Button, silver filigree with applied lozenges, Germany, 1800-1820

Men throughout northern Europe wore silver buttons with their traditional costume in the 18th and 19th centuries. The most popular kinds, throughout the region, were round filigree buttons, which varied in design and details of construction from place to place. This button was described as 18th-century Dutch when it was acquired by the Museum in 1891. At that time, antique Dutch silver of all kinds was immensely popular in Britain, and buttons were often described as antique Dutch when they were neither old nor Dutch.

This button was probably made around 1800, and may be Dutch, but is more likely to have come from the area around Hamburg in Germany, probably from the Probstei. Domed silver filigree button, with a flat sheet silver back, and a domed open filigree front. The front is decorated with applied lozenges and granules, and a rosette in the centre. It has a loop shank.