Hang on to your hats, everybody. Here's a nifty button that's shaped...like a hat! An oldie-but-goody from the 1930's, the green Bakelite upper part is a flat disk attached to a metal plate. In other words, here's Bakelite on a silver platter. While the button is shaped like a pork pie hat, the shadow bears a resembles to a taller top hat. This little oddity comes from an antique store I visited a few weeks ago in Scottsdale, Arizona. So yippie-yi-yay and hats off to a jim-dandy button!
-Sherbert McGee
By far one of my most angular buttons, this incredible puzzle of gorgeous architecture is a two-tone masterpiece in licorice Bakelite with orange juice accents (also Bakelite). I would venture to say that this button is so ridden with outlying dips and shelves that it's likely vying to be an optical illusion. An art deco button to the max, this bad boy is puttin' on the ritz!!! Picture this on a spruce overcoat with five buttons just like it. I'm completely captivated by this riddle of Jazz-Age style.
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Click here: BUTTONS FROM THE ATTIC
-Sherbert McGee
Just purchased earlier this month, I found a set of these large "cowboy buttons" while scavenging the antique shops in and around Phoenix, Arizona. Made of rootbeer Bakelite and crowned in starry, metal escutcheons as bold as sheriffs' badges, these come from a shop in Mesa where I spotted them in a darkened display case. "Why is Bakelite so gosh darn expensive?" asked a clueless saleslady while ringing me up. "Because it's vanishing piece by piece," I told her. "They stopped making the stuff in the 1940's and it's dying out!" What I didn't say to the saleslady is that Bakelite is inexplicably addictive. And that's the gosh darn truth.
-Sherbert McGee
Today concludes "Dog Week" on my blog and I'm topping off the series with this colorful puppy parade—realistically a gay pride parade if you consider the rainbow of variety on these vibrant little terriers. As upbeat as they are, these are not underdogs! These domesticated buttons are small, but hugely perky. Mostly importantly, this whole pack of pups tested positive for Bakelite. circa 1925.
-Sherbert McGee
For years now I've been calling these "bubble buttons," "window buttons," and "windowed Bakelite." The correct word for this style of glass dome preserving a small, chiseled image is intaglio from the Italian word for "engraved." Pictured here, today's intaglioed button features...what else? Another dog! This beautiful barker with silvery white fur is a Scottish Terrier, but that's not too surprising. Exactly all of the dog buttons I'm posting this week pay tribute to lil' Scotties. And why would that be so? I'll tell you. Scottish Terriers were popular dogs throughout the 1920's and 30's and became America's most fashionable pet between World War I and World War II. Rudyard Kipling owned one and President Roosevelt was very fond of his pet dog, a Scottie named Fala. In the board game Monopoly, which first hit shelves in 1935, one of the well-known playing tokens is shaped like a Scottish Terrier. So here's an example of how a specific, animal-related, historical fad marked itself on a button. With all this talk of intaglio craftsmanship and Scottish Terriers, let's not lose sight of the fact that this hard-to-find button is made of solid Bakelite in a toothsome tone of melt-in-your-mouth chocolate. Made during the trinket jewelry fad of the 1930's.
-Sherbert McGee
Last year I posted a couple of dog buttons, similar to this pair, but these are the carved version whereas the ones I posted before are devoid of the etched details that accentuate the feet, tails and ears. Harking back to the 1930's or earlier, I imagine these novelty buttons worked wonders on somebody's canine-themed party dress. In chocolate Bakelite, the brown dog is doing what dogs do with his nose at the derriere of the cream-colored pooch (also Bakelite). Though they bear metal shanks at the back for obvious buttoning purposes, these fashion statements are less buttons than small works of plastic sculpture that went hand in hand with the trend of trinket jewelry that was all the rage during the 1920's, 30's and 40's. With that said, if you go antiquing and you find dog buttons like these, brace yourself for a high price (doggone it!). They are never inexpensive. What else can I say? Aside from button collecting, I'm a dog-owner with two "best friends" named Fritz and Zeus. Pictured here, Fritz is the brown master of the house while Zeus is the submissive buffoon. That's all for today's unveiling. Stay tuned for more Bakelite dog buttons tomorrow.
-Sherbert McGee
And the dog show continues... Here's a large and summery green button in a shade of Bakelite that reminds me of very shiny celery. The dog on the button is not carved into the Bakelite, but machine pressed. That being the case, this might be the largest pressed button in my collection, but what's especially winsome about this antiquated charmer is the dog himself: a well-groomed terrier with all the marks of a dignified purebred.
-Sherbert McGee
Attention, canine lovers! Last month I shared a dog button with the promise of more to come and that week has now officially arrived. For the next five days, I'll be posting pooches galore beginning with this glass windowed button set in creamed corn Bakelite featuring a black little furball—"the one with the waggly tail." Check out the scruffy tufts on this handsome pup from the the trinket jewelry phase of the 1930's-1940's.
-Sherbert McGee
Laid down by my blackest of neckties, here's a perfectly chic button sporting two colors in tested Bakelite that are as opposite as you can get: licorice black and a shade of apple juice that's as pale as blonde glass. Even the opposing carvings on the two tones provide a textural contrast that adds to the swanky vibes on this thing. A definite art deco button, this upscale dude demonstrates all the offbeat charm of the Roaring Twenties.
-Sherbert McGee
Where do I begin? This massive button reminds me of the large hair barrettes that my mother used to wear in the 1970's. That said, this whopping beauty is a Bakelite button from the mid-1930's. The almost-black color is espresso brown with a rootbeer stripe that's sectioned off by a couple of brass threads. Most impressively, look at the pointed oval shape of this mighty find. The flowery carvings on both sides are exquisite. A humdinger if there ever was one.
-Sherbert McGee
Uncanny in their strange decadence, here's five buttons with an air that's eerily vogue and eccentric. Bakelite plastic in the color known as apple juice, the stylized cut of the borders smacks of the early 1920's and I believe this set may very well predate the Jazz Age. Moreover, the backs of these tarnished babies were gently daubed in a silver "wash" that gives them a slightly off-color tinge. Look at the button at lower right and you can see where the wash has a sudsy, bubbled effect. On account of their bizarre pallor and highly antiquated feel, I call these my Gloria Swanson buttons—named after the iconic film star who played Norma Desmond with such unforgettable madness in Sunset Boulevard (a character originally intended for Mae West). Now it might be a stretch to the call these buttons haunted, but I have to admit that they really do possess a ghostly aura with their dusty features and mystifying hue. Out of all the old buttons I own, these ancient vanities win for weirdest vibes and most freakishly opulent.
Visit Doreen's online store
Click here: BUTTONS FROM THE ATTIC
-Sherbert McGee
The half-moon carved along the right side of this masterstroke is snuggled up to a wildly sculpted egg (at the left). Here we gaze upon one of my prettiest cherry-red buttons. A major showstopper, I always think of it as an eccentric Easter egg next to a less ornate crescent. Just look at the chiseling that went into "the egg side" of this lavish oddity! A button like this wouldn't be named Sue or Jane or Lou. Try Zoya or Dominika or Anastasiya. This Bakelite button is wickedly beautiful, so much so that I own two of them. The color of the other is rootbeer. A must-have for the vintage button saver, circa 1925.
-Sherbert McGee
Last week I posted two "rocker buttons" in green and creamed corn and look what I started: here's three more rockers and these are even tastier on the eyes. Chocolate rockers with creamed corn tops, this set defines the delicious playfulness of the (Bakelite) rocker style. Like I mentioned last week, I'm going to spend this entire year posting a different batch of rocker buttons once a month. Wait and see...
-Sherbert McGee
If looks could kill! ... Sensationally carved, here's a button in spinach green Bakelite that's nothing short of STUNNING! Twelve folds along the surface equal twelve jagged edges that sharpen the border of this true vintage wowzer. I bought this large button last year and am still marveling at the snaggy shape of the thing. Just as gorgeous as it is weird, this fancy freak spins back to the 1920's.
-Sherbert McGee
How often have I threatened to eat my buttons? Somebody beat me to it with this highly-carved licorice beauty. A heavy coat button made of Bakelite, the interesting thing about this dashing curio is the two bite-sized sections taken off the sides. I purchased this oddity from my button-collecting comrade, Doreen, last year and it's definitely one of my choice finds. From the 1930's or early 40's.
Visit Doreen's online store
Click here: BUTTONS FROM THE ATTIC
-Sherbert McGee
Acquired last year from my friend Doreen, here's a large showpiece in creamed corn Bakelite, or maybe more of a custard tone since it does lean toward a darker yellow. There's an old-fashioned and countrified vibe coming off of this heirloom that's reminiscent of an 1800's rural token with its elegantly carved crop of wheat and berries. Quaint and rustic are the words of the day here. I call this my prairie button since its pastoral motif evokes the Midwestern grasslands and hearty appeal of the Great Plains. c. 1930.
Visit Doreen's online store
Click here: BUTTONS FROM THE ATTIC
-Sherbert McGee
Last year I posted a button similar to this one, but the middle spot was green. This one is bright red. Smooth and glassy, the red and apple juice areas both tested positive for Bakelite. The AJ border may very well be an example of Prystal Bakelite. What's certain is that once upon a time this old button decorated something with a perfectly charming effect. Circa 1930.
-Sherbert McGee
