Beglittered & Bejeweled

BEGLITTERED: Perhaps the most eye-catching of all Bakelite buttons are the ones infused with a New Year's Eve party. Here are two of those buttons and they are not to be missed. Nor could you miss them since they are impossible to not see. Flooded in gobs of glitter, these oblong wowzers are ovular with capped ends. Everything is Bakelite. The bulk of these babies is apple juice Bakelite. The more highly pictured button is blessed with burgundy bumpers (Bakelite), while the lower button is decorated with curvaceous side-panels in a rare shade of dark blue-green teal (also Bakelite). When Bakelite swallows glitter, the result is a champagne blowout: Ritzy. Excessive. Jubilant.

BEJEWELED: While glitter is fun, perhaps diamonds are where that fun turns luxurious. Here we have three sensational ball buttons made of apple juice Bakelite, and these roly-poly beauties are not merely fun. They are downright extravagant. Measuring just under one inch across, they're chunky orbs with more rhinestones riding their hides than I care to count. The sun took a literal shine to these fancy globes; and would you look at the firelight caught in all three of their shadows. The antique dealer who sold me these buttons claimed to have purchased them from the estate of Lizabeth Scott—a smoky-voiced actress most known for her film noir pictures of the 1940's. 

BEGLITTERED and BEJEWELED: Today's post ends with a bling instead of bang; and here's a grand finale that refuses to be ignored. There are two buttons here: a gigantic belt-buckle sized showstopper made of orange juice Bakelite that was studded with twenty rhinestones, and a smaller button made of apple juice Bakelite with two inlaid black Bakelite circles set in just the right position to make the buttonholes look like googly eyes. What more, this button was glittered with a golden hailstorm decorating its translucent interior. Normally I wouldn't set one button on top of the other for a blog photo, but that massive slab of orange Bakelite was just begging to be treated like a stage. And that's showbiz!

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BUTTONS FROM THE ATTIC

-Sherbert MCGee   

Blue & Bejeweled

Imagine my surprise when I first saw this glorious blue Bakelite button. Aside from the rarity of blue Bakelite, this enigmatic vision also presents a silvery piece of mother-of-pearl that's been etched with a spiral design. A difficult button to photograph, I added some extra light to really bring out the Prystal glow of this major curiosity. Isn't it magical? Like the shimmery greenish blue of a Caribbean sea, this button's extraordinary color reminds me of a bright, royal blue cocktail. Drink up!

-Sherbert McGee

ART NOUVEAU: Pheasants

The ever-coveted Bakelite "peacock button" of 1922 is actually a misnomer since the birds are not peacocks, but two rather striking pheasants. An essential prize for the collector of Bakelite or any relic related to the Art Nouveau style, this fancy button pops up here and there in antique books about the fashionable baubles that came into existence during the interwar years. A throwback to the Gay Nineties, the brass birds are pinned around a deeply gleaming and purplish egg. As if sharing the duties of hatching the jewel, the gilded fowl face each other in a frilly nest of plentiful ornamentation—virtually caged in a wreath of ropy spirals. Notice that the chocolate Bakelite is notched around the border, bringing an extra round of flamboyance to this very hoity-toity button.

-Sherbert McGee

ART NOUVEAU: Flowered

This week I'm posting Art Nouveau buttons, which celebrate a type of artistry that was in vogue during the last decade of the 19th Century through WWI. Many, if not all of the Art Nouveau buttons I'm posting this week, reflect the flair of the Gay Nineties, a nostalgic term referring to the elaborate looks and trends that came out of the 1890's. This button was probably made in the 1920's or early 1930's, but it fully emits the frills and flourishes that are very much a part of the Art Nouveau/Gay Nineties style. At the top of this amazing button, five metal flowers embrace an exciting blue stone that's flecked with bits of silvery white—practically a mosaic of colors. Most important to my eye, this button's main design is set on Black Bakelite with a carved border to give the appearance of petals.

Visit Doreen's online store:
BUTTONS FROM THE ATTIC 

-Sherbert McGee

ART NOUVEAU: Gladiator

One of the truly most powerful buttons in my collection, this major hunk of thunder looks like something out of Greek mythology—maybe even a replica of the shield Perseus used to defend himself against Medusa. I'm posting Art Nouveau buttons this week and this mighty specimen is one of the most outrageous. Eclipsing the Bakelite, a brass escutcheon has erupted in swarthy blisters surrounding a jaundiced bead. Notice the detail in the metal, and the crown-like prongs encircling the pale stone. There might not be a more manly button in all the land with its warlike fortitude and rugged emanations. I look at this button and I see Vikings and pirates and Scottish battalions. I love anything that's as beautiful as it is hideous and this button hangs evenly within that contradiction. 

Visit Doreen's online store:
BUTTONS FROM THE ATTIC

-Sherbert McGee