Page 39 - May2008
P. 39
92 THE NATIONAL 'BuTTon BULLETIN May 2008
Taylor was a secretive soul, and very little is known about his factory. One
acquaintance of Taylor's wrote in 1775, "The multitude of hands each button
goes through before it is sent to the market perhaps is surprising. You will think
it incredible when I tell you they go through 70 different operations 70 different
work forks." It is a stretch to believe, but then, he was there.
By contrast, Matthew Boulton's cut steel buttons and buckles were mass
produced. He used all the latest labor-saving production devices, inventing many
of them. One of the faults in his products, familiar to all collectors of cut steels,
is that they become rusty. When these buttons were finished they were wet, then
dried, then given to children who would rub them with their bare (and oily)
hands to give the buttons a lovely patina. Now we know to avoid handling good
steel buttons with bare hands.
The finest 18th-century cut steel buttons were not made by either Matthew
Boulton or by John Taylor. They were crafted individually in Woodstock,
Oxfordshire, England. At the time, these buttons were more expensive than gold
or silver buttons. Unfortunately for button collectors, the master craftsmen who
created them in their small button workshops never back marked their buttons.
Occasionally back marks can be found in rare instances when retailers put
their own name on the backs of buttons. Collectors often refer to all faceted steel
buttons as "Boulton steel," but Boulton's steel buttons cannot be distinguished
from other makers' buttons of the time.
I n the late 19905, I met the
owner of a large engineering factory,
who told me his factory was clos-
ing; his customers were having their
goods made in China. He told me
of some cut steel buttons he'd had
made for an S&M club to go on their
various costumes and instruments.
He had some left, which I bought,
and which you can see in the image
below. They are reproduction lSth-
century cut steel buttons.
It is not known why a 20th-
century man who knew nothing Modern cast white metal reproductions of buttons in the
style of Matthew Boulton. The backs and edges are crude,
about buttons chose to manufacture
whereas Boulton's are refined and have individual rivets.
buttons in the style of Matthew
Boulton's steels. The factory closed, and the man passed away a couple of years
later. I know he never made them to deceive button collectors.