Cut-steel shoe buckle
Jewellery of steel that sparkled like diamonds, made in Matthew Boulton’s factory.
Cut steel made glittering jewellery cheap and was a fashion from the 1760s to the early 19th century. Boulton told James Boswell: ‘I sell here, sir, what all the world desires to have – power.’ Examples are in the Victoria and Albert Museum and Birmingham Museum.
Materials: Cut steel
Manufacture: Small steel studs were faceted and riveted closely onto a backplate.
The sparkle of the steel – almost like diamonds, but grey.
The rivets at the back where each stud is fixed.