Black on Gold

Yesterday, I wore this gold necktie to church and realized that it might be the perfect backdrop for these handsome twins. Constructed out of licorice Bakelite, these buttons joined my collection earlier this summer when I took a trip to the West Bottoms in Kansas City, Missouri—adjacent to the downtown area where 100-year-old warehouses have been turned into a trendy neighborhood that's brimming with antique shops. That's where these chiseled ladykillers turned up. Made in the 1920's.

-Sherbert McGee    

Chocolate Illuminati

Mystic and magical, here's a rare bird with the power to rile the religious. With its enigmatic triad design of carved flowers and a crisscrossed pyramid suggestive of the occult, there's an arcane vibe coming off of this Bakelite puzzler that reminds me of secret societies and a New World Order. Alas, this is an antiquated coat button from the 1930's and not a symbolic token of enlightenment. Be that as it may, this fancy piece of the past is charged with absolute mystery.

-Sherbert McGee

Bakelite at High Noon

During lunchtime today (at exactly twelve o'clock p.m.) I took this photograph while the sun came barreling down in hot waves of unhindered light. Drenched in noonday brightness, this pale beauty has been anointed by the height of summery solar power. Carved into a debonair flower design, the color is creamed corn. The make is Bakelite. The year is 1928. The style is art deco. That is all.

Visit Doreen's online store
Click here: BUTTONS FROM THE ATTIC

-Sherbert McGee    

Mandatory Lipstick

Some buttons are essential. Here's one of them. Commonly mistaken for a bullet, this is a lipstick toggle in cherry-red Bakelite (positioned next to a photo of Coco Chanel). I say this about very few buttons, but this is one of the sought-after necessities to get if you collect Bakelite. A must-have for enthusiasts of vintage plastic and trinket jewelry, this art deco cylinder is a crucial smooch from the Roaring Twenties.

"Oh, innocent victims of Cupid,
Remember this terse little verse;
To let a fool kiss you is stupid,
To let a kiss fool you is worse."

—Yip Harburg

Love always,
Sherbert McGee 

Split Pea Soup Explosion!

Get a load of this mighty and magnificent button in two tones of rock-solid Bakelite. Look closely and you can see the transparent base of this bad boy in apple juice Bakelite (just peeking out from the bottom edges) with beautifully visible carvings. Most prominently is the top layer made of moss Bakelite—exploding with deeply sculpted canyons for a vogue effect that smacks of a primitive art deco vibe. While most Bakelite collectors refer to this color as moss, I've also heard it called split pea soup. And in this case, the soup is absolutely overflowing.

-Sherbert McGee

Faceted Rootbeer

Glassy and jewel-like, this thickset button in faux tortoise is a lovely chunk of pure Bakelite that's unanimously referred to by collectors as "rootbeer Bakelite." Angled just so in the sun, you can see the various facets carved around this shiny token of vintage plastic, as well as the swirled shades of brownish amber that lie in its peculiar depths. A chic button to be sure.

Visit Doreen's online store
Click here: BUTTONS FROM THE ATTIC

-Sherbert McGee

Bakelite Bits: Yellow

Today's post ends my week-long series of "Bakelite Bits" or mini-buttons, many of which measure less than half-an-inch across. In tones of yellow (mostly creamed corn), the buttons above convey a sunny hodgepodge of Bakelite designs. Honorable mentions go to the art deco "bomb button" with tiered ends in the lower right-hand corner and the centralized "eyeball button" with an outer layer that is celluloid covering a Bakelite orb in butterscotch. And that's it for this week of Bakelite bits!

-Sherbert McGee

Bakelite Bits: Maroon

As a Scorpio, I read once that maroon is my astrological sign's "signature color." Admittedly, I do fancy these deep, blood-red buttons. Today's Bakelite bits have a range of shapes with honorable mentions going to the little gear button, at far left, with its cogs dabbed in white paint. Next to it, a flower button exhibits pressed details. These buttons were likely made in the 1920's or early 30's.

Visit Doreen's online store
Click here: BUTTONS FROM THE ATTIC

-Sherbert McGee

Bakelite Bits: Apple Juice

Highlighting a bright variety of Bakelite bits, here we have five smaller sized buttons in various golden-transparent tones of apple juice. Honorable mentions go to the ball-shaped button in the middle with a carved star or flower design and the slanty little cylinder at lower right, with its flurry of enclosed glitter. Smallest of all is the trefoil button, which is a darker tone of honey-hued Bakelite.

-Sherbert McGee

Bakelite Bits: Licorice

It's Day 2 of my "Bakelite Bits" Week and here's a smattering of five little buttons in black, otherwise known as licorice Bakelite. Aside from the obviously noteworthy duck, honorable mentions go to the jellybean-shaped toggle with carved details and also the art deco, jewel-cut button featuring a tiered design and bottom layer made of apple juice Bakelite. I have a taste for black licorice and could just about eat these buttony antiques. From the 1920's.

-Sherbert McGee

Bakelite Bits: Green

All this week I'll be posting Bakelite "bits" or smaller sized buttons that've slipped down to the bottom of my collection—easy to forget about, but fun to dredge up and examine. Surprisingly, some of the tiniest buttons have enormous charisma. Today's medley in green is curious indeed with honorable mentions going to the cube-shaped button in the lower left corner (a two-tone button with a quarter of the cube being a lighter shade of green) and also the mossy-hued monster in the center, which is 14-sided (maybe the most angular button I own). Stay tuned for more bits tomorrow... 

-Sherbert McGee 

Oddities in Orange

Upon the discovery of these oddball buttons, I jumped nine feet backwards and yelled, "Gadzooks!" at the top of my lungs. Unlike anything I've ever seen, each button's saucer-like base is made of (tested) orange juice Bakelite. The top portions, however, have not been tested because each orb-shaped centerpiece is painted bright orange and I don't want to disturb the paint job, which is already rubbing off in places. With that said, I'm guessing that the top sections are also Bakelite—appearing to be a shade of custard where the paint has receded. Adding to their strange charm, the tops are freckled with small holes. Que your imagination to run wild, but I see cratered little planets or a rare brand of exotic cheese. In a set of three, each button's size is different, furthering the uniqueness of this bizarre batch of Bakelite. circa 1932.

-Sherbert McGee    

Sparkly Lovely

"Pizzazz" is not a word I throw around lightly, but this button has definitely got it. Made of Bakelite and tinged with patina, the carved licorice design resembles an open flower with a band of apple juice Bakelite cutting straight through the whole shebang. What's more, the AJ stripe is loaded with a rowdy carnival's worth of cascading glitter. I love these sparkly buttons so much that I've decided that next month I'm going to post a whole week of them. Wait and see!

-Sherbert McGee

Visionary Rootbeer

Sometimes when I study a Bakelite button I like to imagine that I'm channeling psychic impressions that trace back to the original owners of these dandy relics. Case in point: this checkered button in rootbeer and butterscotch possesses an air of collegiate life during the Jazz Age. Moreover, I attach this button to an Ivy League winter coat on a bookish and somewhat rakish sophomore at Harvard in the 1920's. A frequenter of louche cafes and Bohemian hookah lounges, he read all the works of Franz Kafka and nurtured a strange infatuation with a mousy librarian with a speech impediment. 

And that's my attempt at clairvoyance through Bakelite. 

-Sherbert McGee

Toggle Tuesday: Christmas in July

Season's Greetings! Long-time curiosities in my collection of Bakelite buttons, this pair of merry toggles in cherry red and forest green have always looked to me like Xmas ornaments. Decorative carvings around their midriffs give them an air of Yuletide shapeliness and wouldn't these look cool on a snowman's vest? If I were to name these festive buttons I reckon they'd be Holly and Blitzen, but in spite of their jolly appeal I'm a bit early with these holiday toggles...

Christmas isn't for another 167 days. 

-Sherbert McGee    

Butterscotch Classics

Here's an especially old pair of buttons made out of butterscotch Bakelite. I'm guessing that these buttons go back to the early 1920's on account of their extra fragile dispositions. Large, rounded and rectangular, my favorite feature on these antiques is the mass of carvings off to the side of their smooth midsections. Named butterscotch for a reason, these golden oldies look like senile sweets.

Visit Doreen's online store
Click here: BUTTONS FROM THE ATTIC

-Sherbert McGee

Cider Nuggets

Laced in golden girdles, these apple juice buttons glisten like angular stones with their pale amber coloring and chunky leanings. Small in size, if it weren't for their metallic trappings they'd resemble half-melted ice cubes unless you looked at them closely and noticed the carved details at each end. Purchased recently from an antique dealer in Vermont, I'm lucky to have found these Bakelite gems in a set of four.

-Sherbert McGee 

The Purple Alligator

Okay...I know that "purple" is a bit of a stretch, but this button is bright maroon and I put that in the purple bracket. Carved unevenly, the design on this Bakelite beast reminds me of the scaly flesh on an alligator. There's definitely a reptilian thing happening here. A fairly large button, I imagine this curious closure might've looked devilishly exotic once upon a time on a snazzy jacket in the 1920's.

-Sherbert McGee

Emerald Relic

Drenched in sunshine, this pretty button takes on the color of a deeply glowing emerald. The cuts and carvings are reminiscent of the art deco style with two elongated slits forming a chic design. Like so many of the buttons I post on this blog, this Bakelite specimen comes from my good friend Doreen (aka the Button Queen), who finds, buys and sells every kind of antique button known to man. She's my go-to specialist when it comes to unusual period pieces such as this one. circa 1930.

Visit Doreen's online store
Click here: BUTTONS FROM THE ATTIC

-Sherbert McGee            

Starred Bakelite

Sweet land of liberty! Due to some unsightly shadow effects in the midday sunlight, I couldn't get a satisfactory picture of this three-colored star button. So I brought it inside and snapped this shot of it in a Teflon frying pan. How's that for celebrating America? These triple-toned buttons are a famously hard-to-find treasure for Bakelite collectors. So when this galactic baby landed in my wishful hands, I was more than just psyched. I was star-smacked!

Happy 4th of July!
-Sherbert McGee

Clunky Brown

It's a shame what happens to a button after it's been hammered by tornadoes. This pretty victim has been massacred by what I'm guessing was one too many cycles in a washing machine and dryer. What started out as a spiffy coat button in chocolate brown is now an example of heavily scuffed Bakelite. Sadly, the dents and dings on this poor thing are in direct competition with its attractive triad of carvings. I implore Bakelite button owners: don't toss your vintage valuables into the wash! 

-Sherbert McGee