shoe buckle  n. a fastening for a shoe, in the form of a buckle, also an ornamental buckle worn on the front of a shoe.

1482   in York Myst. Introd. 40   [Those that] maketh ffisshe-hukes or shobakilles.

1847   Thackeray Vanity Fair (1848) xxxix. 359   A large pair of paste shoe-buckles.

http://0-www.oed.com.pugwash.lib.warwick.ac.uk/view/Entry/178435?redirectedFrom=shoe+buckle#eid22961370

One of the few fashion items worn by both men and women (men wore ones which matched their knee buckles - http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O122789/shoe-buckle-atkins-james/ 

Shoe Buckles in Literature

Montagu's "The Reasons that Induced Dr. S - to write a Poem called the Lady's Dressing Room"

Richardson's "Pamela"

Cleland's "Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure"

Sterne's "Tristram Shandy"

"One, Two Buckle my Shoe" - Henry Bolton, collector of counting rhymes in 1885 said the rhyme was used in Wrentham, Massachusetts as early as 1780

Criminality

Due to the fact that the shoe buckle was an every day item there was understandably much criminality surrounding them as they were an easy item to access and to sell. 

The value of the buckles taken ranged dramatically, reflecting the variety of buckles on the market depending on what a  consumer could afford. Old Bailey record show buckles stolen with a value as low as 1d (equivalent to 27p in modern monetary values). This case has very little information attached to it as the accused was acquitted, yet it is still relevant to see 

Variety in values of shoe buckles - Old Bailey Records show a range in stolen shoe buckles ranging in value from 1d (27p) http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/browse.jsp?id=t17730908-14-defend187&div=t17730908-14&terms=shoe|buckle#highlight to 2l (£149.58) http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/browse.jsp?id=t17681207-9-defend109&div=t17681207-9&terms=shoe|buckle#highlight

Popularity

Popularity began to decline in the late 1780s and the early 1790s. An appeal was made to Prince George, the Prince of Wales by shoe buckle manufacturers in an attempt to maintain the popularity of the shoe buckle. (document) Holland and Hunt (Hutton) documented the events. (Treatise on the Progressive Improvement and Present State of the Manufactures in Metal 1834)  

https://historicaltexts.jisc.ac.uk/results?terms=shoe%20buckle&date=1693-1810&undated=exclude&variant=variant (show table) 

Not just in UK

http://0-www.18thcjournals.amdigital.co.uk.pugwash.lib.warwick.ac.uk/transcript.aspx?imageid=253654&searchmode=true&previous=1 - commonly advertised as a fashionable and desirable item.

Hogarth's "The Rake's Progress" and "The Marriage Contract" (The Countess's Levee)

Hogarth's works, reflecting "modern, moral subjects", illustrate how the shoe buckle may be used in satirical works. "A Harlot's Progress" - the illustration of a young girl whose innocence leads to her into the world of prostitution, and ultimately her untimely death, illustrated through the subtle and symbolic in his prints uses shoe buckles consistently throughout. 

However, the popularity of shoe buckles also took a political turn in both England and France. Whilst in England an appeal was made in early 1792 to "The Royal Conductors of Fashion" from the buckle trade of London and Westminster to halt the change in fashion away from shoe buckles. Whilst Prince George, the Prince of Wales, did attempt to sway the change in styles, he ultimately made very little effect on the lapse of the shoe buckle which were completely out of fashion by 1793 except in court where George had required his courtiers to wear them. https://data.historicaltexts.jisc.ac.uk/view?pubId=ecco-0316700700&terms=prince%20of%20wales%20shoe%20buckle&date=1791-1792&undated=exclude&pageTerms=prince%20of%20wales%20shoe%20buckle&pageId=ecco-0316700700-10 

http://0-gdc.galegroup.com.pugwash.lib.warwick.ac.uk/gdc/artemis/NewspapersDetailsPage/NewspapersDetailsWindow?failOverType=&query=KE+shoe+buckle&prodId=BBCN%3ABNCN%3ANCUK%3ADMHA%3AILN%3AINDA%3AMOME%3ATTDA%3ATLSH%3AUSDD&windowstate=normal&contentModules=&fullCitation=true&display-query=KE+shoe+buckle&mode=view&displayGroupName=DVI-Newspapers&dviSelectedPage=&limiter=DA+117900101+-+117901231&u=warwick&currPage=1&sortBy=&displayGroups=&source=&disableHighlighting=false&search_within_results=&p=GDCS&action=e&catId=&activityType=AdvancedSearch&scanId=&documentId=GALE%7CZ2001519946#fullCitation - spring shoe buckle

http://find.galegroup.com/bncn/retrieve.do?sgHitCountType=None&scale=1.00&orientation=&sort=DateAscend&docLevel=FASCIMILE&prodId=BBCN&tabID=T012&subjectParam=Locale%2528en%252C%252C%2529%253AFQE%253D%2528tx%252CNone%252C9%2529brunswick%253AAnd%253AFQE%253D%2528ba%252CNone%252C6%2529%25221UBI%2522%253AAnd%253AFQE%253D%2528da%252CNone%252C10%2529%252217900313%2522%2524&searchId=R8&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchType=AdvancedSearchForm&currentPosition=1&qrySerId=Locale%28en%2C%2C%29%3AFQE%3D%28tx%2CNone%2C9%29brunswick%3AAnd%3AFQE%3D%28ba%2CNone%2C6%29%221UBI%22%3AAnd%3AFQE%3D%28da%2CNone%2C10%29%2217900313%22%24&retrieveFormat=MULTIPAGE_DOCUMENT&subjectAction=DISPLAY_SUBJECTS&inPS=true&userGroupName=warwick&sgCurrentPosition=0&docId=Z2001520031&docId=&docLevel=FASCIMILE&workId=&relevancePageBatch=Z2001520031&contentSet=LTO&callistoContentSet=BBCN&docPage=page&enlarge=true&firstEnlarge=true&pageNum=1&newOrientation=0&recNum=&newScale=0.33 - patent for "Brunswick spring shoe buckle

Meanwhile, in France, the French Revolution started in 1789, and shoe buckles were used as a political statement to show support for the monarchy. To wear an extravagant shoe buckle showed support for the monarchy and was in direct disobedience of the revolutionaries, who had declared that all buckles and silver adornments should be donated towards the revolutionary movement.  However, after the revolution it became a requirement for the revolutionary infantry for each man to provide "1 pair of shoe buckles" https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=hOz058L2jNwC&pg=PA38&lpg=PA38&dq=french+revolution+shoe+buckles&source=bl&ots=aAU-Y81TUl&sig=W0znDVS_x40J5l0pYXErwbNEU2s&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj9k9uShLvKAhVE2SwKHdceAk8Q6AEIRzAJ#v=onepage&q=shoe%20buckles&f=false showing the continued use of the shoe buckle used as a required item of clothing, of only for utility. 

Design and Production

Expensive buckles were made in silver but the less expensive ones were made of shiny steel cut to resemble diamonds.

clothing as identity

Throughout the late eighteenth century paste stones became popular decorations for shoe buckles as they were not only cheap, but also easy for the designers to cut them to produce their maximum potential without fear of damaging a valuable stone.