Meetings and Displays

The Society arranges meetings and displays where you have an opportunity to meet like – minded people to gain knowledge and seek help and advice on collecting horse brasses. For the beginner you will discover the many books available on all aspects of collecting and hundreds of antique and modern brasses available to purchase at prices to suit all pockets.

Membership Benefits

Members receive an annual cast horse brass of changing design, two glossy Journals (January and July) and two Newsletters (April and October). Society members are encouraged to send in articles and pictures for the Newsletter and Horse Brass (the NHBS journal). The more adventurous also send in designs for the annual membership brass.

The six most practical designs are selected by the Society’s brass designer and the drawings are submitted to the members who vote for what is considered the best. The designs are sent out with the AGM papers and the winning design announce at the meeting is then produced the following year

Since the formation of the NHBS in 1975 a newsletter has been produced for the membership and mailed out twice a year as a part of the membership package. Its objective was and still is to inform Society members of the latest news, to produce articles of interest and to advertise the many publications and special brasses over the years. The current Editor is Karma Glos who will be pleased to hear from you should you have a story to tell or an article to share.

It is the ambition of the committee in order to save on printing and postage to encourage as many members as possible to agree to receive the colour pdf edition by email.

Handwritten Newsletter 1976

When the newsletter started it was produced regionally, the earliest regional edition found in the NHBS archive is No 3 beautifully hand written by NHBS founder Terry Keegan and would probably have been written in 1976 for the Midlands and North Wales Region. The first National edition came out in March 1981 and the number then went back to 1.

The hand written copy of this early newsletter can be seen by clicking on the image.
Newsletter Number 3 1976 – This is a scan of the hand written document.

The NHBS Journal ‘Horse Brass’ is an A5, full-colour magazine of 32 pages plus stiff cover and is produced twice yearly in January and July. It has been highly acclaimed over its 50 years for its contribution to the history and folk lore surrounding the use of draft horses down the ages through the use of decorated harness and in particular horse brasses. It is aimed primarily towards the collector of these fascinating ornaments and tends more towards an anecdotal approach than strictly academic but is firmly based on accurate historical context and makes a particular point of recording all the fascinating design variations that have been produced for the last 200 years and are still being made.

Members are encouraged to contribute articles from their own experience and interests and to send in relevant pictures to support it. If you need help the editor is able to assist you and the following guidelines are listed here which should be followed, if at all possible, to assist the Editor in the processing of your material for publication. It is not mandatory however, so, if necessary, just send in what you can. The journal’s success depends on your participation and no contribution is too small to be considered.