Chats on Old Copper and Brass

by Fred. W. Burgess

FIG. 91.—COLLECTION OF BRASS AMULETS (HARNESS BRASSES).
(In the possession of Mr. Chas. Wayte, of Edenbridge.)

In all parts of the country there is a lingering superstition which aids and abets the continuance of the use of amulets. Indeed, the very general belief in the protective value of symbols, the true history and origin of which may have been forgotten, is truly astonishing. One of the most remarkable indications that old fables and beliefs, antedating in their origin the introduction of the Christian religion in this country, have a hold still on rural districts, is seen in the brass harness trappings used by all classes alike. Years ago the makers of harness fashioned their brasses with care, and the artists who engraved them and cut them out of solid plates of metal laboured long and tediously in producing exact replicas of similar ornaments which had been used from time immemorial. They rarely deviated from the emblems they copied to any material extent, although new designs were at times added, based possibly on some specific local emblem which was then gaining notoriety.

Then came the less expensive processes of reproduction by casting and stamping, which multiplied the designs and very often made them grotesque in the eyes of experts and those who had been accustomed to realize and understand a true meaning in the designs they had been familiar with.

The ornamental brasses which hung in rows round horses' necks, and conspicuously on the foreheads or chests of the animals, deemed inseparable from a set of harness in olden times, were regarded as charms, protective against danger, accident, and, in wilder times, perils unknown to-day.

These very pleasing objects in brass, which look so handsome when polished and arranged on a cloth-covered shield in the harness-room, or, perchance, framed as a trophy for the hall or gun-room, are so varied, and yet for the most part quite distinct, that it is said nearly two hundred designs are collectable. A complete set of brasses, as worn by one horse properly harnessed, includes the face brass already mentioned as the chief ornament on the forehead, ear-brasses hanging behind the ears, three brasses on each side of the shoulders, and ten martingale (a strap passing from the horse's girth between his forelegs) brasses for the breast. To trace their purport and hence their forms it may be pointed out that they are associated with the folk-lore of the districts where they were originally used, and were chiefly intended to keep off the "Evil Eye" or calamity. They go back a long way into the past, and are nearly all attributable to symbols understood by the Saxons, early British, and still older races. Their modern exponents are the gypsies, and strange as it may seem, most of them are either Buddhist, Egyptian, or Moorish. The genuine antiques include such well-known emblems as the crescent, the symbol brought back, it is said, by the Crusaders from Eastern lands. The crescent moon, like the horseshoe brass, is valued. There are others showing the radiated sun's rays indicating the sun worship of our ancestors. Conspicuous among the floral emblems may be noticed the iris; the lotus of Egypt is a common emblem, often enclosed in a crescent-like form, occasionally met with in a shield-like frame. There are the bull's head with horns and the horse of the Saxon banner, both essentially English types. Then there are clubs and diamonds, hearts and spades, and many heathen symbols. In a few instances brasses in the shape of crosses are met with, but these are rare; possibly they were introduced in the days of the Canterbury pilgrims. In this connection may be related a pretty story of the good luck associated with the horseshoe, which comes from Russia, where peasants used to paint a picture of the Virgin Mary with a golden halo round her head outside their doors to protect them from harm. The snows and the rains washed off the paint, but left the more lasting gilding in the shape of the horseshoe. Hence it is said the superstitious legend of the protective power or good luck of the symbolical horseshoe, or the crescent moon, is spread all the world over. Another legend tells us how the Greeks and Romans gave the world the crescent moon as an emblem of good luck, so many thousands of replicas of which have been fashioned in brass and used as horse trappings by horsemen of all races. The crescent moon was to those nations the symbol of their loyalty to the huntress Diana, the goddess they worshipped as a protector under many varied conditions.

An exceptionally fine early brass of crescent form is seen in South Kensington, where there are other early specimens pointing to the ancient and very general acceptance of the belief in the potency of symbolical horse trappings as talismans against evil and dangers of the road, happily unknown now. Almost as common is the brass fashioned like the sun god, whose face was so often looked upon with awe by the ancients. Side by side with these pagan symbols the emblems adapted by pilgrims in days when Christianity had been made the religion of the race can be seen to-day, still adorning the breast of the horse.

The amulet or charm is not altogether banished at the present day. It has been worn at the watch chain, round the neck, on a bangle, and suspended from the chatelaine or the girdle. The greater use of the road by motorist and cyclist has once more brought into prominence the amulet or mascot, carried in front of the rider. The river-girl places a mascot on the prow of her boat, and the aviator screws his mascot into position "for luck." Why this should be done we cannot tell; the general belief is in some mysterious advantage from the presence of the mascot—an accepted theory by the sceptical man who shakes his head and secretly marvels at the folly of the belief.