Glass Message Board
Glass Identification - Post here for all ID requests => Glass => Topic started by: josordoni on March 24, 2007, 08:21:06 AM
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I've just bought a large lot of Bimini and Orplid buttons - at least half of them seem to be marked with the flowerpot mark. I have also found quite a few in the batch that, although similar, have plain brass backs.
Reading through Angela's articles on Bimini and Orplid is giving me some info on the Bimini and Orplid ones ( I may even have a Lucy Rie in here) , but does anyone have any info on the other makers whose buttons are very similar to these?
Is anyone interested in buttons? If so, I can take some photos and pop them in the gallery?
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Of course you can put them in the Gallery Lynne. :) I'd really like to see them personally - I don't know anything about buttons, it might be an opportunity to learn something! :D
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I'll set up a new gallery just for the buttons I think, then I can pop them in there as I photo them.... there are about 50 buttons I think- though there may be some doubles, so it might take some time!
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Hi Lynne,
as a button fanatic, I look forward to seeing your pics! I also have some Bimini & Orplid buttons & I only found out about them recently from the article on the Glass Museum site.
They are miniature works of art. Glass buttons represent some of the finest design & mould-making in glass.
I was lucky to get nearly all of my thousands of glass buttons at very small prices by spending many hours over decades sorting through every button box & tin in every op shop in town! :)
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Lucky girl!
I spent the very top of my estimate on these, so I hope I am not wrong about them....
I didn't QUITE get carried away, but it was a close run thing.... ::) 8) :o
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I have indeed been very lucky, & I have always collected glass buttons since I was a child, as they were small, cheap, & highly appealing in terms of colours & designs.
I'm actually amazed at how many of these wonderful buttons ended up in Australia. I have full sets (6 or more) of some of these Bimini & Orplid buttons. I also have thousands of beautiful moulded buttons from Bohemia/Czechoslovakia from Victorian to Art Deco era.
I have now noticed that prices of glass buttons are really rising! When I think about buying up dozens of them for next to nothing I'm amazed! And that such artistic creations could turn up in outer suburban op shops in old coffee jars & biscuit tins!
Although I have noticed less & less of them lately. And the op shops are of course wising up on prices. I had to pay $2 for a late Victorian vest button the other week. One time I could have got a whole big jarful for that price! ::)
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My mum used to have a huge button jar that I played with as a child. I used to tip them out on the carpet and make them up into sets, then admire them, then put them all back in the jar, all jumbled up again for next time! There were lovely little moulded plastic ones with elephants on I remember.
Strange child I was, ;D
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Nothing strange about a love for arranging buttons! It's great practice for being a collector &/or dealer...sorting, appraising, organising, appreciating colour & shape....I did the same thing as you mentioned with my grandmother's button box (which I have now inherited). It was a great mix of glass & early plastic buttons in a vintage plastic chocolate box.
I had far more odd collections than buttons anyway....hundreds of used firework shells, & over a thousand novelty erasers, amongst other things. All of which were continuously arranged & rearranged.
Hours of fun! :)
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Lynne, I did exactly the same with my mother's button tin - a large biscuit tin stuffed with all different types, including glass ones.
Don't I remember someone registering recently who was a button collector and who posted something about them, or am I imagining things? :-\
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Holly in this topic?
http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,9243.0.html
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That's the one, thanks David. I'd intended to go back and search but got sidetracked with uploading today's finds to the gallery. ::)
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I've mailed her, as button topics are a little scarce.
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I've started a new gallery for my Bimini and Orplid buttons, here it is:
Bimini and Orplid Button Gallery (http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/thumbnails.php?album=398)
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Now this backplate looks different to the usual ones.
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-6264
Compared to the Orplid and Bimini backplates in the gallery, the flowerpot is rather narrow and upright. And the backplate states Hand Made that Orplid and Bimini don't. Does anyone know which maker this plate is used by, or is it a blatant copy? I have several nice buttons with this mark.
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I'm bumping this in the hope that Heidi or Marinka may still be able to tell me something about the company copying the Bimini flowerpot, only narrower. I've found out a bit more about Glass Developments Ltd, from this auction site, that had a LOAD of glass buttons of all ages up for grabs last year.
http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/2672172
As they say:
Glass Developments Ltd of Brixton was owned by H.R. Thomas. It began at Morrish Road Brixton, later moving to Endbourne Road, Brixton Hill. One of their most notable customers was Norman Hartnell - HM the Queen's dressmaker.
Their Glass Developments ones were marked Brixton SW2, mine just say London, so I don't know if that makes them earlier or later?
All interesting stuff.