Dress Hook

Contributed by Knaresborough Castle and Courthouse Museum

Dress Hook

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Think how easily we lose buttons from our clothing today. Imagine how annoyed you would have been if you had lost this pretty silver dress hook around five hundred years ago.

This dress hook is made of silver gilt and would have originally been one of a pair used to fasten clothing in Tudor england. The hook end is partially broken off, but the other part of the pair would probably have had a loop for the hook. Its use was probably restricted to female clothing. Objects like this have been found all over the country. As valuable items they often appear on probate inventories and will lists in Tudor times.

The centre design encloses a trefoil loop and heart motif with well preserved gilding.

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