Button Hooks and Shoehorns

Button Pull

Buttonhooks are still issued to soldiers for their spats in some regiments today but, in general, they have fallen out of use.

There is, however, another group of people who still appreciate the buttonhook and that is anyone with arthritic fingers. Most often, the type of buttonhook used in modern times is a button pull, similar to the one in the centre of the lens photo and shown to the right here.

This one has a closed loop and a Mother of Pearl handle. Although they could be used for any buttons, I have seen these described as being used for gentlemens' collar buttons and this makes perfect sense. In Edwardian times many men sported beards and, knowing a bearded man myself, I can perfectly understand why you wouldn't want a hook anywhere around your beard area.

It is also clear from the various buttonhooks available that some are more manly and robust (heavy duty) while others are much more delicate and feminine, there is also a difference between shoe and glove buttonhooks.

I am happy to say that I have some of each.

Buttonhooks for gloves

Without a doubt, the most desirable and the prettiest buttonhooks are those intended for use on glove buttons. There is such a wide range of these available that a collector could concentrate on those alone and never run short of new examples to find.

Often tiny, these must frequently have been lost and yet, so many survive from the 19th Century onwards into the 1930s that you can find plenty available in auction from just 99 pence up to well over £100 for the best and rarest examples.

The most desirable seem to be those which have a loop so that they can be hung from a chatelaine and bidding is usually fierce on these when they come up in auction. Too fierce for me, usually, but I was lucky enough to find a chatelaine buttonhook (pictured right) in auction which I was able to add to my collection at a very modest price. This little hook measures a total of just 1.75 inches long and is topped with a green agate ball. The bale on which it hangs swivels freely around the shank of the hook.

I have a lovely selection of glove buttonhooks (pictured below) varying from the beautiful and unusual silver and tooth buttonhook to the practical and portable bone handled, folding buttonhook. If you refer to my lens on corkscrews, you'll see a perfume bottle corkscrew with Mother of Pearl handle matching one of the small buttonhooks here.

Novelty buttonhooks

There are a great many novelty buttonhooks to be found, some were made for children, like the Teddy Bear on the left, others were very definitely for adults.

Just as in other categories of collectables, there is a distinct taste among the Victorians and Edwardians for titillating erotica and therefore you will find such things as sexy legs used for handles as well as more bizarre elements, like the otter feet I recently saw in auction but failed miserably in my attempt to secure them for my collection.

As well as silver handled buttonhooks and shoehorns, these implements could come in so many different materials and styles that it would be beyond the scope of a simple page such as this to give you every detail possible. I have added an eBay module further down below the guestbook so that you might see some of what is available in online auctions right now.

Sets to collect

The long and the short of it.

To the left are the longest and shortest buttonhooks I currently have and to the right is what is probably my oldest buttonhook.

The longest is over 12 inches in length, the shortest 1.75 inches. The one on the right is actually only just over 3 inches in length and I do think this dates from the early part of the 19th century.

It may not be too easy to see on the photograph, but the end of the bone handle, where it is all exquisitely turned, has worn almost smooth in two places (opposing each other on the very end of the handle) with repeated handling in use. This would have taken many years to happen and is not something which can be faked easily.

Signs of fair wear, such as on this bone handle, do not detract from the value of such a piece. Indeed, honest wear in use of an item which would be handled almost daily, adds to the charm of the object in my eyes at least.

I hope I have shown that there is a huge range of interesting collectables in this category and it is yet another type of collection which can be kept in a small box or diplayed within a picture frame or in a similar way. If you have a long, narrow frame it would be relatively easy to run a series of small hooks along the top of a board (cut to fit the frame) and simply hang the buttonhooks within the frame that way. If the arrangement was left without glass, the buttonhooks could be handled - many have a wonderfully tactile feel to them.

If you are going to store them in a box, then it would be best to obtain acid-free tissue paper to lay between them in order to protect them from damage etc.

Some details of the lens photo.

To the left, a folding hook and shoehorn, shown folded at the top right of the picture on the right.

Shoehorn and buttonhook combinations like this and the small duo with leather pouch (left of the main lens pic) were often used in shoe shops and frequently had advertising slogans on them.

The small leather pouch shown here says, in gold lettering, A Fitting Help.

Below right is an Arts and Craftsy looking shoehorn which may have been decorated by a man in a shed for his sweetheart or may have been intentionally created this way. The type of decoration reminds me of one of the page turners I have on another small collectables lens.

If it was a man in a shed, his talents were not inconsiderable as the pattern of flowers etc is beautifully executed.

This shoehorn is the upper of the two shown on their sides at the bottom of the main lens picture, the other one shown on its side is quite plain, relying on its form for a classic look. Shoehorns in this curled shape have been in production since the second quarter of the 19th century.

Most of my shoehorns date from between the late Victorian period and the mid 20th century. Though some are very difficult to date accurately, those with silver handles normally come with hallmarks enabling you to date them quite precisely. Should you find any old lady's magazines (note - old magazines as opposed to old ladies) it is always worth looking through them for advertisements for the latest style of accessories and accoutrements. These advertsiements can, themselves, be of considerable value to the collector as it can aid enormously in dating those accessories.

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