Collection
Collecting horse brasses for their own sake other than as decorations for harness seems to have commenced around the mid-1890s, during which time collecting the various types of brass i.e. Face-pieces, swingers, and hame-plates etc. became a highly popular pastime amongst the upper and middle classes. Indeed, the collecting of these humble brasses became especially popular amongst academics with many famous, early collections being formed by public schoolmasters and other prominent professionals, such as A.H Tod, a Master at Charterhouse School and Dr Kirk of Pickering in Yorkshire, whose collection is still housed at the Castle House Museum in York. The writing about such items also commenced c.1890s and was dominated by much Victorian romanticism surrounding the supposed, esoteric origin and ancient, unbroken lineage of these decorations. Such myths include their origin as talismanic symbols being brought back to England by homecoming knights returning from the crusades, or in later years, by migrating romany, though, once again, absolutely no evidence has ever been offered in support of these theories other than conjecture.
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