Page 47 - October1997

Ornament. The upper crust of
Pictorial Ornamen
metal embedded society unque
ety unquestionably consists ofthe
d purely
pictorials. Considered purely as pictures, these little
e no great
brass doodads may be no great shakes, for they merely
represent single objects such as
;ts such as anchors, bees, flowers,
el etc., unaccompanied by anlhi
by anlhing in the way of back-
ground or sefting, but
the distinction of
being even so simply
representational in an
* otherwise starkly con-
ventional field con-
83, E3 E3b E3c firms them in any aris-
tocratic pretensions
which may be claimed
for them.
s h) E-I. The
€ snootiest of the lot
would undoubtedly be
this elaborate floral
E4- E5 EL E7 spray. It is stamped
from a single sheet of
a yellow metal which in some
instances is definitely of a
r? G paler color than the custom-
ary brassy hue. The spray is
ary
laid
laid on low convex buttons
3* Fll some of which are plain
while others are minutely
ribbed. The button is not a swirl back, but shows a perfectly smooth back (except for a unique example
sporting raised dots around the shank) with a small metal plate supporting the shank. The button is
foundintwosizes small(ll/16")andmedium(l-ll16");thelatterrepresentstheonlyknowninstance
of so large a glass button with embedded metal omamentation. The button is found in clambroth, in an
indeterminate dark shade compounded of grey, brown and lavender, and most frequently in a transpar-
ent amber swirled through with dark brown. Buttons ofthis last glass are at first glance almost indis-
tinguishable fiom one of the inlaid hom buttons which are intended to imitate tortoise shell. So clever-
ly are these buttons disguised that they have almost slipped by more than one collector priding himself
or herselfon the possession ofa sharp eye for a rare glass button.
Other buftons with embedded pictorial omaments of metal are of the same type and shape as those
found in the Twisted Wire group, that is, opaque swirlbacks with tops of moderate convexity. Three
designs are familiar both in black glass and in the whitish glass mentioned above. These three pictorial
subjects, plus two or three others as indicated by the National Button Bulletin ofMay, 1 95 1, have been
known to collectors since the early days of organized button collecting. They are:
E-2. An anchor, with a narrow stock and pronounced flukes on wide-spread arms. (Recently
reported is also an 1 l/16" size in tortoise shell gtass.)
E-3. A bee-at least, the heavy stripes on the abdomen lead one to believe that this somewhat
ambiguous bug was intended as a bee! Also found in clear, in transparent green and in clambroth.
E-3-b. A variant bee with wing span on a faceted transparent blue-green glass.
E-3-c. More bees, multiples here, on pale transparent yellow glass.
E-4. The head-a masque of a fox-and it remains something of a mystery why this most common
ofall devices for hunting coat buttons should turn up on a button which certainly never had anlhing to
do with a hunting coat!
E-5. Unusual horse's head on pale transparent yellow.
E-6. An enviable snail on pale blue transparent glass.
E-7. A butterfly on deep green glass.
E-8. Stars on a variegated blue opaque glass.
E-9. Arother design in multiples of 3 shells on a smaller glass button of clambroth.
E-10. Two variants ofthe same six-petaled flower; one in turquoise blue transparent glass; the
other a black glass ball with opaque blue glass knob in center of brasi flower.
E-11. Another exotic: A blue transparent glass ball with metal embedded design resembling
Victorian stylized (Art Nouveau) fern.