Bridle Rosettes  (Page 1)

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Most articles that describe bridle rosettes attribute their emergence to the mid to late 1800s. Re-emergence would be a better term since decorations on horses bridles have been around for a very long time. The picture showing a bridle rosette to the right is a graphic by Mathew Paris¹ in the early 1200s. However, this rendition is modern compared to the rosette in the sculpture below created during the Sasanian dynasty² in ancient Iran (224-651 CE) Even older, figures of horses on the walls of Egyptian buildings show that horses, used mainly by royalty and for war chariots, were highly decorated including decorative pieces strongly suggestive of the items we call bridle rosettes.

In more modern times, the rosettes became commercially popular after the mid-1800s and continued in common use until the automobile replaced the horse-drawn vehicles in the early 1900s. However, they are still manufactured and used today. Sometimes mistaken for a button, bridle rosettes were designed first and foremost as a handsome decoration. However, in some cases they served to hold the crown piece and brow band together on a riding or driving bridle.
They are most easily identified by a large rectangular shank through which the bridle strap passes to hold them in place. They have been made with a wide variety of materials including glass, leather, rubber, celluloid, jet, silver, and other metals many of which can be seen below. The most popular today are those with a domed or flat glass cover set in a metal frame. Many have paper cutouts under the glass to simulate a border and to provide the display of a picture, symbol, letter, or number. Rosettes were made in a large variety of pictorial designs and many identify a person, a family, a horse, or a story. They were also used by the Federal Calvary during the Civil War and later by certain civil mounted police. Over time, many companies used the rosettes as advertising tools . Originally, bridle rosettes were often produced in mirror image pairs but finding such a pair in nice shape today has become difficult.

The Blue Book classifies bridle rosettes into 2 classes, 1-1 Face Designs (pictorial, patterns, symbols); and 1-2 Specific design features. Class 1-2 allows and supports writing awards that focus on specific characteristics such as material types, construction techniques,  decorative finish (DF), other material embellishment (OME) and pictorials. See the footnote at the end of Div IV listing in the Blue Book. The examples below illustrate many of the possibilities.

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