The tradition of using expensive marriage belts of archaic design survived with women’s traditional costume in many parts of Nordic and German-speaking Europe until the 19th century. These belts were usually based on the kind worn by the upper classes in late medieval and Renaissance times.

This belt was described as 16th-century German when it was acquired by the Museum in 1891. The circular plaque in the centre is very similar to those used on belts worn with traditional costume in southern Germany, but the belt as a whole is also similar in construction to Swiss marriage belts of the 17th and 18th centuries. It may therefore be a little later in date than was originally thought.