Happy Halloween! These five buttons have been in my collection for a long, long time and I've been saving them for a special Halloween entry on my blog. All bright orange, the three along the back row got a little shaded in this photo, but they all boast the same fiery hue as the sunlit button at the lower right-hand corner. Contoured into womanly fingers and then carved with a texture reminiscent of fish scales, these elegant sweater buttons are as strikingly pretty as they are weird. Circa 1925.
-Sherbert McGee
Here we have a mean pair of slatted Bakelite squares in an unusual color that's nigh on jade green. I bought these large-sized buttons last year while traveling through the Midwest and snapped them up because: 1. they're art deco 2. they date back to the Roaring Twenties, and 3. it's not every day that you find a set of Bakelite art deco buttons in jade green. Moreover, these buttons are huge and I always say "the bigger the better" when it comes to Bakelite.
-Sherbert McGee
This butterscotch button hasn't been in my collection for very long and I absolutely love it. Brightly polished, rectangular and carved with a four-petaled flower design, what's not to love? I'll be doting on this button for years to come. The color is a deep and dreamy honey tone, catching the daylight in this photo like a proud sunbather. Going back to the 1920's, this unmarred gem tested positive for Bakelite.
-Sherbert McGee
Bigger than a dime, but a tad smaller than a nickel, here's a medium-sized brown button that tested positive for Bakelite. Someone took excellent care of this old goodie as it's very shiny and came into my collection from a button seller who takes pride in polishing her Bakelite to a pristinely glass-like radiance. Harking back to the 1920's, this chocolate flower makes for one handsome bomboniere.
-Sherbert McGee
Art deco buttons are my favorites and here's one of them. The base is red Bakelite while the top layer is a faux metal resin that's been etched away between noon and 3:00 to reveal one quarter of the cherry Bakelite beneath. Simple and yet sophisticated, the art deco craze played with geometric shapes and presented them in boldly unusual styles. I'd say this button is a prime example.
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Click here: BUTTONS FROM THE ATTIC
-Sherbert McGee
Here's a big Bakelite button that could be called the classic epitome of a big Bakelite button. With its perfectly sunny quality of creamed corn coloring and its artful carving of naively delineated petals, this comely keeper from the 1920's pretty much typifies the beloved hallmarks of a vintage Bakelite showpiece. There's an old-fashioned innocence to this graceful rose, not to mention an air of luck.
-Sherbert McGee
Earlier this year I secured these amazing log buttons in a soft, golden tone of 100% pure apple juice Bakelite. Etched from top to bottom with decoratively curved scratches, these elegant cylinders are fully flecked for a fancy effect that I've seen on no other button. Even the sun-drenched shadows of these stout toggles are fascinating, (so much so that I couldn't bear to crop them out of the picture). Notice how the etched designs show up in the shadows as well. Posh logs like no others, these are just plain old sensational.
Visit Doreen's online store
Click here: BUTTONS FROM THE ATTIC
-Sherbert McGee
Last of the leaves, I've been posting them all week and here's the grand finale. At first glance, you might think you're looking at a sculpted Jell-O delicacy topped with a metal badge. That's actually pretty accurate. This is a Prystal button, greenly electric and carved around the edges to accentuate the leaf motif and then crowned in a brass escutcheon, which is also leaf-shaped (and secured with sturdy pins). Who in the world came up with such a bizarre concept for a mere button? For those not familiar with Prystal, it's a variety of Bakelite plastic that's completely transparent. circa 1930.
-Sherbert McGee
I'm posting leaf-shaped buttons every day this week and here's a thick black button from the 1930's that tested positive for Bakelite. Stubby and smooth, the button is contoured into a dashing hickory leaf with grooved veins. As large and heavy as it is, this leaf probably once belonged to a high-class winter coat. Otherwise, there's a Bakelite button tree out there—and that's my kind of tree.
-Sherbert McGee
Earlier this year, my friend Doreen put these blustery leaf buttons up for sale in her button shop and you better believe I raked them up immediately. Leaves blow away quickly and I didn't want this set of three to end up with another buyer! Nicely carved and exquisitely maroon in color, each of these buttons tested positive for Bakelite. Having stormed out of the 1930's, a timeless wind has carried these leaves through a whole lot of decades. They are probably about 85 years old.
Visit Doreen's online store
Click here: BUTTONS FROM THE ATTIC
-Sherbert McGee
I'm no botanist, but this chocolate maple leaf is the apple of my button-collector's eye. The thing is huge and I was surprised to discover that it's indeed a button and not a dress clip or a brooch. Made of Bakelite and probably going back to the 1920's, a fastener of this size probably decorated some type of jacket and likely a very stylish one. I'm posting leaf-shaped buttons every day this week. This one's the very biggest by far.
-Sherbert McGee
Starting today, I'm posting a full week of Bakelite buttons shaped like leaves in honor of the real leaves turning bright orange just outside my living room window on a big hornbeam tree. This button is also orange in a darkish golden color known by Bakelite collectors as butterscotch. What's unique about this button is the wraparound stem that forms a loop in the design. From the 1930's.
Visit Doreen's online store
Click here: BUTTONS FROM THE ATTIC
-Sherbert McGee
In a few weeks this blog will be two years old, but today marks a different celebration. Set before you here today, this is the 500th post I've entered on this blog. That's a lot of Bakelite buttons and to mark the occasion I'm posting this 5-tone button, a pristine octagon with each piece testing positive for the famously desired plastic (easily dating back to the early 1930's). Some people want to know when I'm going to retire this blog, but I don't have an answer for that. I have plenty more Bakelite buttons, so on and on and on it goes...
Visit Doreen's online store
Click here: BUTTONS FROM THE ATTIC
-Sherbert McGee
Behold, the lost treasure of los indios imaginarios! Just kidding. This is an old Bakelite button from the 1930's in the transparent color known as apple juice. What's really special about this sparkly keeper is the carved out flower outline that's been topped up with tiny shards of pearlized eggshells, golden micro-beads and flecks of antiquated glitter mixed with glass and mother-of-pearl confetti. The result is a literal treasure trove of precious fragments, all mixed together like a shimmering stew. I've seen buttons similar to this one before, but have always been apprehensive about adding a button like this to my collection since the minuscule pieces are exposed and sometimes not entirely present. That said, I couldn't resist this one. The Bakelite section runs as smooth as a vintage fishbowl and its jumble of shiny bits appears intact. For some reason I've named this button "Scheherazade."
Visit Doreen's online store
Click here: BUTTONS FROM THE ATTIC
-Sherbert McGee
Sweet Jeepers! These giant rootbeer buttons tested positive for Bakelite and boy oh boy do they pack a punch. My favorite thing about these bold antiques is the oversized buttonholes with carved rings extending outwards. It almost looks like these big buttons are peering out of huge wrinkly-eyed sockets. Quite sizable, these buttons were cut off of an old winter coat dating back to the 1930's.
-Sherbert McGee
Probably the biggest toggle button that I own, this major shard of vintage Bakelite is bright red with a wraparound thing happening in some kind of metal. Overall, it looks like a block of cherry lipstick held captive in iron cuffs. Put a few of these on a lady's blouse in the year 1928 and that would've been a one heck of a stylish Louise. This lucky toggle hails from an antique shop in New England.
-Sherbert McGee
Here's something green that I pulled out of my Bakelite button stash this morning. This two-tone button has a creamed corn middle with a bright albeit dark green circle forming the basis of the blossomy shape. Notice the indentations that are pressed along the green border as if someone came along and repeatedly squished their finger into the Bakelite. Winsome and perky, this old flower button harks back to the 1920's.
-Sherbert McGee
When I ask myself which style of Bakelite button is my absolutes favorite, I always come back to these two-tone rocker buttons. Photograph-wise, I situated these unique trinkets at enough different angles to convey their arched sides and flat bottoms. Most of these buttons are solid colors with creamed corn centers, but notice that one of them is made of apple juice Bakelite with a bright yellow middle. Although these vividly charming buttons go back to the 1920's and exemplify the art deco style, they also remind me of the 1960's. For that reason, I like to think that rocker buttons were ahead of their time. If nothing else, this is vintage Bakelite at its most playfully animated.
-Sherbert McGee
My friend, Doreen, contacted me a couple of years ago with the news of discovering this incredible button that I ended up buying from her in a gung-ho heartbeat. I absolutely LOVE this button. Made of two-tone Bakelite, the base is bright cherry red with the topside being black. Etched away at the black Bakelite, a cone-shaped protrusion is emerging in the manner of a volcanic uprising. What's more, the carved section penetrates down to the red base of the button and gives the coned spot a bright lava-like ring. The effect is both spacey and very art deco—which I'm crazy about. That being the case, this button has a science fiction vibe while totally emulating the 1920's. Held up to the sun, you can see how the light hits that circular ring and sets it aglow like a molten halo. Planetary in its unique presentation, this antique button is truly out of this world. I've never seen another one like it.
Visit Doreen's online store
Click here: BUTTONS FROM THE ATTIC
-Sherbert McGee
Give me chocolate-covered cherries and I'll be your friend for life. And if they aren't really chocolate-covered cherries, that's okay as long as they're these buttony imposters in chocolate Bakelite. Truly resembling chunks of gooey See's or Godiva-brand sweets, these plumply delicious-looking buttons with sculpted designs have all the palatable hallmarks of real chocolate shoppe confections.
Visit Doreen's online store
Click here: BUTTONS FROM THE ATTIC
-Sherbert McGee
Making waves in a light shade of creamed corn Bakelite, these old twins boast a carving of deeply rolling waves. Measuring just under an inch across, the buttons are Depression-era keepsakes with a little scuffing here and there and loads of charm. The wavy lines, collecting a bit of visible patina, remind me of a flowing seascape. Packed with vintage character, these buttons have stories to tell.
-Sherbert McGee
Design-wise, this decidedly "art deco" button delivers all the kicky flair of 1927. An angular mass of dark and shiny Bakelite is set over a carved piece of apple juice Bakelite with bold ripples enclosing the black section like fluid currents. I've stared at this button countless times over the years and though the black top-piece is basically shapeless, it secures a vogue dominion above the lower section's graceful lines—conveying an exemplary token of roaring-twenties punch and zeal.
-Sherbert McGee
