The Antique Horse Company

 The reason for the use of brasses and amulets was, either to bring good luck or to ward off the effects of the "Evil eye". Some believe they copied the way gypsies decorated their horses. Although the gypsies used them as charms or amulets to decorated their horses. These charms were given the power of holding the unknown at bay. The belief of the 'evil eye,' and a very wholesome fear of its hidden powers was practically universal. It is also believed that the romans horses were dressed with harness decorations. The first early patterns have strong Romany associations - sun, moon, stars, crescents, hearts.  These harness decorations were called "Amulets" and can date back to the Emperor Justinan 527 to 565 A.D. The average size to the Roman  Amulets harness decorations were 1" to 2" inches. The early use of harness amulets shaped like modern horse brasses is proved by the fact that explorers found in the Altai mountains the grave of a Siberian Chief, over 2,000 years old, in which were the bodies of seven mummified horses, preserved in perfect condition by the frost. These horses had a complete bronze trappings with designs on them exactly the same as those on the modern cart heavy horse.The earliest harness decorations were bronze, than lead or tin, then coated brass or other metals, then brass hammered out and cut, and finally cast and stamped brass. A few of the earliest brasses  are metal plated over copper, a process which came into common use towards the end of the 18th century, and was credited  to Mr. T. Bolsover of Sheffield in 1743.

The use of horse brasses , as distinct from horse amulets, appears to have started in the West Country in the United Kingdom , after the Napoleonic Wars and gradually spread. During the reign of the Queen Victoria they were much in evidence on the fair days and other local festivities. The largest amount of horse brasses were made by casting between 1860 to 1890 and up to 1914.
 

Various estimates of the number of different designs to be up to 3,000.

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