Antique button dating

While digging for military buttons for our upcoming opera production I wanted to share these beauties I found in the same basket - this place always has pretty old stuff so it's a treat to go there!
The red button (22 x 6mm) is hollow tin like metal, I thought 1930's? though I can see an art neauveau style to the flower.
The hammered effect metallic bronze button is glass 30 x 5mm- I can totally see this on a 50's/60's evening swing coat as a statement button - but I wondered due to the choice of pattern if it weren't earlier - thinking of the arts & crafts hammered metal art here, unless there was a revival later?
The last is clearly the oldest but how old? Victorian? earlier? quite a milky white I'm not sure if it is glass or porcelain, the back doesn't have the markings my other glass buttons do - such as faint circular lines or mould marks. Instead it is slightly crazed and has chipped a little around the brass? shank. I imagine this was not an easy shape to make - it is a deep dish with a conical center like a mushroom. The edges are gilded and the hand painted decoration has also been highlighted with gilt. Where this has worn off on the three places it is slightly bluey/grey underneath - I don't know if this tells you anything about what was in the gold paint. The 'beading' around the tricorn shape is moulded.
I'd love to hear if you've seen anything like these on garments and how old you think they are. Also -Amanda is there any chance you could show these to Matthew for his opinion please?

 

These are so fabulous Melanie. Bumping for you.

 

With any luck, perhaps Amanda will see this, and relay to the button fellow.

I consider buttons currency!

 

Will do!

 

Thanks Laura

Me too! Maybe we should incorporate that for the next yard sale

I have been looking more at porcelain buttons on etsy and it does resemble a lot of them, but then I come across some where I don't think the seller knows the difference between glass and porcelain either... I did find another English porcelain button dated c.1900 from on of my favourite button sellers (TheLadyAtSkiers) that has very similar hand painted roses:

Interesting that you think the red metal button is earlier too - is that a hunch or is there some reasoning you can share?
I have to say, I've never seen glass buttons from the 80's - only metal or plastic - but then I can't say I've handled any high end 80's vintage. Knowing the price of modern glass buttons (I work for a Haberdashery) it would have to be fairly high end to support the cost.

Thanks Amanda

I have also been researching some glass ball waistcoat buttons I got from the same shop a while ago, I was intending to use them until I discovered they were antique! I have a set of 6 dark green with a gold foil stripe (with clips) and a set 3 cranberry with a white swirl. The prices between selling them seperately and in sets varies wildly but I gather sets are rare and that czech or venetian glass buttons more desireable - my query is do I sell these per button or together, and how do you know if a button is czech/venetian when you didn't get them from that country yourself? All I can go on at the moment is that they resemble the waistcoat buttons being sold by a Czech glass seller on etsy. I have no idea what makes some venetian.

 

I can't help with dating your lovely buttons, Melanie (looking forward to what Amanda's friend Matthew says) nor can I help with your sell individually or as a set decision but... I'd love to see pics of the buttons you describe above!

I agree that we should move away from the gold standard to a button-based currency... Wouldn't that be grand?

 

I was practising my macro photography today, I'm pretty chuffed with these shots, though slight overexposure blurred the outside edges somewhat: these buttons are 12mm

 

Gorgeous, especially those green ones! Your pictures are great, Melanie--you're a fast learner for sure.

The green ones make me think more of Venetian glass beads than of the Czech glass stuff I've seen, but hopefully someone who knows their beads better than me will come along. (You might try PMing Laura...)

I personally wouldn't break those up... what a find for someone who needs a colored set for a green waistcoat like the doublebreasted one I'm attaching a pic of (and which I believe is early 1900s)...

 

Thanks for showing that Carrie! I haven't see a waistcoat of that age so was finding it hard to imagine what they'd look like on the garment. Are all those functioning button holes then? (incidentally, are there 8 buttonholes there? or just the 7)

No I don't want to break them up either, but the proper button sellers I'm looking at sell them individually (as collecter's buttons?) and they appear to sell for a lot more that way, bizarrely.

 

I don't remember... The vest is at my shop, where I won't be till Wednesday, but I'll take a look then and report back!

 

Ta

I'll keep going while I'm on a roll; here are some antique (Edwardian?) buttons I've always thought resemble Lego!: I don't know what the coloured materials are - the centre really is just like clear plastic (but isn't it too early?), the background is hard and finely grooved like grosgrain. It's a mixed lot of green and amber versions.

 

I so love buttons. Little works of Art. I have tons.
Those are really lovely Melanie.

 

I love all the buttons. Matthew did write back and I somehow never saw his answer - so here it is the second time around -

The "hammered" black glass is hard to date without seeing the back. If it has a glass shank that is sort of wedge-shaped, it is modern (the 50's/60's date would be right).

On the red metal, I would guess 30's and Czech.

The white glass one is probably the most interesting -- if the brass shank she mentions is a four-way box, it could be Edwardian up through the early 20s. If it's a brass plate and loop, it might be a tiny bit earlier. People do collect those. It's a pretty one, and looks to be a decent size, though it also looks to be in slightly "tired" condition.

 

Thanks Amanda! That's brilliant to have confirmation. The black glass does have a 'pinched' wedge shank, and the white button a four way box brass shank - good to know it's glass too. I would love to know what sort of garment would have such audatious buttons on that late - perhaps something for the older lady with the retro victorian style?

 

Another group of button goodies I found, I bought these some time ago from the same area. I'd particularly like to know the age/origin of the military/uniform style button - it's hollow, leather with a metal rim (used to be painted dark brown) stamped with a Swan? on some rope? It has a coarse twill wool or cotton sew through 'shank' which leads me to think it's earlier and the beige flower button which I don't recognise from any era - appears to be 40's-60's style plastic (has that cloudy silt under water look) The diamond shaped one is interesting too - I've had this shape on a CC41 blouse in glass before, but this is laminated plastics - a mix of cloudy, solid and shiny streaked plastics.

 

really? I thought the beak was too long. That does explain why the wings are outstretched however...

 

I like Heraldic. Everytime I look at this I see a medieval stuffed swan however....