Two Woodies

Regular readers of this blog know that one of my passions is collecting antique buttons. The two buttons shown here (the bottom one is also my current  "Antique Button of the Month" — seen on my sidebar) are both referred to by button collectors as "woodies." They were constructed of metal decorative designs that overlaid pieces of wood. I think these are pretty neat, but it's just as well that I have only two because I consider three of anything the start of another collection!

I'll have a new posting tomorrow.

The Allure of Antique Buttons

Regular readers of this blog know that one of my passions is collecting antique buttons. (You can see some of my own buttons by clicking on "The Button of the Month" on my side bar.) This past weekend, I went to a button show hosted by the Florida State Button Society. Collecting buttons has become a hugely popular hobby, and if you had seen the amazing displays that I saw, you wouldn't be a bit surprised.

Millicent Safro   |   Tender Buttons

For sheer size and glitz, the most dramatic buttons are probably those called "Victorian Jewels." These buttons usually measure 1½-2" in diameter and were once used by Victorian ladies on coats and capes.

Most dealers display their buttons on thin cardboards, like the one above. The button you choose can be easily removed from the board.

Millicent Safro   |   Tender Buttons

The show featured a lot of copper 18th-century buttons, also in the 2"-diameter range.

 

I was introduced to a style of buttons known as "Jacksonians." These were popular in the early 1800s, and were used on waistcoats. Though they were produced by different makers, they were all made from brass, had the same distinctive rims, and measured approximately ½". They were worn on civilain clothes, despite looking rather military.

Betsy Ciffone   |   Heavens to Betsy Antiques

Betsy Ciffone of Clinton, Tennessee, stores her buttons in jewel displays, and antique buttons are indeed often little gems. One of her buttons that caught my eye is the tintype portrait below. Such photographic buttons were a popular genre in the mid-1800s, although this was the first one I'd seen.

Betsy Ciffone   |   Heavens to Betsy Antiques

This is a framed display made by John C. Hepler, a tailor who started collecting in the 1850s. Mr. Hepler is famous among button collectors because in the 19th century he had the largest collection in the country, numbering over 78,000!

Jerry DeHay   |   The Buttonpusher

Uniform buttons, and not just military ones, are popular with men. The buttons above are from livery, the uniforms of servants. Families of nobility and wealth would have personalized buttons made with their own family crests.

Button dealers buy large collections and often have lesser buttons in quantity. Some will put their excess in a large tray and sell them for a flat price. They call such trays "pokes," and this is what a one-dollar poke looks like.

I'm a neophyte at all this, but I'm having fun. I'll be sharing my purchases with you each month on the side bar, but in the meantime, here's a little sub-grouping of Victorian buttons I've collected that appeals to my love of things Neoclassic. I call this grouping "gods and heroes."

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A Button-Buying Spree

I'm very fond of late 19th century buttons, which were often made by combining various metals in intricately detailed layers. Last weekend I purchased these little gems, and they please me as much as if I were collecting Vermeers. The buttons above are made of cut steel and brass. Such buttons were usually made in two layers, as in the illustration below.

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Buying Just One Button

I like to wear baseball caps, though that’s really not my persona. So a while back, I thought it would be fun to buy a well-made baseball cap and turn it into a stylish statement. My idea was to get something plain (which turned out to be a dark blue wool cap from the GAP) and then sew one antique button on the front. I imagined the result would provide a look that was quasi-military, or perhaps Victorian, in an Abner Doubleday sort of way.

After I found the cap, it was time to go antiquing. My first stop was a antique shop where there wasn’t a button in sight. “Are you looking for anything in particular?” said the owner. When I casually mentioned buttons, the owner produced - from behind the counter - the estate of a national button club president! On my very first try, I’d hit the mother lode! And in that one moment of supreme manifesting, my search for one antique button became a wealth of buttons that continues to grow to this day. Now I’m hooked on antique buttons!

My antique buttons. I’m particularly attracted to buttons that have Greek and Roman faces, which apparently was a popular theme.

My friend Martha gave me this beautiful book by Diana Epstein and Millicent Safro, with a foreword by Jim Dine and a preface by Tom Wolfe, no less! Below it are seven of my favorites from the book. They remind me of a set of similar dog buttons I had on a childhood vest.

The authors run a most wonderful store in New York, called Tender Buttons. I hesitate to link to their site for fear that you will go on a button spending spree before I get there.

They say that the emerald buyers in Hong Kong wear sunglasses on their rounds. That way the dealers won’t be able to see their eyes dilate as they feast upon the emeralds in which they're really interested. Perhaps I’ll have to wear my sunglasses when I visit Tender Buttons!