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Cut Steel Buttons
Buttons can serve a practical purpose but can be used on
clothing (or elsewhere) for purely decorative effect. In both
cases they can bee seen as a form of jewellery. And there were very many
steel buttons made. We have already seen that Worralow, the great
Wolverhampton steel toy maker, made buttons for royalty. Matthew
Boulton made vast numbers of metal buttons and cut steel ones were in
his range. Buttons were certainly made in Wolverhampton, though to
what extent is not known - button makers appear in the nineteenth
century trade directories. It is safe to assume that, whatever
other buttons were produced here, Wolverhampton produced steel buttons,
especially those which incorporated faceted steel studs.
The types of steel buttons found show the same variety
as is found in buckles. Some examples, all from a private local
collection, are shown below. None of them has a provenance. They
may originate from Wolverhampton or from elsewhere in the UK (say
Birmingham) or from France, Germany or wherever.
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3.5 cms diam. Studs rivetted onto a thick
steel wheel shape.
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3 cms diam. The front is a single stamping
of a low grade metal, fixed to a backing of similar metal.
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3 cms diam. Studs rivetted to a backing.
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3.25 cms. diam. Studs rivetted into stamped
piece.
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3 cms. diam. Studs rivetted into a backing.
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2.5 cms. diam. Studs rivetted into backing.
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2.5 cms. diam. Studs rivetted into
stamped brass (?) piece.
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2.5 cms diam. Studs rivetted into backing.
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Set of four buttons, each 1.5 cms. diam.
Studs rivetted into solid backing.
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Mixed group of smaller buttons. The two
buttons in the second column are stamped; but the third button
in the top row has studs rivetted into a stamping as has the
fourth button in the bottom row.
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