1,000 Days of Buttons!

This fabled mustang is one of the Holy Grails of Bakelite buttons. Once upon a time, my hunt for this button could not be tamed. For many years I searched for it until this one finally found its way into the stable of my safekeeping. A fantastic example of old-time plastic, this sought-after superstar has been featured in books on Art Deco and Bakelite. For me it epitomizes the ostentatious world of the 1920's and 1930's like no other button. A butterscotch horse profile resting in a rootbeer dish, it's got loads of style, scads of charm, a beautifully buttery color and that special Bakelite panache that is indescribable. The art deco horse head: Legendary! And on that note, here's to the end of an era. Consider this debonair horse a last hurrah and a grand finale. This button concludes my blog.

Since 2015 I have I enjoyed this hobby of photographing buttons and uploading them for the world to see. While I would love to keep going, the time has come for me to pursue other projects. Today marks my 1,000th post and I'm ready to move on. A special thank you to my good friend Doreen for being my #1 button supplier and co-adventurer in the pursuit of vintage buttons. Thank you also to the staff of River Market Antiques in Kansas City, and to the National Button Society. It would be remiss of me not to express my gratitude to Leo Baekeland, the chemist who invented Bakelite in 1907 at his laboratory in Yonkers, New York. Last of all, thank you to all who have followed my blog over the years. For better or worse, I leave it now to the unknown fate of the internet. 

Visit Doreen's online store:

BUTTONS FROM THE ATTIC

And that's a wrap!
-Sherbert McGee 

Plants and Animals

Look at some of the finest Bakelite button collections, including illustrated books of the subject, and surely you will discover some of the rarest and most highly sought-after buttons, which were made in the shapes of plants and animals. This pair of buttons comes from the extraordinary button shop of my friend, Doreen. At right, a bundle of leaves (or perhaps a posey) makes for a fetching button carved out of red Bakelite. At left, a button made of creamed corn Bakelite is shaped like a single bud above a stem and two leaves. These fine and flowery old buttons go back to the 1930's.

Animal buttons are among the hardest Bakelite buttons to find; and they are by far the most costly. Over the years, on this blog, I've highlighted an elephant, a horse, a turtle, a couple of birds, several sea creatures and even a bright orange butterfly. Today I'm unveiling two more animal buttons and here they are: a green Bakelite coyote with a glass eye and a swordfish sculpted out of rootbeer Bakelite with a painted eye. Be sure to look at the chiseled, rough-hewn texture on the wild dog. I forked out a pretty penny on these Bakelite beasts and I'm happy to house them in my vintage zoo.

Nature obviously inspired a lot of these old buttons and here's two more of them in the shapes of a spotted bug and a lovely acorn. What exactly is this insect we are looking at? Is it an exotic beetle or maybe a termite? I'm not a fan of vermin-shaped buttons, but this one doesn't creep me out too much. It's made of clear and glimmering apple juice Bakelite. The acorn is made of creamed corn Bakelite and displays the variability of this olden-day plastic with a smooth area and a lumpy crown. That's all for today. Thank you for looking at some of my all-time favorite biological specimens.

Visit Doreen's online store:

BUTTONS FROM THE ATTIC 

-Sherbert McGee

Geometric Bakelite

Truly a work of art, this large square is a Bakelite coat button that goes back to the 1930's. Made out of three colors, the Bakelite pieces are interlocking strips of rootbeer and butterscotch with a chocolate-brown center. The button exhibits a bold portrayal of the art deco style, which came into prominence between the world wars and which has come to represent an aesthetic stamp of 20th Century progress and power. The geometric formation of this studious button is drop-dead dashing!

Another display of rootbeer Bakelite, these heavy buttons are no ordinary set. Chunky & charming, each features a centerpiece made of swirled butterscotch Bakelite. The buttons resemble sharp cubes with smooth corners and a polished suavity that easily goes back to the 1920's. There's also a collegiate air coming off of these preppy twins and I can't help but wonder if they once adorned the sweater of a trendy egghead, circa 1929. Naturally, I'm naming these buttons Harvard and Yale. 

-Sherbert McGee

Bakelite+Wood: Jackpot!

After many years of collecting Bakelite buttons, I've accumulated a slew of them that were made with wooden bits. They are most unusual in that these two materials couldn't be more dissimilar. Bakelite is a type of plastic made of synthetic elements. Obviously man-made, it is a thermosetting phenol formaldehyde resin. And wood is wood. Put them together and the result is a peculiar combo of the organic and the inorganic. Nature meets plastic. And just look at this vivid variety of Bakelite buttons produced with lumber components. The big button at the center depicts an art deco design. Beneath it, the eye-shaped button is made of apple juice Bakelite over wood. The two pieces are ridged where they connect at the center—giving the button a striped texture. The topmost button pictured here is made with a wood base and then two tones of red Bakelite, which are clearly visible with a pinkish red sandwiched under a maroon layer. What else can be said of these quirky half-breeds? When timber and Bakelite get married, they indeed bear some fascinating children. 

This pair of buttons has been in my collection for approximately one hour. I purchased these buttons earlier this week from my friend Doreen and they literally just showed up in my mailbox. Not too long ago, my collection of Bakelite/wood buttons seemed complete. But when I saw these two buttons in Doreen's shop, I had to snatch them up on account of their unique style. I don't find buttons like this very often with the Bakelite framing the wood—and with such excellent precision. The round button shown here was carved with a dramatic set of lines that run seamlessly over the circular midsection of wood as well as the apple juice Bakelite. The square button was built similarly, but the wooden area runs smooth with all the carved details whittled into the black, Bakelite border. Bakelite buttons are peculiar enough by themselves, but get some wood involved and they become truly eccentric.

Visit Doreen's online store:

BUTTONS FROM THE ATTIC 

-Sherbert McGee

Rootbeer and AJ Flower

Flower buttons were a common design in the age of Bakelite fashion baubles; and this might be the prettiest one I've seen. Sensationally carved, the base of six petals is made of apple juice Bakelite with etched details alternating from minimal to maximal. Fixed above it, a separate piece of rootbeer Bakelite exhibits another set of carved petals. The tiered contour of this button makes it extremely chunky and perhaps more decorative than functional. It is a vision of unusual beauty, likely going back to the 1930's—if not a decade earlier. I rarely find buttons half as elegant and grand.

Visit Doreen's online store:

BUTTONS FROM THE ATTIC

-Sherbert McGee