I THINK MANY OF US MAY OVERLOOK but-
tons for fabricated jewelry making, because
we remember the musty button-fi lled jars
our great-grandmothers saved. Ever-jubilant
Czech glass buttons are the exception, and
these beauties are plentiful. Go online and
you’ll fi nd lots of them in iridescent colors
and patterns for about $5 a piece. You may
also come across vintage Bakelite, celluloid,
and plastic buttons. But some of these post
health hazards or may degrade over time.
Then there are the luxury antique buttons
that Bruce Beck sells. These miniature
treasures were fi rst produced some 330
years ago for the wealthy. Created in
meticulous detail on steel, porcelain, shell,
and other materials, they were “the jewels of
garments,” Beck says.
“Buttons have been made since prehistoric
times. But in the late 1600s and early 1700s,
they started to become very opulent, and
that continued for several hundred years.”
Today, these functional jewels and their later
off spring are coveted by collectors.
Beck, himself, says he has been collecting
and selling high-end buttons his entire life,
inheriting his passion from his grandparents,
Viviane and George Ertell. The couple, who
were antiques experts in the United States
and France, acquired their fi rst button
collection in 1939 and eventually passed their
inventory on to Beck and his late wife, Jane
Beck. Owner of The Button Box, Beck also isdirector of 18th-20th century decorative arts
at Whitley’s Auctioneers in Florida, and is
constantly traveling.
When I run into Beck at a bead show, he has
cards full of colorful buttons displayed neatly
on a table in front of him. The ones that my
grab my attention are pictorials — decorated
with images rather than patterns. One card
displays colorful portraits of Greek gods,
and were made in France on porcelain, Beck
says. Another pictorial example is a collection
of 12 buttons that illustrate the storming of
the Bastille, he says. They are done as tiny
paintings covered by glass.
“It’s like Dan Rather painting the event
rather than describing it on the news,”
Beck says.
Pretty quickly, I’m attracted to a colorful
hand-painted swan on crackle glazed china
touched with gold. Beck explains that it is
from the 1930s and was made in the Satsuma
pottery region of southern Japan. Composed
of earthenware, these buttons were fi rst
created in 1860 for the Paris Exhibition, and
were designed for export, probably as a way
to promote the Japanese pottery industry
and culture. Pictorial scenes included por-
traits of Japanese people, temples and motifs
from nature, among other subjects. Although
the swan is $95, I eventually go back to his
booth and buy it with the idea of setting it as
a cabochon in sterling silver.
Most high-end buttons are now producedBruce Beck at a show in Milwaukee.
PHOTO: BETSY LEHNDORFFNew Respect for Old Gems
By Betsy Lehndorffby artisans, not by manufacturers, Beck says.
One of them, Japanese artist Shiho
Murota, continues the tradition of painting
breathtaking Satsuma buttons by hand.
Google her name to fi nd her work. He also
mentions designer Elizabeth Locke, who for
a while set Satsuma buttons in 19K gold for a
neo-classical feel. She sells her work through
Neiman Marcus.
An internet search yields up Susan
and Donny Davis, who own https://www
.grandmothersbuttons.com. They and their
staff operate two stores in Louisiana and
appear to sell antique and vintage buttons
in base-metal settings. But that’s about it.
The fi eld is wide open and ready for your
own designs.Porcelain transferware buttons are decorated with the heads of Greek gods.
PHOTO: BETSY LEHNDORFF74 LAPIDARY JOURNAL JEWELRY ARTIST
70 Lehndorff_VintageSwanPendant_mayjune20.indd 74 3/17/20 9:46 AM