Edwardian Silver Handled Buttonhook - Hallmarked 1907 (SOLD)

Here is a good sized button hook with a total length of approximately 8 inches.  The steel and hook end measuring 5 inches with the words - 'English Make, Steel' on the hook end. The Sterling silver handle is 3 inches in length and one inch at its widest point approximately.  Assayed in Birmingham (Anchor Mark) and with a date mark for 1907, the silver part has a Rococo design and does show its age as the pressed silver is a little dented. This buttonhook would have really earned its keep back in Edwardian times.  People wore buttoned boots, spats, gaiters, corsets and many dresses and other garments had whole rows of tiny buttons all needing to be fastened and unfastened.  The simple solution to this was to employ a buttonhook.  The use of the hook also meant that the garment remained clean. This lovely antique buttonhook is ready to go to work again - just the thing for fastening up those small buttons or even to aid the pulling up of a long zip fastener.

A Testimonial from Mrs. Jemma Traynor -

'Thank you for the buttonhook, it was the most useful thing for helping with the small buttons on the back of my silk wedding dress.  My bridesmaid found it so easy to use.  We both think that it saved her manicured nails from any damage too!  I also have a pretty antique as a keepsake and feel sure that it may come in handy again.'

More information for collectors -

There is a strong  interest in buttons and buttonhooks of all kinds not just in the UK but across Continental Europe and the USA too.   A recommended publication is the Shire Book 'Buttonhooks and Shoehorns'  ISBN 0-85263-696-2 which traces the origins of these collectables. With lots of photos, it explains the various types of hook :-glove hooks, boot buttonhooks, combination hooks with a shoehorn etc.,  the many materials used to make them:-real gold and silver, to steels with other handles - mother of pearl, horn, ivory, bone, early plastics, bakelite, celluloid and other metals. There is information about how they were used for early advertising and  the methods of manufacture in the 19th Century and early 20th Century and the reasons why they became popular and, as fashions changed, fell out of favour.