I have just found a box of old harness decorations. They come in many forms : simple solid badges, some interlocking monograms or ciphers and some depicting parts of crests or coats of arms.
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This decoration features a bloodhound. The French motto translates as “Search & you will find”, rather a nice pun. |
They were not solely decorative. If we think back to a time when several guests, each with their own carriage & up to four sets of harness, might have visited a country house – the potential for confusion between sets of harness would have been enormous. So, these decorations served as rather elegant identification tags.
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“Templa Quam Dilecta” translates as “How beautiful are your temples”, it is a pun on the family name Temple and is associated with Stowe School and Archbishop Temple’s School |
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They could be made of brass or a white metal, some were hollow & lead-filled, some silver plated. Generally they had pins on their reverse sides which would be inserted into the leather.
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A muzzled dog – rather a strange emblem |
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There are more at http://www.sportingcollection.com/lorinery/ciphers/harnessornaments.html
