Lucky Bakelite

This button fell out of my cabinet this morning and so I decided to use it for today's post. A sleek and curvaceous shamrock in a tone of emerald green, it's an unusual shape in that there are open spaces between the four lobes. The center is a hypnotic sphere and if you look closely you can see a bit of marbling on its surface. I've polished this button, but a trace of patina has gathered in a few of those hard-to-reach Bakelite crannies.

-Sherbert McGee

The Lumberjack

Is it just me or does this button resemble the face of a gruff lumberjack? A heavy-duty chunk of 2-tone Bakelite, the foundation of this brute is a plump slab of butterscotch. Two even layers of chocolate top it off, forming a thickly grooved design, or what I perceive to be the lumberjack's hairline and beard. What an awesome coat this must've belonged to back in the 1930's. By all means, this button's a brawny whopper.

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Click here: BUTTONS FROM THE ATTIC

-Sherbert McGee

Pumpkin Tads!

I knew a lady who was selling 16 of these little hexagons in orange. At first I bought four of them and then I went back and bought eight more. Finally, I bought the last four and have kept them together for a few years in a little jar that used to provide housing for apricot jelly. These buttons are from the 1920's and they are Bakelite, measuring half-an-inch across. Choice tidbits, one and all.

-Sherbert McGee

Scarlet Curves

Maroon Bakelite! While green and butterscotch buttons seem to gravitate toward me, I always have the hardest time finding buttons in this rich tone of sumptuous cranberry. Go figure, it's probably my favorite color and as a Scorpio I've been told that maroon is the designated hue of my astrological sign. This button sports a cryptic winding device that gives me vertigo. I absolutely love it.
    
-Sherbert McGee

1930's Ivory Flower

Check out the textures on this Bakelite blossom in creamed corn. The four carved midsections have the grainy appearance of wood. Otherwise, the color of this button has the look of smudged ivory. I purchased this relic in 2012 from a vintage clothier who'd cut several of these old buttons off of a garment that'd been locked away in storage since the Great Depression! It's amazing that these bits of history don't get scrapped altogether; and I'm so glad this button is still with us.

-Sherbert McGee

Toggle Tuesday: Dark Ovals

These toggles have been in my collection for quite some time and I always think they resemble a couple of charred almonds or the petrified eyes of a dybbuk. Magic shadow nuggets! In my perusals of antique shops I sometimes see this football-shaped button in various shades of butterscotch, but this particular pair of gorilla tears is about as pitch-black as Bakelite ever gets.   

-Sherbert McGee

Lime Juice Daisy

Lime juice—a rare color of Bakelite that confirms its existence here in the shape of a shiny flower (maybe a lilac or a forget-me-not). Luscious swirls in pale green swim through this translucent blossom like tangled capillaries. In the light of my balcony, this piece of Bakelite retains an orange glow around its edges. It's an unusual button in a color that I wish I saw more often in my quest for hard-to-find Bakelite.

-Sherbert McGee  

Egg Yolk on Rootbeer

When I first laid eyes on this peculiar button, I think my heart nearly sprang through my rib cage. Never before had I seen anything in "Bakelite World" that so strongly resembled a shimmery egg yolk. This butterscotch dollop of cholesterol just happens to be riding a rootbeer puddle with an incised design of pretty arches going 12 times around. One of my all-time favorites, this old button is sunny side up—not scrambled!

-Sherbert McGee 

Angularity in Red

Here's a Bakelite button that dreams of being a multifaceted gemstone. I found this cherry zinger in a pickle jar among hundreds of buttons at an antique shop in one of the New England states, I think New Hampshire. Anyway, when I saw this plastic ruby nestled in with all the other buttons, I just knew this shard of beauty was Bakelite and I was right. It tested positive with Simichrome polish.

-Sherbert McGee

The Oddball, aka "SPUTNIK"

One of my favorite buttons is this apple juice oddball with seven chrome knobs poking out of its Bakelite base. What a weirdo! The knobs are a little scuffed and rusty, but I love this thing with all of its flaws. Old buttons are supposed to be flawed and this one probably goes back to the 1930's or early 40's. It's a bizarre button and I've nicknamed it "Sputnik" on account of its outer- spacey vibe. 

-Sherbert McGee 

Brown Sugar Whirl

Today's Bakelite button is a bit unusual in that it's brown, but with a wet-looking shine that I don't see too often in brown Bakelite. It almost looks like a piece of hard candy that's been sucked on in the gradual meltdown of a digested sweet. That probably sounds a little gross, but this is not a gross button. On the contrary, this polished spiral is some first-rate Bakelite with a molasses gleam.

-Sherbert McGee

The Devil's Garden

After a two-week hiatus, I'm back to blogging buttons again and am leading off with this raven-black piece with a ring-shaped escutcheon encircling buds and curling tendrils over a face of grooved Bakelite. The margins of this shady token slope downwards, depicting a cluster of indentations. A flawless and neatly devised button with sharp eye-appeal, this dark beauty demonstrates an almost sinister refinement.

Visit Doreen's online store

Click here: BUTTONS FROM THE ATTIC

-Sherbert McGee