A selection of buttonhooks which have been sold from 2007.
Archive
a lovely example of an aesthetic silver handle design featuring dragon flies by Levi & Salaman, established in 1873 at 143 Newhall Street, Birmingham. The makers marks are rubbed but the date letter is clear for Birmingham 1890.
Item reference: 8755
Dimensions: 10 and 1/2 inches overall
Condition: good antique original
Price: £36 GB
Status: Sold
a rare example of this all-steel swordfish buttonhook, a cousin of the more common heron. It is registered RD154235 dating it to between May 10th to August 12th 1890
Item reference: 8754
Dimensions: 4 and 1/8 inches overall
Condition: some oxidation of the steel otherwise good antique original
Price: £36 GB
Status: Sold
an all-silver Victorian combination glove & loop buttoner by Levi & Salaman, established in 1873 at 143 Newhall Street, Birmingham. It is hallmarked Birmingham 1898. The item usually forms part on a L&S boxed set and the buttoner secures one of the other implements in the cover
Item reference: 8736
Dimensions: 2 inches overall
Condition: good antique original
Price: £15 GB
Status: Sold
a miniature glove button hook by H. Wharwood Auster,established in 1868 at Skinner Lane Birmingham. It bears the Lion Sterling mark but no date letter.
Also a damaged glove hook with arrow feathers and incomplete London marks.
Item reference: 8735
Dimensions: mini glove hook 1 and 1/4 inches overall
Condition: mini glove hook good antique original, feather glove hook for academic interest only!
Price: £10 GB
Status: Sold
an interesting all-silver glove buttonhook with “pineapple” knop by an unknown maker. It simply bears the Lion Passant mark denoting English Sterling.
Item reference: 8740
Dimensions: 2 and 3/8 inches overall
Condition: good antique original
Price: £18 GB
Status: Sold
a silver glove buttonhook with steel shank by Charles Horner, established at Northgate, Halifax in 1885. The company was famous for it’s production of Art Nouveau jewelry but also produced a few buttonhook designs including the “carpet beater” as featured here. It is hallmarked Chester but the date letter is rubbed.
Item reference: 8733
Dimensions: 2 inches overall
Condition: good antique original
Price: £28 GB
Status: Sold
a gilt metal and amethyst paste glove buttonhook
Item reference: 8725
Dimensions: 1 and 7/8 inches overall
Condition: good antique original
Price: £12 GB
Status: Sold
an all-silver and agate glove buttonhook by Adie & Lovekin, established in 1879 at 23 Frederick Street, Birmingham. It is hallmarked Birmingham 1901
Item reference: 8712
Dimensions: 2 and 3/4 inches overall
Condition: good antique original
Price: £28 GB
Status: Sold
a Tiger’s Eye agate handled glove buttonhook
Item reference: 8715
Dimensions: 2 and 1/4 inches overall
Condition: good antique original
Price: £15 GB
Status: Sold
A goldstone handled glove buttonhook with gilt metal shank. Goldstone (aventurine glass) is not a form of agate but a type of glass, the original manufacturing process invented in seventeenth-century Venice by the Miotti family and granted an exclusive license by the Doge. Urban legend says goldstone was an accidental discovery by unspecified Italian monks or the product of alchemy, but there is no pre-Miotti documentation to confirm this.
Item reference: 8714
Dimensions: 2 and 1/4 inches overall
Condition: good antique original
Price: £15 GB
Status: Sold