Cartoons: buttons

Animated cartoons were an important part of the movie-going experience. Whether as the feature, or as short fillers between motion picture, newsreels and popcorn advertisements, they were wildly popular. The brand-new film animation companies quickly learned-as was the case with radio serials-that characters with ongoing storylines kept the public returning to the theaters for more.
The cartoon industry was the provence of the limited number of companies. Warner Brothers did the Looney Tunes,(see the 10 buttons together above) starring a number of favorite characters , although Bugs Bunny could be called the leader of the pack. Woody Woodpecker had his own following as well. But no other cartoon character has ever had the success of Mickey Mouse, from the Walt Disney Corporation.
from ABOUT BUTTONS BOOK by Peggy Osborne
I have a few cartoon character buttons available in my ecrater button store under the plastic category
@ Pegs Buttons

Fable button The Goose That Laid the Golden Egg

Aesop fable:
A man and his wife owned a very special goose. Every day the goose would lay a golden egg, which made the couple very rich.
"Just think," said the man's wife, "If we could have all the golden eggs that are inside the goose, we could be richer much faster."
"You're right," said her husband, "We wouldn't have to wait for the goose to lay her egg every day."
So, the couple killed the goose and cut her open, only to find that she was just like every other goose. She had no golden eggs inside of her at all, and they had no more golden eggs.
MORAL: TOO MUCH GREED RESULTS IN NOTHING

St. Patrick's Day buttons, fun card

St. Patrick's Day buttons, my fun card with buttons!
Click on image to enlarge.

"Hail Columbia" Button

"Hail, Columbia" was the unofficial national anthem of the United States until its replacement in 1931 by the officially mandated "Star-Spangled Banner". Columbia is a poetic name for the United States in use during the 18th century. The anthem was originally composed by Philip Phile in 1789 for the inauguration of George Washington, titled "The President's March", arranged with lyrics by Joseph Hopkinson in 1798. It was used in the United States as a national anthem for most of the 19th century, but lost popularity after World War 1.
It is now the entrance march, or the official song, for the Vice President of the United States in a similar fashion as "Hail to the Chief" is for the President. When played in honor of the Vice-President, the song is always preceded by four ruffles and flourishes. In addition, the song has been used as a slow march during military ceremonies, often while the band counter-marches. This song is not to be confused with Columbia, the gem of the Ocean.
The button is antique, brass, large size.

Satsuma Buttons (continued

When you mention the word "Satsuma" to a button collector, the word "Japan" also comes to mind. This Japanese faience (glazed pottery),which is noted for its finely crackled underglaze, its cream, yellow-cream, or gray-cream color, and its decoration of raised enamel, is so popular with button and ceramic collectors that the name has become synonymous with Japan.
Much has been written about determining the age of Satsuma buttons by the shank. The oldest buttons have a curved needle shank, next were the slightly raised with the top of the shank unglazed but rounded on the edges. As the years pasted, the shanks got higher and higher and the edges of the shanks became sharper. Many people like to try and determine age by the backmark, but this is not an accurate method as backmarks in Japan, both written and incised, were bought, sold, traded and copied as common practice. In other words, if a buyer found that a line of buttons marked with a certain backmark was popular, he might conceivably go to another maker and order similar buttons at a cheaper price but with the same backmark. Therefore, even though there are valid backmarks, backmarks on these buttons cannot be taken too seriously and for the most part, they cannot be used to determine age or authenticity.

The above 3 buttons are my favorite..ball shaped with birds, the 2 ex large..7 gods, and Satsuma temple.

Satsuma (earthenware pottery) Buttons

Originally made in the province of Satsuma, it was also made (or at least decorated) in Kyoto and Tokyo.
Click on picture to enlarge.

President's Day buttons

George Washington, born Feb. 22, 1732
Abraham Lincoln, born Feb. 12, 1809

Happy Valentines Day buttons

Phaethon mythology button

This is an old identification, although some feel that the title of Apollo would be just as suitable. Phaethon was the son of Apollo by the nymph Clymene. Tormented by the taint of illegitimacy, Phaethon begged his father to let him drive the sun chariot to prove his paternity. However, the youth could not control the plunging horses and lost control of the chariot, letting it come to close to the earth, so that the green fields were scorched and the forests were set ablaze. Zeus was forced to intervene to save earth from destruction. He hurled his thunderbolt at the boy, Phaethon fell to the ground, and the maddened horses plunged into the sea.
SOLD: This handsome brass button is available in my ecrater button store under the METAL category
@ Pegs Buttons

China buttons Bird Cage

What is this shank you call a "bird cage?" you may be asking, "what kind of buttons have them?". Actually the button itself, as well as the shank, is called a bird cage.
The buttons are made of two (in some shapes three) separate pieces. The cap is dish-like with large mouthed opening on the under side. The shank portion (a hollow cone pierced by four slits) fits over the opening like a lid.
The above are not for sale but I just listed several, they are
available in my ecrater button store under the CHINA category
@ Pegs Buttons

China buttons Bull's- Eye 1800's

Button collectors call these bull's-eyes..they are a gaiter button, dome shaped with a metal loop shank and plate.
There are 15 different Bull's-Eye patterns on gaiter buttons.
They are from the late 1800's.
The above are not for sale but I just listed several, they are
available in my ecrater button store under the CHINA category
@ Pegs Buttons

Watch Crystal Buttons 1840-1870

A clear glass unrimmed face disc which may be convex or flat and which may or may not have a beveled edge: it has a wide metal shank-plate fastened to the front disc, with black adhesive material: a pattern (sometimes hit or miss) which must be inserted between the glass disc and the shank plate, never on the observe side of the disc.
These are very fragile buttons..believed to be dated between 1840-1870.
The largest button someone has repaired with a self shank. The transparent blue glass with pearl chips is constructed the same as the others. Click on picture to enlarge.

Madonna and Child and Pensive Cherubs buttons, postcard

Postcard showing Raphael's painting of the Madonna in the Sistine Chapel.
The large button is one piece brass with border of winged cherub heads and stars..the 2 larger pensive cherubs are also brass..those 3 buttons are antique..the 2 small buttons are modern.
Click on picture to enlarge.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Laplander Driving a Reindeer button

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas in my part of Idaho.
Sure thought I spotted Rudolph and Santa!!?
Alas..tis not..upon further investigation the name of this button is "Laplander Driving a Reindeer " antique, brass
Merry Christmas!

Visit of Dr. Stork button

The stork is wearing top-hat, ribboned glasses and carrying cane advances with dignity as the butler announces him.
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from the big book of buttons
"A beautifully detailed button of stamped brass. Children must have recognized these characters instantly in the 1880's but the identity of the story is not known at present."
I did a little research and couldn't find anything about this story..the button is antique and scarce.

Fable button The Ant and the Grasshopper

The Ant and the Grasshopper, also known as The Grasshopper and the Ant or The Grasshopper and the Ants, is a Aesop fable providing a moral lesson about hard work and preparation.
The fable concerns a grasshopper who has spent the warm months singing away while the ant (or ants in some editions) worked to store up food for winter. When winter arrives, the grasshopper finds itself dying of hunger, and upon asking the ant for food is only rebuked for its idleness. The story is used to teach the virtues of hard work and saving, and the perils of improvidence. Some versions of the fable state a moral at the end, along the lines of: "Idleness brings want", "To work today is to eat tomorrow", "Prepare for want before it comes".
There are many versions, here is one.

In a field one summer's day a Grasshopper was hopping about, chirping and singing to its heart's content. An Ant passed by, bearing along with great toil an ear of corn he was taking to the nest.
"Why not come and chat with me," said the Grasshopper, "instead of toiling and moiling in that way?"
"I am helping to lay up food for the winter," said the Ant, "and recommend you to do the same."
"Why bother about winter?" said the Grasshopper; we have got plenty of food at present." But the Ant went on its way and continued its toil. When the winter came the Grasshopper had no food and found itself dying of hunger, while it saw the ants
distributing every day corn and grain from the stores they had collected in the summer. Then the Grasshopper knew:
It is best to prepare for the days of necessity

Turkey buttons Happy Thanksgiving!

Turkey buttons are extremely rare..I only have 3, first is a modern plastic, second is a antique 2 piece brass and last is a Arita porcelain.
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Legend has it that if Ben Franklin had had his way, the turkey would have been our National bird. It seems that on July 4th 1776, the Continental Congress resolved that Dr. Franklin, Mr. Adams and Mr. T. Jefferson form a committee to prepare a device for the seal of the new U.S. of America.
Although Dr. Franklin had strong feelings about the turkey since he was a native bird, his idea was overridden by Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Adams who felt the Americal bald, or white-headed, eagle more nearly symbolized the solidarity they wished to convey in the national seal. After all, the eagle had been used since antiquity as a symbol of strength and freedom. In contrast, the turkey was not known for bravery and was known for its unwillingness to fly - and even then only in short bursts of flight!
The turkey has a strange history. It is a native of the North American continent; however, the Indians were superstitious about the bird and did not hunt it for food. The Spaniards found it in Mexico and took it back to Europe in the 16th Century, where it was domesticated. It became very popular in England, where it was named Turkey-Cock after the Guinea fowl of Islam or Turkey. When the Pilgrims came to Plymouth in 1620, they brought the turkey back to its native land.
Technically, the turkey is of the pheasant family (order of galliformes in the meleagridae gallopavo). The fleshy growth on the front of the throat is a snood or dewbill; the pauch-like area at the front of his throat is a wattle; the small reddish growth of skin at the base of his throat is the carancle. The male of the species is a tom; the female is a hen, and the young turkey is a poult.
And so, even thought the turkey lost his opportunity to become our National emblem, he has become dear to the hearts and stomachs of Americans as the symbol and star of our Thanksgiving feast.
my thanks to the late Freddie Speights for this article published in the N.B.B. 1984

Transportation..to the MOON button

The button and this article are in the National Button Society bulletin May 1946.
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The story of transportation may be said to be the story of civilization. In these modern times the world has become criss-crossed with railroads and steamship lines and motor highways and air routes and man has begun to understand how transportation has enriched human life. Without these facilities as we know them today, there could be little progress.
England had the satisfaction of opening the first railroad over which passengers and freight were carried by a locomotive. The U.S. was not far behind, experimenting in several parts of the country between 1827 and 1838. France developed its system in 1842; Belgium and the Netherlands followed but Germany, Austria and Russia were somewhat behind the Western nations in their railroad development.
The moon in all of its phases, together with the "Man in the Moon" has always been a popular theme in verse, song, story and picture. And it seems that the designers for our buttons must have found it appealing also since the subject was used either alone or in combination with scenic views or other celestial bodies.
This button picturing a locomotive and passenger cars entering the secondary planet, the MOON, with a mere glimpse of EARTH some 237,000 miles away is one piece brass, antique.

Bald Eagle acrylic paint on wood button

Ralph DeCew is a polymer clay artist experienced in creating wonderful reproductions of Kate Greenaway and many other fine picture buttons. His workshop is located in Sterling Heights, MI where he has the encouragement of his wife, Sheri, who is an avid button collector and source of inspiration. Ralph's work is now expanding by intermingling metal and other materials into his polymer clay creations, and he has also begun painting in acrylic on wood. He is an up and coming Studio Artist for 2010. All pieces are signed and dated.

RalphStudioButtons

contact him at rdeq1955@yahoo.com

222 snap-together buttons listed

I now have a separate category for these fun realistic plastic buttons in my ecrater button store, you will find animal life, plant life, transportation, objects, plus more.
look under category SNAP-together buttons.
@ Pegs Buttons

Fashion pins

I have heard these called..tac-back scatter pins, pinch backs, snap-backs, clutch pins, clutchettes, fashion pins and clasp pins. These are whimsical clothing accessories, popular from the 1940's to the 1960's. Click on picture to enlarge.
I have several cards for sale in my ecrater store, look under the category STUFF tac-back pins.
@ Pegs Buttons

Fashion pins back

this is what the back of the pins looks like

Mother Goose Tales BUTTONS

Ceramic buttons with transfer designs of eight of the most beloved Mother Goose Tales. These sets, with four buttons apiece, were made in Japan for American button dealer Lois Calkins. Lois advertised these buttons in the National Button Society booklet..the first ad appears in the March 1955 issue for Hey Diddle Diddle, $1.00 per set. Lois died in 2002.
Here are the 8 sets (click on picture to enlarge) Hey Diddle Diddle, King Cole, Jack & Jill, Humpty Dumpty, Three Little Kittens, Mary Had a Little Lamb, Goose that Laid the Golden Egg, Sing a Song o'Sixpense

CLOWN buttons

Queen Victoria and black glass buttons

Click on picture to enlarge.
Many black glass buttons available in my ecrater store under the black glass category
@ Pegs Buttons

Edelweiss flower buttons

The Edelweiss Flower is found in the Alpine countries of Europe, and is highly prized by mountaineers as a sign of victory over the mountains and its dangers. Many a mountaineer has fallen trying to pluck one from the steep rocks.
These are silver colored metal with a loop shank, size 11/16 and 7/8..both have a GESCH backmark.

Objects you find in button tins what to do with them?

Here is one idea someone had in the late 1800's..the pitcher was decorated using putty..there are buttons, coins, scissors, 2 old teeth, buckles, dolls, keys, thimbles, screws and many other various objects.
I have this pitcher now, the last owner sprayed it with gold paint..it sits on my computer desk on a turn table in a large glass dome..so I can spin it around to see all!
I don't have a camera, only a scanner so can't show you the real thing..but here it is on the cover of Just Buttons magazine.
Click on picture to enlarge.

Aluminum Stencil buttons Salemans sample card

The six buttons on the lower left are not aluminum stencils.
Thank you to BJ Smyers for sharing this vintage card

Aluminum Stencil buttons

Aluminum stencil buttons were made in the 1930's..in many colors and several patterns. The picture shows the patterns you mostly find as the other patterns are scarce.

Hawaii -inspired -buttons

Hawaii became the 50th state in 1959. All things Hawaiian were a great interest and popularity on the mainland, and buttons such as these became available.
Part of the Hawaii craze, 'Gooney birds' became part of the vernacular.
The enameled brass orchid is lovely.

KOKESHI (wooden doll-like) BUTTONS

Button collectors often find small, painted wooden doll-like buttons, but few realize what they are..tiny KOKESHI. Very popular in Japan as household ornaments, Kokeshi there are avidly collected. Always of wood in a stylized, cylindrical body form, Kokeshi have a distinct head, but no limbs (the arms, hands, and legs are not carved, but inferred) and the hair and features are painted without detail to "preserve and further exaggerate the basic simplicity of the piece". NON-button Kokeshi range in size from 1 inch to 24 inches.
If you are lucky enough to find a Kokeshi button, look at it very carefully--a very few lucky collectors have discovered that the head of their little button-doll unscrewed, and within the hollow body were tiny ivory dice.
Info. from "About Buttons Book" by Peggy Ann Obsorne

Happy 4th of July buttons

July 4TH..buttons

Happy 4th..both cards are available in my ecrater store under the mixed materials category
@ Pegs Buttons

SNOOPY and the Peanuts Gang..BUTTONS

Original JHB card, thanks to BJ Smyers for sharing the card.
Click on picture to enlarge.

Snoopy and friends BUTTONS

Charles Monroe Schulz 1922-2000
American cartoonist, whose comic strip PEANUTS is considered to be one of the most popular and influential in the history of the medium.

Here's my fun cards of snoppy and friends!
Oops..how did Mickey Mouse get on the first card?
I have many snoopy and other cartoon character buttons for sale in my button store..look in the plastic category @Pegs Buttons

SMILEY FACE BUTTONS

These should make you SMILE!
My fun card..few are metal with most being plastic.

SHELL BUTTONS

This is a card I entered in a button show several years ago..Award read, SHELL specialized to painted or encrusted, gilded, cut steels, watch wheel, Colonial pearl and backgrounds. Hope you can see the picture as these are lovely buttons. (click to enlarge)

FRENCH FOP BUTTONS

The fop was a stock character in English literature and especially comic drama, as well as satirical prints. He is a "man of fashion" who overdresses, aspires to wit, and generally puts on airs, which may include aspiring to a higher social station than others think he has. He may be somewhat effeminate, although this rarely affects his pursuit of an heiress. He may also overdo being fashionably French by wearing French clothes and using French vocabulary.

The buttons on this card are antique, all are metal.

TINTYPE BUTTONS

Tintypes, more properly called ferrotypes, were quite popular in the period from 1850's through the early 1900's. The introduction of this method of photography was a great step forward in producing multiple permanent images. This was done by projecting a positive image on a thin plate of japanned iron which had been coated with a collodion emulsion. The process was inexpensive.
For use on buttons, the same image was reproduced many times, close together, on one sheet. The pictures were cut out with a circular chisel to make button disks.
Tintypes buttons are almost all small brass-rimmed men's waistcoat (vest) buttons; the far-fewer larger ones were worn on women's dresses.
It is said men going to war wore small-size buttons on their vests with pictures of their mothers, children, wives, or sweethearts. Many tintypes are pictures of Royal, military and political leaders and other famous people.
The only one on my card that I know of is the top button..Actress Adah Isaccs Menken (1835-1868), whose main claim to fame was from her stage role in MUZEPPA and her scandalous exit from the stage--riding, in a nude-colored body stocking, strapped to the back of a galloping horse. It brought down the house at theatres worldwide.
CLICK on picture to enlarge.
Interesting hats, hair styles and clothing!

LIP buttons

From my personal collection..materials: bakelite, metal, rubber, celluloid, plastic, fabric, the purple button is poly-clay and those are REAL teeth. FUN CARD!
I do have a small group of lip buttons for sale under the Mixed Materials category @Pegs Buttons

PINEAPPLE buttons

From my personal collection, materials are plastic, celluloid, bakelite, pearl, metal, coconut shell, vegetable ivory and glass. FUN CARD!!

ART STYLE: Swedish-Modern (1957-1968) button

Swedish-Modern was primarily a decorative-arts style--only to a much smaller degree a fine-arts style...which is associated with Swedish furniture design. It epitomized minimalistic sophistication, and for several years the entire home-decor industry was under its influence. Various graphic arts were also widely involved.
Representational art from this period was drawn in a simple, clean-lined, almost child-like manner and color was kept to a minimum. But whether a conventional design, or pictorial theme, the look was rather stark.
During the late 1950's and early 60's, when the influence of this style monopolized the decorative arts, buttons were not in fashion and manufacturers produced few of interest. Nevertheless, a dedicated collector will be able to find buttons from this era that reflect the Swedish-Modern style.
THE BUTTON: A modernistic button design of aluminum
Above information is from the About Buttons book by Peggy Ann Osborne

ART STYLE: Archaeological (pseudo-etruscan, assyrian (1850-1880)button

Archaeologically-styled decorative-arts products were made to copy the look of Etruscan and Hellenic jewelry from the 7th to 3rd centuries B.C. Sun signs, animal heads, wreathes, and broad, flat leaves were among the usual motifs.
In ancient times, the goldsmiths of Etruria (now western Tuscany, Italy) were greatly admired for their technical mastery and artistry in gold-work, especially the technique known as granulation--the affixing of decorative trim made up of tiny gold beads to a gold surface.
The archaeological digs of the early nineteenth century yielded examples of this work, which had until then never been seen by modern metalsmiths. The gold-granulation decorative process had been lost, but Roman dealer and jeweler Fortunato Castellani sought to revive the styles, motifs, and artistry of such pieces. He did indeed discover the long-lost methods, and his copies became world-famous, the definitive modern reproductions of this ancient technique; the process is now often just referred to as 'Castellani-style'.
THE BUTTON: The steel-bodied button has an Etruscan escutcheon over a wooden background, although the center motif is Neo-Classic style. There are also a few important additions typical of the Etruscan style: the balls at the base of each radiating brass strip, this particular leaf shape, and the zip-zag pattern on the flat brass strips.
Above information is from the About Buttons book by Peggy Ann Osborne

ART STYLE: Surrealism (1922-1955) button

Surrealism is an elemental art style, derived from Cubism but relying on fantasy, including the absurd, the incongruous, the weird, and occasionally the morbid. It never had the impact on the decorative arts that its fame since would imply. Surrealism was almost entirely limited to the most radical element of the fine arts community; thus buttons with motifs that can be called Surreal are very rarely found.
Surrealism was as much an exercise of intellectual freedom as it was a fine art. Its philosophical leaders, such as Germany's Max Ernst and Spain's Salvador Dali and Pablo Picasso, intended it to be free of every normal aesthetic and moral limitation.
"The object was to free artists from all accepted means of expression, so that they might create according to the irrational dictates of their subconscious mind and vision."
It is difficult to fit Picasso into any one style of art because of his forays into many styles, including Expressionism and Cubism as well as Surrealism, but there are buttons that very closely resemble his work.

The above BUTTON: One of the themes common to Surrealistic art was the disembodied hand. Unlike the hand images prevalent in the Victorian era, the Surrealistic hand was mystical, quite unconnected to even an unseen body, and vaguely disconcerting or threatening. This small West German glass button with stylized hands was made during the mid-1950's
Surrealism information is from the About Buttons book by Peggy Ann Osborne

ART STYLE: Art Deco..buttons

Art Deco was a popular international art design movement from 1925 until the 1940s, affecting the decorative arts such as architecture, interior design and industrial design, as well as the visual arts such as fashion, painting, the graphic arts and film. At the time, this style was seen as elegant, glamorous, functional and modern.
The movement was a mixture of many different styles and movements of the early 20th century, including Neoclassical, Constructivism, Cubism, Modernism, Art Nouveau, and Futurism. Its popularity peaked in Europe during the Roaring Twenties and continued strongly in the United States through the 1930s. Although many design movements have political or philosophical roots or intentions, Art Deco was purely decorative.
Art Deco experienced a decline in popularity during the late '30s and early '40s, but experienced a resurgence with the popularization of graphic design in the 1980s. Art Deco had a profound influence on many later artistic movements, such as Memphis and Pop art.
Surviving examples may still be seen in many different locations worldwide, in countries as diverse as China (Shanghai), United Kingdom, Spain, Cuba, Indonesia, the Philippines, Argentina, Romania, Australia, New Zealand, India, Brazil and the United States (primarily in Miami, Los Angeles and New York City). Many classic examples still exist in the form of architecture in many major cities. The Empire State Building and Chrysler Building, both in New York City, are two of the largest and best-known examples of the style.

I have MANY art deco buttons available@Pegs Buttons