£50
Post medieval silver bodkin. Circa 1600-1700 CE. 6.84g. 110mm. A long tapering pin with an ear scoop terminal, decorated with engraved patterns. Known as ‘bodkins’ which is a term generally assumed to relate to needlework, Margeson identifies these as hair ornaments rather than bodkins, citing the image of one in use in a contemporary portrait dated AD 1624. This type of pin was used as head-dress ornaments in the Low Countries in the first quarter of the seventeenth century and it is thought they were brought to England by immigrants. The 'thread' hole Margeson argues was for the suspension of jewellery pendants, such as pearls. 1993, p.8-11, pl.II-III, Fig.4. A more recent scholarship by Beaudry points to the continued use of bodkins as functional items associated with lacing and needlework, rather than solely as items of adornment. Beaudry suggests that bodkins were used for lacing up garments and, although used by both men and women, mostly became associated with women for lacing bodices. Silver examples were often personalised with either initials or a full name, in most cases not engraved by a silversmith but inscribed or scratched into them by inexpert hands. Beaudry 2009, p.95-99.
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