Online Button Museum

You are here: Home / Button Galleries / Dandy and Dress Buttons 1

Dandy and Dress Buttons 1

Image 1
Hammond Turner & Son
Two piece
Fancy waistcoat blue glass half ball
Button 023
Image 2
Hammond Turner & Son
Two piece
Whistle back green/red glass
Button 024
Image 3
Hammond Turner and Son
Two piece
Fancy lines
Button 019
Image 4
Hammond & Co., Oxford St – is that the one in Manchester or London?
One piece
Underwear four hole
Almost certainly not Hammond Turner & Sons (or others): when that company operated out of Manchester, they were in Moseley Street and Bread Street, not Oxford Street
Button 012
Image 5
Hammond Turner and Son
Whistle back black glass
Two piece
Button 001
Image 6
Hammond Turner and Son
Two piece
Half-round crystal
Has been converted into a cufflink, no damage
Button 051
Image 7
Hammond Turner and Dickinson
One piece, flat
‘Gold’ spun circles
This button is in astoundingly good condition for its age. It was bought from a North American seller
Button 073
Image 8
H T & Sons Best Qualty Plated (sic)
Basket weave
Described by the seller as silver plated, the backmark is in the backmarks gallery
Button 076
Image 9
H T & Sons
Marbled glass waistcoat button
Button 077
Image 10
Hammond Turner & Sons
For John Bowen & Son
Backmark is in that gallery, image 14
Plain front
Button 086
Robert Milburn (see below) informs me that the following backmarks were used by John Bowen, merchant tailor of New York,
between 1821 and 1836:
Hammond Turner & Sons
for John Bowen & Co. //Treble Gilt
Hammond Turner & Sons
for John Bowen & Co. //
(Symbols of patterns of dots)/Celtic Cross
Hammond Turner & Sons
for John Bowen & Co.//Extra Superfine

Robert Milburn, a retired military officer and metal detectorist from Massachusetts who collects militaria and military buttons, very kindly responded to my plea for information about John Bowen. He generously provided the following very useful and interesting information.
John Bowen was an Englishman and a Merchant Tailor, who is recorded as early as 1804 in New York in a list of Merchant Tailors who hired Journeyman Tailors in the city.  He was in a number of different partnerships which imported and sold English goods, including gilt buttons as well as fabric, trimmings, vestings etc. Robert has discovered that John Bowen spent many years travelling between England and New York on buying trips and he provided the list of the different backmarks on HT&S/John Bowen buttons found by metal detectorists in the USA.
Image 11
H T & Sons
Marbled glass
Complete with central brass dot in central hole, presumably attached to shank and used to secure it and backplate to the glass through pressure
Button 093
Image 12
H T & Sons Birm
‘Milk glass’
This dome-backed button looks almost like pearl
Button 092
Image 13
H T & Sons Birm
Clear-cut interlocking triangles with central motif
Button 097
Image 14
H T & Sons Birm
Unlike 12, above, this has a dished front
Probably ‘milk’ glass
Button 070
Image 15
H T & Sons Birm
Beautiful ‘tiger’s eye’-effect domed glass
Button 107
Image 16
Hammond Turner & Sons
This button was kindly given to me by Marty Wiemert, a proud member of Metal Detecting Maine. He found this button in his home state and contacted me about it. First he sent me photos, then he sent the button which makes a wonderful contribution to my collection. I cannot explain the back mark at the moment.
The button is a one-piece with a soldered shank and was made between 1820 and 1850 (roughly) as that was the period during which the company was known as Hammond Turner and Sons. The early style lettering is a further clue to the date.
Thanks Marty!
Button 116
Image 17
Hammond Turner & Sons
This button was given to me by Grant Maxwell-Thomson of Scotland. He is a keen metal detectorist who found this button near his home in Faslane.
The front of the button (which seems to have lost all of its gilding) appears to be completely plain and does not make a good photo. Like the button above, this is a one-piece with a soldered (and badly bent) shank. The button was made between 1820 and 1850, during which time the company was called Hammond Turner and Sons. Again, the early style of lettering is a clue to the date. There is what looks like a bow near the top, a delightful detail and one whose significance I cannot explain. The number 9429 which appears at the bottom is a complete mystery!
Thank you very much, Grant, for contacting me after finding this button and for sending it to add to my collection.
Button 148
Image 18
H T & Sons Birm
A lovely abalone-inlaid button which came home from California via ebay.
Button 157
Image 19
H T & Sons Birm
Another half-round waistcoat button, this time from New York, described by ebay seller as ‘marbled glass’.
Button 160