Category: 1800s

Wedding dresses weren't always white.

6/2/2020

These brite cut buttons with brass birds were used on a wedding dress in 1886. White wedding dresses became popular in 1840 after Queen Victoria married Prince Albert. Before that, wedding dresses came in many colors.
During the Middle Ages & Renaissance, colors had symbolic meanings and wedding dresses were made in a range of colors. Blue was a popular choice as it represented chastity but brides also choose colors like green, red & yellow.

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Antique beaded buttons.

5/24/2020

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Multicolored seed beads crocheted into buttons.

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3D fish head

5/7/2020

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3D fish head button on steel back with cut steel rivet eyes.

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Monster headed snakes

2/5/2020

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If artist Hieromymous Bosch designed antique French buttons, I imagine they’d look like worms with heads & snakes. My reference book says these are Seps, snake-like mythological creatures with the heads of other animals. What do you see? I see a rabbit, dog & cat heads.

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New/old buttons. Unused on original Victorian card.

12/17/2018

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Tiny butterflies among roses.

3D pansy buttons.

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Antique buttons with grapes.

11/27/2018

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Grapes were a popular theme among Victorian buttons. Grapes often represented Christ the with fruit & leaves symbolizing the Christian faith. Grapes themselves represented the sacrificial blood of Christ. The leaves stood for rebirth. The vines a representation of bounty.
Grapes are one of the earliest cultivated crops & the fruit & their vines are sacred to Bacchus, the Roman god of wine. As such, these vines take on a jovial symbolism, representing celebration & abundance.
These are just a few examples of antique buttons with a grape motif.

A Bacchante or Maenad, female followers Bacchus, the god of wine.

Carved mother-of-pearl over abalone.

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Antique blue buttons

11/25/2018

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Black glass with silver & blue luster.

China buttons.

Metal buttons.

Cattail design with interior twinkle rim.

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Before & After

9/28/2018

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Decades of grime hid the gold luster on these unused Victorian black glass buttons.

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Storybook button, birds with umbrellas.

5/28/2018

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These storybook buttons feature a character "Mr. Rook." The design was a based on a story, "The Ballad of Mr. Rook," written by George Wyndham, chief secretary of Ireland, & illustrated by his wife Madeline, to entertain their ill son.

The story was published in 1901 in verse form, about a company of rooks (birds smaller than crows) who gather in Clouds, Mr Wyndham's family neighborhood. There the birds find a safe place to nest & a kind lady to feed them. The bird with the umbrella is based on an illustration from the story, because even delicate Victorian birds need not get wet.