Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 261 



XXXIX. — On the Identification of a Bronze shoe-shaped Object 



AS PART OF THE HEAD OF AN" ANCIENT IRISH CrOZIER. By JOHN 



Bebton Garsten, M. B. I. A., P. S. A. 



[Read November 30, 1872.] 



During a recent visit to Belfast I took the opportunity of examining 

 such public and private collections of antiquities as were accessible, 

 and amongst the latter that of our fellow Academician, the Bev. James 

 O'Laverty, P.P., Holywood. 



Of the curiosities belonging to that gentleman which especially 

 attracted my attention, one, a bronze shoe-shaped object, is the subject 

 of this paper. It is well represented in the annexed woodcut, drawn 

 and engraved by Mr. Hanlon, and of the same size as the original. 



Mr. O'Laverty knew nothing of its antecedents beyond the fact of 

 having purchased it in Belfast, at an auction of the effects of the 

 Bev. Dr. James Kennedy-Baillie, who had been a Member of this Aca- 

 demy, as well as, from 1817 to 1830, a Pellow of Trinity College, and 

 from the latter year Bector of Ardtrea, Co. Tyrone, till his death in 

 1864. He is well known as the editor of an annotated edition of Homer's 

 Iliad. He also published three volumes of Greek Inscriptions. Pather 

 O'Laverty told me that he wrote to the relative who had charge of the 

 Bev. Doctor's affairs, but did not succeed in eliciting any information 

 regarding this bronze article. He also submitted it to several persons 

 competent to judge of such matters, and amongst them to one of our 

 Members who has distinguished himself as an authority on Irish 

 antiquities ; but, being still uncertain as to what this curiosity might 

 be, he entrusted it to me to take to Dublin, in the hope that I should 

 succeed in determining its use. (See Note A, at end.) 



