Describing 60's buttons and a big thank you to Circa Vintage!

Robin of Frocksley

Robin of Frocksley

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These buttons came off of a wonderful fake Persian Lamb coat with tags from the 60's that I bought only to discover that it was shedding "devil dust". Thanks to Nicole (Circa Vintage) and her wonderfully informative blog, I was able to identify the nasty stuff. I was so sad to trash the coat, but I did manage to save the buttons. They are plastic, the plastic is molded like little balls or bubbles, and studded with rhinestones. No idea how to best describe them. Thanks!
button5.jpg IMG_20150203_114532_376.jpg IMG_20150203_115628_542.jpg IMG_20150203_114922_320.jpg button1.jpg
 
Lovely buttons Robin: like blackberries. Sorry to hear the coat was trashed: any chance perhaps the deteriorating lining could be removed or was it bonded? It's so sad when you have to throw something out but devil dust is awful stuff.
 
It was the outer shell (not the lining) that was shedding.. Thanks again for your great blog, I would have been really confused as well as grossed out. It was great to be able to identify the ick:)
 
Here's my blog post on devil dust if anyone would like to read it.

I'm very curious about what causes the degradation of the early synthetic materials and if a solution has been found. A bit of googling suggested that it usually affects Gutta percha Polyurethane foam, so that must be the material that's used as a lining, padding and bonding.

I found this page which includes the following:

Polyurethane foam
Deterioration: Oxidation causes discolouration and loss of strength. The result can be catastrophic loss of structure leading to collapse.


Storage guidelines: Temperature 20 degrees centigrade RH at the low end of 20 - 30%. Ideally oxygen free, using products such as oxygen scavengers. Store with future display requirements in mind.

Which could explain why it's so common in Australia, where temperatures generally exceed those listed above.

Devil dust isn't limited to foam materials though.
 
Last edited:
Circa Vintage said:
Here's my blog post on devil dust if anyone would like to read it.

I'm very curious about what causes the degradation of the early synthetic materials and if a solution has been found. A bit of googling suggested that it usually affects Gutta percha Polyurethane foam, so that must be the material that's used as a lining, padding and bonding.

I found this page which includes the following:

Polyurethane foam
Deterioration: Oxidation causes discolouration and loss of strength. The result can be catastrophic loss of structure leading to collapse.


Storage guidelines: Temperature 20 degrees centigrade RH at the low end of 20 - 30%. Ideally oxygen free, using products such as oxygen scavengers. Store with future display requirements in mind.

Which could explain why it's so common in Australia, where temperatures generally exceed those listed above.

Devil dust isn't limited to foam materials though.
Click to expand...

Fascinating stuff! I wonder if the fake fur was backed with some sort of poly foam. The lining was a beautiful black silk satin, so it must have been the synthetic fur. I also would really love to hear of any solution, being a sucker for some awesome 60's synthetics:)
 
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