Out for grasps... peranakan silver belts...these belts are classic Nyonya silver belts that were used from the 1930's till now.

Typical silver belt with 3 'tingkat' or layers.


These belts are typically made in silver. Ocasionally the buckle was gold. The belts were fabricated from a network of interlocking rings superimposed on which are small diamond hearts, circular silver domes and circular rings and prunus or plum blossoms with chased details, soldered together creating amall panels. these panels are then joint to form a soft flowing belt.

The buckel has open-work and has chased work of the typical pheonix amids foliage Qi Ling's or Lion Dogs are also common. The typical shape is ogival but rectangle shaped buckles were also found. The belts are usually made by chinese silver/gold smiths. (refer to picture below)

Detail of belt panel and buckel.

The belts, if silver, usually have silver hallmarks. There are usually 2 sets but sometimes 3 sets (2 chinese characters per set)Ocasionally, there would be numbers or initials. These hallmarks tell you the quality of silver ( usually 'zu yin' in chinese characters or 'pure silver' ) the belt is made of and the name of the silver/gold smith's shop. Unlike the English hallmark, the chinese ones do not have symbols of animals, crowns, numbers and such.

Typical chinese hallmarks

Typical English hallmark


From stories heard, the number of layers or 'tingkat' ( Layers in malay) the belt is, shows the wealth of the Nyonya who wears it, the thicker, the richer, as more silver was used. The tickest belt i have seen is 6 and the thinnest i have seen is 2 layers. The typical and most common one consists of 3 or 4 layers.

Traditionally, these belts wer cleaned using a kind of cake powder(ama hoon). another way was to soak the belt in a pot of water filled with green beens. im not sure how that works but my grand mother told me to do it to clean her belt. Depending on the degree of shine you want your belt, (some people like me prefer it not so shiny to preserve the old look )you may want to send your belt to the goldsmith for cleaning and re-firing. This will really shine your belt up .

The draw back is the belt will be tarnished again soon and the more you fire and clean it, the lighter and weeker the belt gets. This is because you are taking of layers of tarnish , that is the oxidation of the silver. Besides weekening the belt, the firing would cause the engraving of the buckel to get shalower and after a few firings, probably parts of the design would be not visible.

the best way to preserve your belt after cleaning is to wrap it in a soft cloth(a cotton handkerchief would be good) and place it in a zip lock bag and then into your jewellery box or trinket box. Its ok to fold or coil your belt. Never force the belt or twist it with force. (silver is pliable and under ofrce, it will bend and eventually crack or break!)

Beware of fakes (non silver belts made to look like silver)! There are many fakes out there, they are usually made of brass and plated with silver or some shiny metal. The thing about belts that are not silver is that they will tarnish and when cleaned, the plating will come off and the base metal would be exposed. Hallmarks are USUALLY not visible, but sometimes good fakes have them.

The prices for the belts are based on how well the belt was made and the weight of silver.

Pictures from:

http://www.michaelbackmanltd.com/696.html

http://www.silver-collector.com/topic819.html