Button covers - British & Commonwealth Military Badge Forum

High Wood · #1 10-10-17, 12:23 PM

I have never seen these before and I do not know if they are fashion items or have a military use. They came in a mixed lot of buttons and shoulder titles in an auction lot that once belonged to a Boer War collector. They fit over a regular regimental brass button and may have been used to temporarily disguise a soldier's regiment, although this seems fanciful.

Rob Miller · #2 10-10-17, 12:42 PM

Some Hussars used "netted" buttons, I wonder if that is something to do with these?

Howard Ripley reproduced a priced vocabulary of clothing necessaries from 1915 in the back of one of his books:-

Hussars
2737 Gilding Large
2738 metal Small
2739 Gold Busby bag
2740 ----- Netted, staff
2741 ----- Olivets and cord
2742 Worsted, corded busby bag
2743 Worsted, netted tunics

I think some are a cloth covering but I have often wondered what it all means?

Rob

leigh kitchen · #3 10-10-17, 01:25 PM

I've never seen those before, protective covers to prevent damage? A form of "cockade button"? Id like to know what they are.

High Wood · #4 10-10-17, 02:39 PM

It would make sense for a regiment with shiny white metal buttons to darken them in action. They could have also been used to protect leather buttons but again this seems a pointless exercise.

davidguthrie · #5 10-10-17, 04:32 PM

Maybe to cover the buttons when "off-duty"? There are some US button examples such as reversible screw shank buttons - unscrew and reverse to a plain back.

btns · #6 10-10-17, 04:38 PM

Your last image shows a small 'lip' near the rim of the button at 11 o'clock. Does it move? Is it a locket lock?

Roy · #7 10-10-17, 05:31 PM

That's a totally new one on me.

I hope someone has a definitive answer.

Interesting though regardless.

Cheerio,

Roy

High Wood · #8 10-10-17, 05:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by btns

Your last image shows a small 'lip' near the rim of the button at 11 o'clock. Does it move? Is it a locket lock?

Well spotted, but it is in fact a tear in the thin back plate of the button.

Artynut · #9 10-10-17, 11:09 PM

I had a couple of these a few years ago but instead of the pattern shown in the first post, they had a large monogram “GAR” ( Grand Army of the Republic )? I had assumed them to be for covering ordinary buttons on a jacket when attending American Civil War reunions. Too far fetched? Regards, D.J.

leigh kitchen · #10 11-10-17, 06:33 AM

Any chance that these fittings were originally darkened & used as a "mourning button", either representing black crepe or fastening the fabric over the tunic or coat button?

High Wood · #11 11-10-17, 07:53 AM

Certainly possible, but the truth is that I just don't know.

Jelly Terror · #12 11-10-17, 08:50 AM

Simon,

Once located in the correct position, do these false button fronts somehow click into place, or simply 'hang' from the button shank, by way of the u-bend in the back bar? I wonder how prone to falling off they were?

There seems to be nothing other than gravity, and how well they may have fitted on to the convex surface of the buttons themselves, to keep them in place.

JT

High Wood · #13 11-10-17, 08:56 AM

JT,

they are a tight fit on the larger size tunic button so long as it is not too domed. They seem to have been made for a specific button.

Simon

btns · #14 11-10-17, 10:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jelly Terror

Simon,

Once located in the correct position, do these false button fronts somehow click into place, or simply 'hang' from the button shank, by way of the u-bend in the back bar? I wonder how prone to falling off they were?

There seems to be nothing other than gravity, and how well they may have fitted on to the convex surface of the buttons themselves, to keep them in place.

JT

All button covers I have seen are from the US and they are all secured.