Brass Lily Pads

Here's a special button that must've looked glorious once upon a time on a fur coat back in the early 1920's. The background is a plain black slab of triangular Bakelite with rounded edges. Much more visually striking is the eyeful of brass lily pads, pinned twice to the Bakelite and emanating the famous Art Nouveau style. Adding to the dimensional quality of the brass, the leaves are curled upwards for a lifelike effect. It amazes me that such meticulous craftsmanship went into olden-day buttons. A major fashion relic, this elegant piece is a hard-to-find work of art.

-Sherbert McGee