Horse brass

This horse brass would have been worn by a horse working in London in the late 19th or early 20th century. The origins of horse brasses are unknown, but from the middle of the 19th century they became increasingly popular as decorations fixed to horses' harnesses. During the 19th and early 20th centuries horses adorned with brasses were an everyday sight on London’s streets, reflecting the central role they played in London’s life and economy as the main method of short distance transport. Common designs included suns, wheat, horses, swans and heraldic images.

Horse brasses reached a peak in popularity just before World War I but during the 1920s, as motor vehicles replaced horses, they began to decline. By the 1950s they had all but disappeared from London’s streets. During their peak, however, companies often had their own brasses marked with their name like this one. Railway and brewery company brasses were particularly common.

Royal commemorative brasses were also popular, the first ones being produced to mark Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee in 1887. Today commemorative horse brasses are still produced, although as souvenirs rather than as decorations for working horses. In 2011 the National Horse Brass Society produced a brass to commemorate the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton.

Early brasses were heavy as they were cast in moulds, and were attached to the harness with sharp studs. Later, towards the 1880s, brasses were stamped out of sheet brass and were lighter. They were attached to the harness with loops known as ‘hangers’ or with studs or wires or a loop on the reverse (like this one).