Owl get it! Before & after. 08/19/2010
  Before & after a lot of scrubbing with steel wool & brass cleaner.      The Gibson girl was a feminine ideal of the Art Nouveau period created by illustrator Charles Gibson. She was an early standard of beauty, youth & fashion and often portrayed with her hair piled atop her head in order to accent a graceful neck. This card of Parisian buttons was a great find, though they look as if they were attacked by someone who was a bit too heavy handed with the patina. The bottom pictures show a few after they were cleaned. Vibrant. 06/19/2010
 I vended at the Cupertino Cherry Blossom festival in April. There was a lady there who was telling her friend that there was no way that the buttons I use were Victorian. Pardon? The colors were too bright she said. Yes, well that's because I try to purchase as many unused cards of buttons as I can afford. Just because the photos from that era are black & white, doesn't mean that their clothing was too.  Before and after. 04/06/2010
    I found a very nice lot of hidden gems. These are mother-of-pearl with cut steel escutcheons and brass with cut steel facets & escutcheons. The gems were hidden under a lot of rust, but after several hours of scrubbing with a bit of elbow grease, metal polish, steel wool & dish soap, the majority were salvageable.   Mr Shiney Sun. 05/20/2009
 Antique Victorian buttons with sun faces, made in Paris, France.  Cut steel buttons from Paris. 05/18/2009
  These were a great find! Cut steel buttons were at the height of men's fashions in the mid 1700's for adding additional brilliance to wealthy gents clothing. Cut steel buttons made a resurgence in the mid 1800's for well-to-do ladies wear, and are highly collectible today. Made in Paris. 01/31/2009
 I live for this! Fresh, new, old stock antique buttons that are still on the card. Never used, many of these still have their original vibrant tint and need little or no cleaning. I've been lucky enough to find a button seller that has many different types of antique buttons in sets. 
 Marked on the backs of the cards is the price for these 100 years ago, most sold for .07-.20 cents a piece. With so many different cards & types of buttons, I'm starting to feel like a haberdasher. Antique French equestrian buttons. 01/04/2009
 Yesterday these great French sporting buttons arrived from St. Alban, France. The seller wrapped them in French postcards from Les Karellis, Savoie and Toulon, so I was able to have a small virtual trip as well.These buttons are all equestrian themed. These were originally parts of sets of buttons that adorned the coats of ladies or gentlemen that belonged to exclusive hunting and riding clubs. Giddy up! | ArchivesAugust 2010 CategoriesAll |
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