Slave collars on Gor

"In the matter of collars, as in all things, Goreans commonly exhibit good taste and aesthetic sense."
Slave Girl page 215

The collar can be read to identify a girls master and his city
Slave girls almost never escape. The major reason for this is the steel collar, which, obdurately encircling her neck, read, promptly identifies her master and his city. Almost no one, of course, would think of removing a collar from a girl, unless it would be to replace it with one of his own.
Slave Girl page 96

The gorean collar has 4 common purposes:
1 - designates a girl as a slave
2 - impresses her slavery upon her
3 - identifies who owns her
4 - makes leashing the slave easier
“What is the common purpose of a collar?”
“The collar has four common purposes, Master,” she said. “First, it visibly designates me as a slave, as a brand might not, if it should be covered by clothing. Second, it impresses my slavery upon me. Thirdly, it identifies my master. Fourthly-fourthly-”
“Fourthly?” he asked.
“Fourthly,” she said, “it makes it easier to leash me.”
He kicked her in the side. She winced. Her response had been slow.
Explorers page 80

The collar makes it easier for the slave to be put in various ties
An additional utility of the collar, though it did not count as one of its four common purposes, was that it made it easier to put the girl in various ties. For example, one can use it to tie her hands before her throat, or at the sides or back of her neck. One can use it with, say, rope or chain, to fasten girls together. One can tie her feet to her collar, and so on. If the feet are tied to the collar the knot is always in the front, so that the pressure will be against the back of the girl’s neck and not the front. The purpose of such a tie is to hold the slave, not choke her. Gorean men are not clumsy in their binding of women.
Explorers page 80

Men enjoy the sight of a woman in steel
That the collar was locked did not simply mean that she could not remove it, a fact which played its important role in guaranteeing slave recognition and identification, but, perhaps even more importantly, was momentous in its significance of bondage. A brand might be concealed by clothing, even the brief garb commonly allotted a female slave, but the collar, consistently and openly, proclaimed her girl property. The collar, stressing her vulnerability as a slave, is sexually exciting to the girl who wears it, and to the men who look upon it. Perhaps that is why free women do not wear collars. The steel on her lovely throat, lost beneath her hair, glinting beneath it, contrasting so with her delicious softness, is sexually and aesthetically maddening. No girl is so beautiful, I suspect, as she who wears a Gorean slave collar.
Slave Girl page 402

Collars are measured to fit each girl properly
"These collars are normally measured individually to the girl as is most slave steel. The collar is regarded not simply as a designation of slavery and a means for identifing the girl's owner and his city but as an ornament as well. Accordingly the Gorean master is often extremely concerned that the fit of the graceful band will be neither too tight nor too loose. The collar is normally worn snugly, indeed so much so that if the snap of a slave lease is used the girl will normally suffer some discomfort."
Priest Kings page 158

The commmon collar is a flat, snugly fitting steel band, locking at the back of the neck
"The common Gorean collar, on the other hand, is a flat, snugly fitting steel band. Both collars lock in the back, behind the girl's neck."
Nomads page 16

The collar is hinged
"Most Gorean collars, decorated or not, are basically a flat, circular band, hinged, which locks snugly about the girl's neck."
Slave Girl page 251

The name of her master and his city
Slave girls almost never escape. The major reason for this is the steel collar, which, obdurately encircling her neck, read, promptly identifies her master and his city. Almost no one, of course, would think of removing a collar from a girl, unless it would be to replace it with one of his own.
Slave Girl page 96

This collar shows the slave is to be returned to the Whip Master in the Central Cylinder of Ar
She had already donned the livery intended to resemble the state livery of Ar, and I had earlier put on her neck the collar designed to resemble a state collar. Indeed, I had even a few days ago, stopped a state slave, to check her collar. "RETURN ME TO THE WHIP MASTER OF THE CENTRAL CYLINDER" read the legend on the collar. I picked up the small cloak she had worn, and put it about her shoulders.
Magicians page 372

This collar designates a slave as part of the cargo of a particular ship
"'What sort of collar do you wear?'
'A shipping collar, Master. It shows that I am a portion of the cargo of the Palms of Schendi.'"
Explorers page 79 - 80

Collar designates a slave as a paga slave of a certain tavern
I was Teela, a paga slave of the Belled Collar. That could be read, I understood, on the close-fitting steel collar I wore, a ten-hort collar.
Slave Girl page 294

Collar designating slave to be sent to new owner
I no longer wore the black, enameled, belled collar, and snide ring, of the Chatka and Curla.
I heard men shouting, and saw them running. There seemed excitement below.
I now wore a ship collar, of locked steel, gray, with its destination tag. The tag, I had been told, read: “Send me to the Lady Elicia of Ar, of Six Towers.”
Slave Girl page 355

Collar designating a slave as property of the House of Cernus
He fingered the collar on her throat, yellow enameled over steel. It bore the legend: I am the property of the House of Cernus.
Assassin

Turian collar is not flat, a round ring and fits loosely on the neck
Turian collar is more difficult to engrave but will bear some legend
"She wore the Turian collar, rather than the common slave collar. The Turian collar lies loosely on the girl, a round ring; it fits so loosely that, when grasped in a man's fist, the girl can turn within it; the common Gorean collar, on the other hand, is a flat, snugly fitting steel band. Both collars lock in the back, behind the girl's neck. The Turian collar is more difficult to engrave, but it, like the flat collar, will bear some legend assuring that the girl, if found, will be promptly returned to her master."
Nomads page 29

Turian collars seen occasionally in northern cities
The Turian collar, too, a looser ring of steel, large enough for a man’s fist to grasp on the girl’s throat, was occasionally seen now in the northern cities.
Captive page 160

He went to his desk and, from one of its drawers, drew forth an opened slave collar. It was unlike most of the Gorean collars. It was a Turian collar. Most Gorean collars, decorated or not, are basically a flat, circular band, hinged, which locks snugly about the girl’s neck. The Turian collar, on the other hand, fits more loosely and resembles a hinged ring, looped about the throat. A man can get his fingers inside a Turian collar and use it to drag the girl to him. It does not fit loosely enough to permit its being slipped, of course. Gorean collars are not made to be slipped by the girls who wear them.
Slave Girl page 251-252

Riveted collar of black iron with a projecting ring
"I took it from these indications, she had learned her collar in the south; probably originally it had been a lock collar, snugly fitting, of steel; now, of course, it had been replaced with the riveted collar of black iron, with the projecting ring, so useful for running a chain through, or for padlocking, or linking on an anvil, with a chain. The southern collar, commonly, lacks such a ring."
Marauders page 166

"About her neck, riveted, was a collar of black iron, with a welded ring, to which a chain might be attached."
Marauders page 85

"'Look up at me,' said the smith.
The slender, blond girl, tears in her eyes, looked up at him.
He opened the hinged collar of black iron, about a half inch in height. He put it about her throat. It also contained a welded ring, suitable for the attachment of a chain.
'Put your head beside the anvil,' he said.
He took her hair and threw it forward, and thrust her neck against the left side of the anvil. Over the anvil lay the joining ends of the two pieces of the collar. The inside of the collar was separated by a quarter of an inch from her neck. I saw the fine hairs on the back of her neck. On one part of the collar are two, small, flat, thick rings. On the other is a single such ring. These rings, when the wings of the collar are joined, are aligned, those on one wing on top and bottom, that on the other in the center. They fit closely together, one on top of the other. The holes in each, about three-eighths of an inch in diameter, too, of course, are perfectly aligned.
The smith, with his thumbs, forcibly, pushed a metal rivet through the three holes. The rivet fits snuggly.
'Do not move your head, Bond-maid,' said the smith.
Then, with great blows of the iron hammer, he riveted the iron collar about her throat.
A man then pulled her by the hair from the anvil and threw her to one side. She lay there weeping, a naked bond-maid, marked and collared."
Marauders page 87

High beaded collars, tied in the front by rawhide string
Each tribe uses a variation in styles and knots
The colors and arrangements used on the collar signify the master
"The red savages do not use steel collars. They use high, beaded collars, tied together in the front by a rawhide string. Subtle differences in the styles of collars, and in the knots with which they are fastened on the girls' necks, differentiate the tribes. Within a given tribe the beading, in its arrangements and colors, identifies the particular master. This is a common way, incidentally, for warriors to identify various articles which they own."
Savages page 102

used when slaves are part of cargo being transported for sale
"'What sort of collar do you wear?'
'A shipping collar, Master. It shows that I am a portion of the cargo of the Palms of Schendi.'"
Explorers page 79 - 80

I no longer wore the black, enameled, belled collar, and snide ring, of the Chatka and Curla.
I heard men shouting, and saw them running. There seemed excitement below.
I now wore a ship collar, of locked steel, gray, with its destination tag. The tag, I had been told, read: “Send me to the Lady Elicia of Ar, of Six Towers.”
Slave Girl page 355

In a large slaver house with many slaves (4,000 - 6,000 are numbers mentioned in the books) a variety of collars are used to designate various slaves easily

Here Samos chooses a "common house collar" for a new slave in his slaver house
“You are too beautiful not to be a slave,” said Samos.
“No!” she cried. “No!”
“Take her below,” said Samos to one of the two guards flanking the woman. “Put the iron to her body, left thigh, common Kajira mark, and, I think, for the time, a common house collar will do for her.” She looked at him, aghast. Then her two arms were seized by the guards.
Players

White enamel collar
The meal was served by slave girls in white tunics, each wearing a white-enameled collar. These would be girls in training, some of them perhaps White Silk Girls, being accustomed to the routines and techniques of serving at table.
One of them carried a large pitcher of the diluted Ka-la-na wine and stepped behind us, climbing the two steps to the broad wooden dais on which our tables were set. She bent over my left shoulder woodenly, her body stiff. "Wine, Master?'' she asked.
Assassin page 88

Red enameled collars
At the wall on my right there were fifteen slave rings. To each, on furs, there was chained, by the left ankle, a bare-breasted girl about whose waist there was knotted a scarlet cord, in which was thrust a long, narrow rectangle of red silk. About their throats were matching red-enameled collars. Their lips were rouged and they wore eye-shadow. Some glistening red substance had been sprinkled on their hair. Following the meal, I understood, in the House of Cernus, is a time for the pleasure and recreation of the men. There are games and sports, and wagers and song. Paga and Ka-la-na are then, when Cernus would leave, brought forth.
Assassin page 87

In the Slaver House, the collars change as the slaves status and training changes
Elizabeth, with a rustle of chain, sat up, rubbing her eyes. She was attired in a brief gown of red Pleasure Silk, prescribed for her because she was a Red Silk Girl and in training. Virginia and Phyllis, in their cells, would wear similar gowns, but of white silk.
Elizabeth's collar had also been changed. She now wore a red-enameled collar. Virginia and Phyllis, however, Elizabeth had told me, still wore the simple iron collars which had been hammered about their necks by the smith days before.
Assassin

Later, in the eighteenth week of their training, they were given brief silken slave livery, sleeveless, fastened by the loop on the left shoulder. Virginia and Phyllis were given white livery, Elizabeth red. It was at this time also that Virginia and Phyllis had been given their lock collars, white-enameled, and that the slave anklets, the identification bands, had been removed from their left ankles. Elizabeth, at the beginning of her training, had simply exchanged her yellow collar for a red one. She had already been a lock-collar girl.
Assassin

Almost all locks are cylinder locks - of either pin or disk variety
Either six pins or six disks, one for each letter in "kajira"
"The small, heavy lock on a girl's slave collar, incidentally, may be of several varieties, but almost all are cylinder locks, either of the pin or disk variety. In a girl's collar lock there would be either six pins or six disks, one each, it is said, for each letter in the Gorean word for slave, Kajira."
Assassin page 51

"The girl was naked, save that she wore many strings of jewels and armlets. Too, she wore bracelets and anklets of gold, which had been locked upon her, and were belled. Her collar, too, was of gold, and belled. A single pearl, fastened in a setting like a droplet, on a tiny golden chain, was suspended at the center of her forehead."
Rogue page 10 - 11

A marsh vine wrapped about the throat five times as a collar on a Rencer island
"In the cities," she asked, "they have slave collars, do they not?"
"Yes," I said.
Then she had taken a length of marsh vine from a packet on her rence craft.
The, looking up into my eyes, smiling, close to me, her arms about my neck, she insolently wound the vine five times about my neck, and knotted it in front.
"Now," she said, "you have a collar."
Raiders

Binding fiber wrapped about throat five times as a collar
But we had, about the throat of each, wrapped, five times, a length of binding fiber, and knotted it, that this, serving as collar, might mark them as slave.
Raiders

Ho-Hak, sweating, breathing deeply, wildly, his great ears flat against the sides of his head, the iron, riveted collar of the galley slave, with its broken, dangling chain, about his neck, clutching his oar pole, stood with his legs planted widely apart on the rence, at bay.
Raiders

"The girls were then motioned to the anvil. First Virginia and then Phyllis laid their heads and throats on the anvil, head turned to the side, their hands holding the anvil, and the smith, expertly, with his heavy hammer and a ringing of iron, curved the collar about their throats; a space of a quarter of an inch was left between the two ends of the collar; the ends matched perfectly; both Virginia and Phyllis stepped away from the anvil feeling the metal on their throats, both now collared slave girls."
Assassin page 153 - 154

I could see the heavy metal collar hammered about the man's neck, not uncommon in a male slave. His head would have been placed across the anvil, and the metal curved about his neck with great blows.
Hunters page 13

"'Did you note the collar she wore?'
He had not seemed to show much interest in the high thick leather collar that the girl had had sewn about her neck.
'Of course,' he said.
'I myself,' I said, 'have never seen such a collar.'
'It is a message collar,' said Kamback. 'Inside the leather sewn within, will be a message.'"
Nomads page 40

She rose easily from the curule chair and stood before me. She held the opened collar before me. It was slender but sturdy, steel, enameled with white, decorated with tiny flowers in pink, a collar suitable for a woman’s girl. There was printing in the enamel, tiny, exact.
Slave Girl page 309