Scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) has been employed along with the light microscope to describe some metal threads taken from some late Medieval and Renaissance textiles attributed to Italy in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Comparisons are made within the group studied and to those descriptions of metal threads found in recent literature. The results are discussed in terms of geographic and historic markers of the metal thread technology employed.