Vintage button, what's it made of?, style?

Got a lot of vintage buttons, some may be bakelite, but I don't have any Simichrome, and can't find any for sale in my area. I did just buy some on ebay about an hour ago, but will take a few days to get here. This button though, seems a bit different than the others. I did try to test with baking soda paste, and it just turned slightly/barely yellow, so I don't think it's bakelite. What do you suppose it is?, and is there a name for the shape?

 

The faint yellow could be good old tobacco smoke. It could be bakelite, horn, lucite....? Is the hole molded or drilled out? Drilled would indicate bakelite, but it's not definitive. You can always do the hot water test - put this in hot water, pull out and sniff for formaldehyde. There's no metal and no glue, so hot water won't hurt it. You can use cream silver polish on a q-tip inside the hole too. Rub hard and the pink polish should turn yellow if it's bakelite. If you get your nose in there fast enough there's a smell too.

 

Thanks so very much evelyb.
Just now I tried the hot water, and silver polish. I didn't turn yellow, and I didn't smell formaldehyde. The hole looks drilled?, but I don't know how to tell, so I took a couple more pics. Thanks again for your help.

 

I'd be guessing lucite. The last photo pretty well nails it.

 

Thanks again evelyb! Very nice of you to help.

 

If it's not a form of plastic, it might be a carved and polished nut of some type. There were lots of buttons made from tagua nuts, but I can't find examples that look like your button.

The translucence and darker color makes it look like it could be horn, too. Here are some buffalo horn buttons...
http://www.buffalohornbutton.com/?page=products_bhb

 

The striations in the hole (photo No. 3) make me think either bakelite, or lucite.
I *think* a Tagua nut would be smooth there.

 

Messilane, you may be right.

I think I've had or seen something similar that was plastic, but can't remember where.

 

Thank you, thank you Pat & Messi !
I appreciate you bringing this back up again. I had forgotten about it. I haven't checked my mail either in a few days.....so I will go check and see if the simichrome I ordered is in there.......thanks for the reminder

 

Got my simichrome.....it's not bakelite.
I'm not seeing any lucite buttons like this. I'll keep looking though. Thanks for all the help.

 

Thinking about it more, if it's horn, I think the striations in the hole could make sense.

When horn is heated, it gives off the smell of burnt hair. I don't know if just running it under hot water would work, or if you need to actually touch the hole with the red-hot end of a needle. I've had a lot of horn beads, but never tested them.

 

Thanks again Pat! I will try that hot pin in just a little bit.

 

Here are some that are similar. Don't know that they've got it right but they say plastic.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1960s-Vinta...606?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4d1eac661e

 

Seeing that listing in a way makes me think even more that the one in this thread may be real horn. Those fake horn buttons are very shiny, which I think usually is the case, while this one appears to have more of a low sheen.

In my experience with horn beads and pendants, they've always had that low sheen.

But I could certainly be wrong!

 

Thank you Pat & Sis! I went to do the hot pin test and.....I can't find the button!!!!! I've looked everywhere, even the garbage. I did the simichrome test on it earlier this afternoon, and that's the last time I saw it. I'll find it sometime, I hope, jeez.

 

Oh, no! If it's anything like most of my beads and some of my buttons, maybe it rolled off where you had it and then rolled into some corner of the floor?

 

Looks like glass

Looks nothing like any kind of natural substance

The later formaldehyde mixes were more stable and won't give you the yellow as often

 

Unless the pics are deceiving, it's a tunnel-shank acrylic 'horn' coat/sweater button (Lucite is an acrylic), probably '50s-'60s, but could certainly be later - I'd call it 'domed', but so rotund that it's almost a 'ball' button. In my '70s-'80s preppy stage, had a thing for the French acrylic faux horn and tortoise headbands and barrettes, but a lot were made in Japan too - suspect most of the acrylic buttons, etc. in production now come from Asia, but the dished ones on this link are Italian:

http://www.mjtrim.com/concave-shank-button.html

~Cheryl

 

Thanks again Pat, Terry & Cheryl! So kind of you all.
I found the button. It was on top of a cabinet. Don't know how it got there?
I did the hot pin test...twice, because it was sort of hard to come to a conclusion. It didn't really quite melt like plastic, but it didn't smell like burnt hair either. It didn't really have much smell at all?
Anyway thank you all so much. I think I'll just call it some type of plastic, and throw it in with the rest of the buttons in the lot, lol! Maybe they are all acrylic or lucite too. I haven't tested any of them yet.
And thanks for the shape names Cheryl, I hadn't a clue what to call it.

 

I had trouble deciding on a shape name, too. I think I might call it "flattened ball," which isn't an official button collector name, but something I just made up.

Good luck with your buttons!