Featured I.S.O. HISTORY FOR ANTIQUE IVORY FLORAL BUTTONS W/ CUT STEELS

Hi all! I picked these up on Ebay some time ago (I have a huge button obsession) for less than $30 for the entire set! I was pretty sure that they're genuine ivory, but the seller listed them as bone (if I'm remembering correctly). Once I had them in hand, I was 99.9% positive they're genuine ivory! I had them appraised on Ask.com, just to get a general idea of what they might be worth (they said they've seen similar ones go for $200). I have no intention on selling them at the present time, but I will go to an actual appraiser if it ever comes down to that. In the meantime, I would love to know anything more I can find out about them . Upon doing many web searches I've found very little info on them. The BBB (The Big Book of Buttons) has a similar one listed (will include photo), but for some reason they have it listed as a celluloid (I'm pretty sure it's genuine ivory, as well). As a general rule, I only keep one of each particular button for my personal collection and set the rest aside (I sell my duplicates from time to time on Ebay), but this is one of two sets that I've decided to keep the entirety of. The other set consists of blue glass buttons with metal eagle escutcheons set in metal (I created a thread in "Militaria" in an attempt to find the history of those ones, as well).

 

Strong lines as I see in yours might be indicative of French Ivory, which is a particular type of celluloid made to imitate ivory, but that's pure conjecture.

In my very limited experience, the lines in French Ivory are very straight.

 

+1

 

Thritto for French ivory, also called ivorine. So celluloid.
Your photos look very gritty btw, maybe you adjusted the detail a bit too much?

 

Hi Moreotherstuff,
French Ivory was a company name of J.B. Ash of Illinois. It had parallel wavy lines. Over the years french ivory was used incorrectly for all types of celluloid pieces made by many companies thus the confusion. If the piece is marked French Ivory it was made by the Ash company.
greg

 

Add me to the chorus.

 

Lovely pieces!