an interesting buttonhook with an historical connection to the Boer War. The inscription is “GENTLEMEN IN KHAKI”. The connection is a poem by Rudyard Kipling subsequently set to music by Arthur Sullivan. The song was written as part of an appeal to raise money for soldiers fighting in the Boar War and their families. The fund was the first such charitable effort for the war. The patriotic poem and song caused a sensation and were constantly performed throughout the war and beyond.  Although the metal looks like silver it is some for of base metal

Item reference: 3271
Dimensions: 6 inches overall
Condition: good original
Price: £25 GB
Status: Sold

a heavy quality Victorian silver handled BOOT buttonhook with London steel shank in a version of the peacock feathers design. The maker’s mark is rubbed but the assay mark is for 1889 with Victoria’s head on the hallmark

Item reference: 3311
Dimensions: 13 inches overall
Condition: good original
Price: £40 GB
Status: Sold

a beautiful silver handled Art Nouveau buttonhook by William Neale & Sons, established in 1870 at 29 Warstone Lane Birmingham. It is embossed with the  reproduction of a bird amongst a reed bed. Is it a kingfisher, or maybe more like a bittern! Whichever, it is unusual and shows a Registered design Nr which along with the assay mark is rubbed. The BHS has records of this design assayed in Chester 1903

Item reference: 8576
Dimensions: 10 and 1/2 inches overall
Condition: good original
Price: £35 GB
Status: Sold

a silver handled Art Nouveau buttonhook by unknown maker, hallmarked for London 1904 plus  the letter “F” denoting an imported item. The makers’ mark is  JF

Item reference: 8550
Dimensions: 9 and 1/2 inches overall
Condition: good original
Price: £48 GB
Status: Sold

a silver handled buttonhook with chased handle featuring figures of an Asian deity

Item reference: 8591
Dimensions: 6 inches overall
Condition: good original
Price: £18 GB
Status: Sold

an Archibald Knox  silver & enamelled  button hook, fully hallmarked for Birmingham 1903 by Liberty & Co, established in 1875 at 156 Regent Street, London.

Item reference: 3295
Dimensions: 8 and 1/2 inches overall
Condition: The planished silver handle is in good condition with one minor ding and the enamel is good with very minor losses (please see detailed photos).
Price: £120 GB
Status: Sold

an interesting novelty silver glove buttoner with a rotating sphere. Above the sphere is a small animal in the form of a bear and some marks which could be a Chester hallmark. The jury is out!

Item reference: 8509
Dimensions: 2 and 1/4 inches overall
Condition: good original
Price: £25 GB
Status: Sold

a lovely quality multi-tool penknife with silver scales by Joseph Rogers & Sons, one of the longest established Sheffield cutlers founded in the early 1700’s. It was said that “the history of the firm was to a large extent the history of the cutlery trade in Sheffield”. The firm prided itself on producing the best quality knives in Sheffield over more than two centuries and by 1870 they employed 1,200 workers and by 1871 were the largest cutlery factory in the world. The knife has 5 blades/implements but there is one strange anomaly with the factory marks on the blades in that all have various Rogers marks except the knife blade which is marked Harrison Bros & Howson, a factory competitor of Rogers who also traded in Sheffield. There was no trading relationship between the two firms although knife forgers often bought blanks from specialist knife forgers/grinders. Perhaps quality control missed the markings on the knife blade when carrying out the final inspection, we shall never know. The knife is hallmarked for Sheffield 1904

Item reference: 8596-A
Dimensions: 2 and 3/4 inches closed
Condition: usual oxidation on the steel implements but mechanically very sound
Price: £50 GB
Status: Sold

a heavy quality solid silver folding shoehorn buttonhook by unidentified maker  MB.  hallmarked Birmingham 1901. The retailer’s name is also on the shoehorn J C VICKERY 179/181 REGENT STREET W

Item reference: 8599
Dimensions: 4 inches closed
Condition: good original
Price: £48 GB
Status: Sold

a gold filled propelling chatelaine glove hook, marked PAT SEPT 21.75

Item reference: 10249
Dimensions: 2 and 1/4 inches closed
Condition: good original
Price: £15 GB
Status: Sold