The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1897-05-11
MILLIONS IN BUTTONS
o.r,ues MADE OF COSTLY DIAMONDS
IN THE DAYS OF LOUIS XIV.

coueetors Pay High Prices.
RscentlS at the Hotel Drouot there
os n sale q a curious and interesting
'ancction Of ancient buttons, the proper
! ~ If Baron Psgignan of Paris This col
,aotion. whioifwas exhibited in 1889 at
tbo exposition Of decorative arts, might
,iyol any one Of those belonging TO the
os+ enthusiastic buttonists in the
I'D Clapisson, the musician, col
,ootod 1850 different specimens. in
go collector in Client exhibited
] oro than 80, GOO, and NJ. Maignien,
49, librarian of the GTenoble library,
lined a certain reputation III this
Lranch of curiosities through his collec-
ton of buttons of liveries and of uni
forms.
The buttons of the eighteenth century
hiring high prices in the market at the
D ,rosent time. There are some Of them
not Fraponard, we are told, decorated
with his marvellous pencil. In his time
- was fashionable TO make presents OF
bnttons as big as crown piece, on
which allegories and various subjects
were carved.
Rochaumont writes in his "Secret
\ Memoirs" Nov. 18, 1886: 1.-THE mania
Cor buttons is today extremely ridicu
Ions They are not only of enormous
sine. some of them as big as six pound
crowns but miniatures and pictures are
made upon them, and this ornamental
tion is extremely costly. Some of them
renresent the medals of the ~ Caesars
n others antique statues and still others
the MetamoIphoses of Ovid. "
Isabey, in his biographical notes,
saws that when he came to Paris he
worked for living by making copies
Of Vanloos and Bouchers on the lids Of
snuflboxes, and that for these medal
lions he was paid from 6 to ffhlcs
y each "As it was still the fashion, he
y said. "to wear buttons as big as B
franc piece upon which Cupids, flowers
and landscapes were cut in cameo,
went into that business. / got ~ sous
for each.
Two years after this period in the
life of Bachaumont buttons abandoned
III erudition to take up edileship. All the
fine monuments of Paris were carved
on them. Then came the patriotic but
tons representing the taking of the Bas-
tile, the emblem of the three orders,
the Phrygian cap, the portraits of Louis
XVI, of Mirabeau.
Shortly afterward these ornaments
4 were laid aside. The reign of the ar
r tistic button was over, and the mother
of pearl button became general.
The oldest buttons at present in the
museums and among the collections are
the gold buttons discovered at Mycene,
at the time of the excavations undertake
en- by DR.. Schliemann, and also those
X found in the tomb of Childeric l. The
latter were exhibited at the Louvre in
the Musee DIES Souverains. They are
made of gold and of colored glass, imi-
tating garnet Buttons detached from
copes and religious garments of the
middle ages and of the renaissance
have also been discovered.
a But the richest things of the kind, be-
- yond doubt, are those that were worI
by Louis XIV. M. Maze Sencier, in the
Register of Diamonds and Presents tC
the King" at present preserved in the
ministry of foreign affairs, gives an Off
cial account of the buttons of that pomp
Gus sovereign. 1t is as follows:
Feb 3, 1855. presented
y to the king 80 diamond buttons, valued
at $50, $50 livres.
May z, 1856. Made and delivered
by Sieur Bose, 6 diamond buttons, 30,
600 livres.
July 26, 6S5.-Handed over b,
Montarcy to the Marquis de Seignela,
N for the king 70 diamond buttons, $50,
y 703 livres.
Aug. /, 16S5-Two diamond but
tons, 81, S66 livres
"Aug. 16, 1685.-Three diamond but
tons, SO, $50 livres
Dec. 90, 1855. diamond but
tons, 83,775 livres.
p Another item in the same year:
81 July 20, 1885. Furnished by Mon
tarcy for the kings vest: Forty -eigh
gold buttons, each set with diamond
and 06 clasps, 4S of which were com
posed of five diamonds each and 48 Q
one diamond each, 1876, 1873 livres.
Also 1884 clasps for the doublet Q
\ the king, l62 of which were formed G
y five diamonds each and 1862 of one dia
mond each, 1,006, 345 livres
In addition there were seven orna
mental clasps of three diamonds each
20l, 270 livres.
Sundry presents, 33 ornamente
clasps ga, 1866 livres. F."
That foots up total of about 5000
II 200 livres for the buttons of the "Grea
King for the single year of 1856. Th
preceding year Louis XIV received lc
OF buttons that were valued at l,071, 90
hvres. In these enumerations there
no mention Of the diamonds for tn
shoes, the gaIiCIs, tie crtis and tn
l hats CT the monarch
81 We are obliged TO admit, with on
I coats and cyercCgts eMnished with mil
cradle little Cclh aid tcne affairs, W
cut poor figure III the fancy butte
business compared TO the dudes OF III
days of Louis XIV. Paris Figaro