Page 42 - October1997

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Atg A 2,1 422

4-16. This is a difficult button to depict or to describe! Sometimes known as the "lovers' knot"
design, it consists of three heavy strands curving counter-clockwise from the center, out and around to
the base ofthe button. It has not been observed with overlay trim and, with the exception ofone rather
blurry specimen ofblack and green swirled slag, is ofsolid colors-transparent pink, green, opaque yel-
low, opaque dark and light blue, and black.
A-17. On this button of moderately high convexity, six rounded ribs radiate outward, curving
clockwise toward the base. This is known in a button of black and green swirled slag. Also cobalt blue
with white and solid opaque turquoise as shown.
A-18. Here is another type with ribs twisted in a spiral, but it differs in several particulars fiom
A-17. The ribs curve in the opposite direction (counter-clockwise): the ribs are sharply angular rather
than rounded: and, from the side, the shape ofthe button is seen to be a fairly high cone rather than a
rounded dome. The button enjoys the distinction of being consistently the smallest of the plain tips,
never being more than 13132 of an inch in diameter while a few can even be squeezed through the 3/8
inch hole into the category of the diminutives. An opaque white specimen with swirled purple overlay
trim is shown, but the button occurs more frequently as a paperweight: clear crowns over bases ofwhite
and gold, ofwhite and blue, ofwhite and green (shown), and ofmottled red, black, blue and gold on
white.
A-19. Here's a bufton to baffle most efforts to describe or depict. lf, in imagination, the button is
divided into four pie-shaped wedges, then the norlh and south sections are seen to be molded into two
healy horizontal ridges, and the east and west sections into two equally heavy vertical ridges. In the one
example available, however, all this omate shaping goes for nought, being virtually invisible in the but-
ton's dark green glass with no overlay trim to bring out the curves and bulges.
A-20. Buttons ofthis shape, and ofthe following, are birds ofa slightly different feather amid all
the swirlbacks of the Plain Tip group. Being of obviously different manufacture, they are heavier in
appearance, with completely mold-formed backs and their loop shanks of yellow metal set in small
shank plates. This shape, A-20, suggests the lower half of a sphere which has been cut in half, the top
somewhat hollowed out, and a metal tip set in this concave top. It is found in white glass striped ineg-
ularly with black and goldstone, in opaque blue with goldstone stripes, in clear glass with goldstone
striping, and in plain clambroth.
A-21. This shape suggests an acorn with a bashed-in top. The top is concave, the slightly curved
sides almost perpendicular with a raised and fluted imitation rim raised around the base. It has been dis-
covered in clear glass streaked with goldstone, also white (as shown).
A-22. This button resembles A-17 in shape except that the curve ofthe six ribs is not as pro-
nounced. It is chiefly remarkable for the multiple use of plain metal tips. In addition to the customary
one at the center, two ofthese small metal pellets decorate each rib. The one button observed is trans-
oarent cobalt blue.