Spangles

Like today’s sequins, 17th-century spangles were used to embroider clothes and other textiles to catch light and draw attention to the wearer or decorated item. Sometimes referred to as ‘oes’ in the 16th and 17th centuries, spangles were made from various metals, including silver, gold, and copper alloy. They were relatively inexpensive to manufacture and, therefore, widely used in embroidery to enhance worn garments, accessories, or other fabrics of the elite. Jamestown’s collection contains over 30 loose spangles and a multitude of spangles adorning the captain’s sash. Curators have identified just two varieties of spangles based on material type and decoration.

Teardrop-shaped spangles, including those in the captain’s sash, are made of silver and are the most common type site-wide. They were all recovered from a mix of early and mid-17th century features, including the Governor’s Well, the West Bulwark Trench, and the Blacksmith Shop/Bakery. Similar spangles can be seen in historic paintings dangling from the clothing of the elite and on extant garments in museum collections. This variety was made by punching out the desired shape from a thin metal sheet.

The second type of spangle is mostly round and made of a copper alloy that has been silvered or gilt, meaning that a thin layer of silver or gold has been applied to the exterior of a copper alloy shaped ‘oe’. These spangles were made by tightly coiling a copper wire around a small dowel or rod, cutting it down one side, and then hammering the individual rings flat — hence the slight v-notched in all of the these spangles. Most of these were recovered from Pit 8, including several tangled in a thin, silvered copper alloy wire. This shape and style are more consistent with examples of those used in the embroidery of clothing, furnishing fabrics, and textile art.  Though they could be suspended as a fringe, like the teardrop-shaped ones, the rounded spangles are often sewn into the fabric and incorporated into the decorative pattern of the textile.

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