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
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.
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BUTTONS FROM THE ATTIC
-Sherbert McGee
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.
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BUTTONS FROM THE ATTIC
-Sherbert McGee
All this year I've been gearing up for a special week of Art Nouveau buttons—and so begins this very ornate and distinctive week. I think it's fitting to post these buttons during the days before Christmas. Each button exudes the qualities of an olden-day gift and a work of art. This one, for example, perfectly illustrates the Art Nouveau style with its graceful tendrils, leafy bouquet and a speckled stone as pretty as an Easter egg. The pink oval rests under a brass frond that gives the button a regal quality, as if the work was tailor made for a queen. Also, I can't put my finger on it, but something about this button reminds me of Alice in Wonderland, written by Lewis Carroll in 1865. It's almost as if there's a story hiding in the foliage of this luxuriant formation. Least noticeable is the fact that this button's frilly decorations rest on a piece of chocolate brown Bakelite. As will be the case with every button I post this week, the Bakelite falls to the background of metalwork and usually also a delicious bead or jewel. A triumph of vintage fashion, if this exceedingly lavish button isn't over 100 years old, I reckon it was made in the early nineteen-twenties.
-Sherbert McGee
