The 42 brass stamped-egg bells on this strap are #2 size (1 1/4" diameter). They were made in the late 1800s to early 1900s. The bells have been cleaned and polished.
The original black-leather strap was made in an extra fancy style. It has decorative red and black pinked (zig zag) edging stitched along the long edges. The buckle and billet ends are done in a "raised and scalloped" style. The billet is also decorated with swirls of tiny decorative stitches. The original brass buckle is unique in that the sides of the buckle frame are covered in black leather.
The pinked edging is difficult to replicate, makes the strap unusually stiff, and is not long lived, so I substituted simple lines of red stitching with the owner's permission. The swirls of stitching on the billet were also simplified to a row of stitches around the perimeter of the billet.
I reused the original buckle on the new strap, but did not polish the brass to avoid damaging the delicate, thin leather covering the sides of the buckle frame.
The new unlined strap in black leather is 88" long overall and 1 1/4" wide. The buckle and billet are 1" wide.
This particular item is a custom, one-of-a-kind project made for a past client. Items in this Custom Projects section are for information only; they are not available for regular sale.
