Posted 4 years ago
IronLace
(877 items)
A couple of months ago I posted some of my vintage glass buttons...well, sometimes when you find nice old buttons, you can also unearth a stash of buckles. All of these were purchased many years ago now, & they don't seem to turn up very often any more. Not that I'm particularly after more examples, I think I have a nice little collection here, & that's enough for me.
1. Selection of vintage buckles mostly made from various early plastics - Bakelite, celluloid, & others. Some have a thin layer of a sort of plastic over metal backing. I think these are typically from the 1930s era.
2. These ones are once again, a mix of early plastics & metal. My favourites are the green leaf & the one with the anchor on it (maybe it's because my name means "sailor" in French, LOL). Four of these are halves of the sort of buckle which features two parts that link together - first being the metal one set with two blue glass cabochons (looks rather Art Nouveau), a black & white circular one (marked on the back, Germany), the brown chunky carved example below the Art Nouveau piece, & the geometric gilt metal one set with a pink marbled plastic trapezoid shape.
I also really love the zig - zag celluloid in brown & beige on the bottom row - SO Art Deco!
3. Bar one, these are all examples of buckles that link together two separate parts. Heliotrope coloured plastic, green & yellow metal & celluloid geometric form, three in red glass accented with hand painting (Czech, I'm sure), dark purple carved maple leaves, metal with enamelled design in autumnal tones, & a uranium glass single piece buckle, which is my all - time favourite out of the whole collection. That was the most recent I bought, from a flea market in the mid - 2000s.
4. Uranium glass buckle glowing under UV light. It is a pale, custardy opalescent yellow in person. I think probably made in Czechoslovakia.
Great Post. Totally Pertinent !!!
Many thanks, Kevin! Also refers to the clothing - related idioms used in my artwork "Out of the Closet" (sold that series BTW, very pleased).
Great buckle collection Marin, I too love the anchor design with rope border, also that taupe fan design next to it - all very nice!
Congrats on your sales our arty one!
I love this post. I used to collect buckles (none as good as these) and buttons whenever I saw them but they have since been sent on, usually back to an op shop. I seem to have way too much stuff. I also used to have some old handbag frames that seemed to be around at about the same time as the buckles.
You must have started collecting very young!! :))
Aren't the shapes fantastic! Designed to go around a slim waist over a lovely crepe dress. A hat, gloves, handbag, maybe a brooch. Style inc.
Yes I see some nice bakelite there.... :)
Many thanks, Jenni!
The amount of thought that went into the designs is impressive....so much attention to detail.
Hey, thanks also, Karen! :-)
Yes, I did start young...op shops have always been a part of my life (missing them pretty badly at the moment, too).
Stuff like buttons & old buckles were cheap for a "junior" collector yet to discover the joys of "proper" antiques, but who craved the tangible connection to the past that vintage items offer us. They conjure up visions of other days, as you described in your thoughts of how the buckles would form a part of an entire outfit, a look.
I know just the kind of handbag frames you mean, have seen them about from time to time. Funny how very little of that sort of stuff from modern items would ever be kept or thought worth collecting in the future, but who knows?
I would not be averse to perhaps picking up some other vintage clothing - related items in the future...what I am rather tempted by are things like cuff links (& I can wear them too). And I somewhere tucked away I have some milk glass collar studs which turned up in various job lots of buttons...
Thanks also, Elisabethan...isn't Bakelite wonderful? Unlike most plastic it seems to get more beautiful with age, as the colours mellow & develop a lovely patina.
Love these .. hope one day to meet up with you again ..I have some buckles some place too :)
Many thanks Marty, good to hear from you...for sure I can't wait to get back to Wenty again some day...