Page 17 - July2011

July 2011 THE NATIONAL 'BuTTon BULLETIN 123

offered by manufacturers such as Samuel Firmin. In spite Die-stamped gilt, marked
of the availability of the cheaper die stamped sets, cus- "5J" Samuel Firmin, pre-1795.
tom sets remained popular into the 1820s and 30s.
Earlier die stamped buttons were one-piece, although
a two-piece construction introduced in about 1780, is
sometimes seen in early 19th-century sporting buttons
(see set shown on p. 127). The seal is so tight they look
like one-piece buttons.
Two-piece metal buttons had been introduced in
England by the 1820s and were commonplace by the
Die-stamped silver plated,
1830s. Engraved silver was still popular in the first half
marked" Firmin & Westhall,"
of the 19th century, but now the subjects might include
cock fighting, big game hunting, boxing, fishing, game
fish or game birds. (Some of these subjects would be
classed in NBS competition as Pastimes, Games, Sports.
Those of animals only are crossovers into the Animals
section.)
Engraving on
pearl, which had
been introduced for buttons in the last
quarter of the 18th century, developed
from simple, charmingly naive vignettes
into copperplate-like engravings with
minute detail.
Women adopted the riding habit in
the 1660s. It consisted of a masculine
coat, shirt and waistcoat worn with an
extra long skirt to accommodate a side
saddle. The English diarist, Samuel
Pepys, took note of the fashion in his
entry for June II, 1666: "Walking in

The illustration on the facing page is of a lady riding
astride as contrasted to the Battersea enamel button at
the bottom of this issue's cover showing a lady riding
side-saddle in a mid-century habit and wearing a practical
jockey cap. The lady on this page has many large buttons
the full length of her long riding coat and decorating the
back. The hats could hardly have been practical.
Fashion illustrations: Eighteenth-century French Fashions
in Full C%r ed. Stella Blum, Dover Publications, Inc ..
New York, 1982.