This belt is Nordic in design, but appears to have been put together from a number of parts dating from different periods. The main part, consisting of alternating S-shaped scrolls and openwork wire rectangles, may date from the 16th century, although the parts are not in their original order, judging by the inscription on the scrolls, which forms part of the angelic salutation to the Virgin Mary. The ends each consist of three separate parts: two cast openwork rectangles with renaissance-style mermen, two circular segments, and a clasp made from two lozenge-shaped leaves.

The circular segments are probably part of a set of bodice fasteners, which would have been sewn along the front opening of a bodice, or on the decorative collar worn by Sami women in Lapland. They would originally have had a dome in the centre of the front, which has now been cut off to leave a hole; the flaps of silver at the back, which held the missing dome in place, suggest that it also probably once had a loop at the top with a pendant hanging from it. The lozenge-shaped clasp was also originally an appliqué which was sewn to a Nordic bodice or more probably a Lapp collar. A loop has been soldered to each end, at the back, to attach it to the belt, and the loop in the centre of the central dome, which would have held a pendant, has been sawn off.

The end parts probably date from the late 18th or 19th century, and come from Lapland. They would have been added to the other parts in the late 19th century, when Nordic traditional jewellery of all kinds was very popular in Britain, and there was little published information to help people identify objects.