Quote:
Originally Posted by Cribyn
Hello David
Many thanks for the input.
... Very interesting as I was told years ago that the impetus for the reproductions came not from Gaunts themselves but from Gwen Squire, the button book author. She is supposed to have persuaded Gaunts to issue the reproductions, although, once again, I have never seen any real confirmation of this, so possibly it is just another rumour. However, her book "Buttons A Guide For Collectors" was published in 1972 and she would have been working on it for a few years previously, so she would have been in contact with Gaunts at about the right time.
I would dearly love to see any list of those buttons they reproduced as this would obviously answer a whole host of questions! Surely someone, somewhere must have this information?
Roger
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I have heard the same rumours. I cannot confirm them. Somewhere in my paper files are her old sales lists from the 1970s. Her service was excellent. She struggled with her book because no publisher wanted it and in the end she financed it herself.
I contacted her a couple of years ago and got the impression she was not happy with button collectors. She was one of the early members of the British Button Society, but cancelled her membership many years ago.
Re 'reproductions': Gaunt was a commercial enterprise. The dies were theirs and I do not think the designs were copyright protected. All they needed was approval to supply badges and buttons to the government. If a private party puts in an order for items they can supply, then who is going to stop them? If a trader is able to sell items and make money from them, who is going to stop him?
We can wail, complain and harass people, but we have chosen to collect commercially produced objects ourselves. We need to learn ourselves to distinguish genuine items from cheap reproductions. This forum and its experienced members (e.g. Andy) are of great help.
I regret I cannot contribute to the "Gaunt, London" query. My records are on 'backmark per design' and not per size or individual button.