Buttonsplus

Here are three handpainted porcelain buttons that I have recently acquired. They all feature Oriental figures in a scene but the photo does not show them up so clearly. I think they may be from the early 1900s but am not sure. I like their colour schemes.

This is not a good photo but the button has an interesting story. I was having a coffee at Muffin Break at Riverside Plaza where I frequent 2 or 3 times a week just for an outing. The owner had on a black top with 3 buttons and I said I am just looking at your buttons, I am a button collector. She said I know, you have shown me some, would you like one, I don’t use the top one. There and then before I could think her offsider cut off the button and it was given to me. So you never know when and where you are going to find a button. She is going to Hong Kong this week and said she will buy some buttons for me, Who knows what may come of it. Those little acts of kindness and surprise make a day.

These two leather buttons are similar size and have a ridge around the edge. One shows an embossed horse’s head; the other just three slits across the middle. They both have a metal loop shank. I guess they would have been worn on a man’s sports jacket.

Here is a Ceramic button made by Incomparable Buttons in South Africa. It is quite an imaginative design of a cow being square. Those googly eyes look straight at you and the black patches in the shape of a heart are just a bit of fun too. It measures a little under 3 cm.

These four Ceramic buttons have been painted with simply sketched fruit and outlined in black. They make quite a nice set. The colours are much stronger in reality and have a high gloss. They measure only 1 1/2cm so are quite small.

Here is a Metal Picture button featuring a flower which I think is a Chrysanthemum. It is a reasonably common button and I think it is in The Big Book of Buttons. It has a decorative border with a white metal liner underneath. I guess it is from the early 1900s.

Here are two plastic buttons which I bought new at Lincraft a few years ago. They certainly are colourful with their floral design which looks like it has been drawn on them. When you hold them up to the light they really glow. I am certainly not sure what type of garment they would suit.

Here are two plastic buttons with plastic coated wire wound around to make a pattern. The white one has green wire and is a sew through type. The black one is more intricately wound in two oval shapes and just goes around to the back. It has no shank and you have to sew through the wire at the back. I think they may be from after the 2nd world war when materials were not so plentiful. They are quite different and in some ways striking. They measure 3 cm.

Here is an imitation fabric black glass button which is probably from the early 1900s. It imitates taffeta and shows a pink daisy with a dirty yellow background and ridges on each side. It has a metal four way box shank and measures a little under 3 cm. I wonder what type of garment it graced.

These two buttons are very nice in a floral design. One is yellow with pansies; the other a dark brown with a cornucopia of white flowers. The pictures I guess are under a clear type of resin and then set in a white metal cup. They are only small at a little under 2 cm. and are much nicer in reality.