Casgliadau Arlein

Dress hook, made of gilded silver. It consists of a trefoil shaped front part, a small hook at the bottom, a central rivet, and an attachment bar on the reverse. The trefoil element is decorated with applied filigree patterning.

The trefoil-shaped thin back-plate cut from a sheet, to which the flattened base of a hook has been soldered on the reverse. The edges of the backing plate have been punched to create cusps. The bar loop (rectangular in cross-section) is stamped with a touch mark or maker’s stamp. Each petal supports a hollow hemisphere, each bearing three small filigree circlets around a raised silver pellet. A centrally placed hole houses a split rivet/stem, which once supported a central decorative motif, often a flower with large central bead (now missing). Gilding does not extend along the full length to the hook and is partial on the back.