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Page 16 The Antique Shoppe September, 2019
WEAR YOUR COLLECTION OF BAKELITE BUTTONS
Dr. Simone Brenner
I caught Bakelite fever in Boston in the 1980s when I found some
bangles and buttons before I knew anything about Bakelite. I got
hooked on the unusual
colors and workmanship.
Upon moving to Florida
in the ‘90s, I decided
to make a “wearable
art” bag to match my
growing collection of
bangles, necklaces,
rings, earrings, so I
sewed Bakelite buttons
on a waist bag. It got
loads of attention from
people responding
favorably to the
collages made from recycled buttons that were made from before
the Depression and WWII. I continued making the bags of different
shapes and sizes: they are candy for
the eye, often making people smile
and initiate conversations.
Bakelite buttons were just right for
the time when they were made. Not
having much money then, women
often bought them thinking, “I’ll get
a dime store cherry pin for my old
serge suit lapel, change the buttons 3 BAKELITE BUTTON BAGS SHOWN:
to some geometric design, and have
a whole new look!” Buttons are a close
fashion accessory to jewelry. While
wearable Bakelite was sold at Sears and at
dime stores, more expensive versions were sold at B. Altman,
Bonwit Teller, and other fine stores.
Elsa Schiaparelli, the famous Italian designer, added to the
button mania of the period by designing “realistic” buttons with
themes and shapes of clowns, acrobats, horses. Others used
architectural designs on large 2-3 inch buttons made for heavy coats
and suits, shaped in spirals, cogs, pyramids--shapes popular in the
Art Deco period and the Machine Age. Many times, colors were
combined with contrasting colors, were laminated, combined with
wood, metal, glass and other embellishments.
Inventive commercial manufacturers of buttons and jewelry
bought rods, tubes, and sheets of Bakelite and let their creativity
take over. These could be worked in many different ways:
sawed, sliced threaded, ground, drilled, carved and polished to
be as smooth as glass. Rods were injected into other forms to
make the popular polka dots and random dots that are so popular
with collectors. Bakelite is 1/2 the weight of glass, not cold to the
touch, moisture resistant, non-flammable, and comes in many rich
colors. Bakelite objects are “thermosets”, which means they cannot
be softened or returned to a moldable state.
Collectors of Bakelite learn to recognize it a mile away-- by the
colors. They can be opaque, marbleized, or translucent. To test for
confirmation, I use a very portable chemically treated test pad to rub
the underside of an object to take off a bit of the patina. If I get a
yellow color, no matter what the color of the object is, it is Bakelite.
Collectors scoop up unusual vintage pieces as soon as they find them.
Buttons could sell for $3 to $50 or more these days. Warehouse finds
are sometimes unearthed and newly cut pieces are flooding the
market. Unless one studies books showing vintage pieces, the
unsophisticated buyer can easily be fooled.
Bakelite enjoyed a revival in the late 1980s because of
museum exhibits, Andy Warhol’s auction, movies produced by
Woodie Allen showing actresses wearing funky Bakelite jewelry,
and in 1988 the very important The Bakelite Jewelry Book by
Corrine Davidov and Ginny
Dawes. Before that, people
1 had not seen the incredible
variety of Bakelite products;
many other books followed,
and the hunt was on!
Dr. Simone Brenner is a retired college
instructor who has been perfecting
her bags for more than 20 years. She
continuously replaces buttons with
more interesting ones, when she can
find them! Questions are welcome at
simbren@aol.com
2
Note, all buttons are sewn on by hand, so
as not to ruin the value of the buttons.
BAG 1 is also composted of random
dot discs in the background with realistics
superimposed on them. Some of these
4 are musical instruments, animals, clothes
pins, a wonderful man with some painting
on it, milk bottles, a large butterfly, and
lots of “cookies” (2 colored buttons with
the same pattern on the front and back of
the button)
BAG 2 is a very large bag with apple-
juice (translucent) buttons of medium and
large sizes, which are highly collectible.
Some are reverse carved and painted on
the back, many are laminated, some have
imbedded glitter, and others have embel-
lishments of various materials. There is a
2 piece buckle as the centerpiece.
BAG 3 is a belt bag or belly bag. It has
large carved buttons--really unusual ones.
5 BAG 4 is organized into 7 colors with
small shapes of all kinds in each section of
the belt bag. There are 2 extra large
green buttons on either side near
the belt.
BAG 5 is an evening bag, made
with gorgeous Bakelite buttons
with silver overlay--extremely
rare! There is a matching
bangle and earrings shown with
it.