone, knife sharpening stick, nailfile, emery board. Test carefully though - the wire may not be friendly to your sharpener, so best not use anything expensive unless you know it is the proper tool for the job. Sharpen by rolling your wire along the file, holding the wire at an approximately 10 degree angle from the file.

If you used a coarse file, be sure to finish the job with a finer file, so there are no sharp grooves or cuts in your metal that might catch on your clothing. Test and clean your point on your pin by pushing it through a rag of a similar weave to the garments you plan to wear it on.

Slip your pin back onto to the support again, as before, then tighten up the bent end so it now completes a circle around the support. This is best achieved by holding the flat portion of the pin with a pair of flat nosed pliers, and

Do not attach it so tightly that the pin cannot rotate freely about the support.

Step 4: Wear the pin

This takes a little practise. Attach your pin by placing the broach against your garment, with the pin's natural closing side on the outside (non garment) side, but open the pin so the circle of the broach is free. with two fingers, pinch a small bit of fabric within the ring of the broach. pull this through the ring, past where the pin normally sits, and to the side opposite the pin's hinge. Insert the pin into the pulled bit of fabric. Move the fabric to the middle of the pin, then release. Your pin should be in place, and ready to proudly show to your friends. Do the reverse to unfasten the pin.


If you still find inserting the pin a bit tricky after a few practises, your pin may be a little long - it needs to be long enough that it cannot fall through the ring, but no longer than this or it is awkward to fasten.

If you find your broach comes undone often, you (like me) may have used too weak/pliable support materials (either ring or pin - whichever bends out of shape). Ultimately this ammounts to a lesson learnt in what materials to use next time, but if your broach bends you can probably bend it back, and try to use it in a lower stress situation 9eg as a decoration rather than to hold a neckline in place) next time.

Note mine is nearly twice the size it should be compared to the historic examples - something to improve later.

wire rings

Some of you might have seen my wire rings by now. I'm fascinated by medieval wire jewelry because it's so simple to make with few tools, and looks cool. I've taught making these with stripped copper electrical wire, and was able to briefly explain the context, and get people to make rings and even the slowest was complete within 45 minutes. I can't think of many other medieval mini projects that can be taught on such a short timescale without the teacher doing a lot of preparation work.

Here's my latest collection (in silver so they could be donated as silver rondell tokens):
These are based on an brass wire example from late 13th- early 14th C London, as described in "Dress Accessories".

The original piece is rather carelessly made, with less care to where the wire sits than I now show. They did take care to make sure the ends of the wire pointed outwards, rather than into the finger though.

I've been playing with the subtle changes you can make to the pattern. Here are some closeups as examples.(Sorry the closeup photos are dark, otherwise the reflection off the wire is too much with my primitive photography setup).

With lots of twists close together:With one twist separated by wide gaps:
With two twists separated by gaps:With three twists separated by gaps:
Note that the one-two-three twists represent the first three passes of the neatest way to make these rings - by making multiple passes around the ring. At first I thought it would be better to make all the twists in one pass around the ring, but that doesn't work well in wire. The medieval example though, only makes one pass around the ring - it just doesn't add many twists.

And here's a few experiments (not at all based on medieval precedent), that I did just for fun: