Description
This unique, artisan-made belt is a vintage “marriage”, combining a 70s snakeskin and alligator-stamped leather band with a jeweled 1930s buckle! The extra-wide belt is intended to sit at the natural waist, fitted but not too snug. Since it is too large for my mannequin, I have shown it both unclipped and clipped to her, to give a better idea of its actual size.
The body of the belt is made of rust brown snakeskin, with dark brown alligator-stamped leather trim on both its top and bottom edges. The snakeskin is a bit delicate by its nature, but the belt is backed with a layer of rust-brown leather, to help stabilize it. There is one small area of the snakeskin where the scales appear a bit more dry than the rest, next to the right side of the belt buckle. It is stable for now, but might benefit from professional conditioning in the future.
The attached Art Deco-style 1930s buckle must have been found by the artisan who made the belt as a vintage piece in the 1970s. They chose well--it is lovely! The heavy-weight brass-colored metal buckle fastens with a single small hook at its center. Each curved/domed rectangular section of the buckle is set with blue glass that looks like multiple rhinestones, but is in fact a single molded piece of glass. The buckle is a high-quality piece of 1930s costume jewelry in its own right, quite heavy, with closed-back settings and metal ribs across its back to strengthen it.
In very good, near excellent condition, the only issue to note with this special vintage belt is the small area of slight dryness to the surface of the snakeskin, as noted above.
Size: approx. modern S to M.
- Total length of belt: 32 inches flat, to fit 30 to 31 maximum.
- Width of belt: 3 inches.
- Buckle: 2 inches tall by 2.5 inches wide (1.25 inches at each half).
- Label: none present.
