Discovering Horse Brasses

Book excerpt: Horse brasses are flat, generally round, ornaments for decorating the harness of draught horses. First devised as charms to keep the animal safe, brasses later became purely decorative. This book traces the history of horse brasses, from the plain, simple early examples through to the more advanced brasses that were developed as our knowledge of brass casting improved. Packed with over 200 photographs of different horse brasses, this classic title is an ideal collector's introduction, and a section on the care, cleaning and renovation of horse brasses makes this essential reading for new collectors.