You get an A+ in Inconsequential History if you know off the top of your head what these little hooked tools are. They’ve gone out of common usage, so when we’re setting up our estate sale houses we find them in kitchen drawers, garage tool boxes, or most often jumbled in with sewing equipment such as knitting needles, based on their former owner’s assumption that this item inherited from grandma is a weird crochet hook. (And, with thick enough yarn they CAN be used as crochet hooks, just in case you are a modern fiber artist shopping our sales!)
But whether plain, sterling or celluloid-handled, these tools should be stored in with the shoe horns (especially the combo one stamped “Compliments of W.I. Douglas Shoe Co”). They are Button Hooks for putting on the Victorian shoes which buttoned rather than laced. Button-up shoes and boots were worn across Europe, Australia, New Zealand and the Americas from the 1800s through 1920s – anywhere you can picture a lady in a hoop skirt or a gentleman in a top hat there was likely buttoned footwear, and thus many antique button hooks are still with us.
Why buttons? Well, it’s not because people hadn’t invented shoe laces yet, as this surviving 2,000 year-old Roman legionnaire’s shoe demonstrates. The preference was all about fashion, with buttons most often on people’s ‘good’ shoes – the fancy ones they wore attending church, getting married or buried, or going out to parties. White collar workers with nice, clean jobs such as stock broker, barrister or secretary might also wear button-up shoes to work.
In order not to stick out far enough to catch on things, shoe buttons were made quite small, usually of glass or painted metal and with a sturdy metal shank (back loop). Here is a handful of shoe buttons from a QBO sale, presumably salvaged from family shoes as they wore out. So the buttons’ tiny size was a practical necessity for wear, but a huge inconvenience when trying to button the shoe! Look at this real itty-bitty Victorian shoe, and picture trying to get that secured onto the foot of a squirming toddler; you’re gonna need some help! Enter the handy button hook. You slide the hook down through the button hole, hook the shank of the button and then use the hook to draw the button back out through the hole. Repeat as needed – on some fashionable, high-topped boots this could be quite a few times.
Interestingly, there are still niche markets for button hooks so they are still being made, although in much smaller numbers. First niche: fashionable gentlemen and ladies into Victorian and Edwardian wear ala Downton Abbey and Bridgerton, or less historically accurate Steampunk cosplayers. These dedicated, enthusiastic fancy dressers provide a small but viable market for high-end, modern reproductions of fine vintage footwear. These shoes are not cheap and many do require a button hook so often one is provided free with purchase. Second niche: people with mobility and fine motor coordination problems who don’t enjoy wearing shirts with velcro fasteners up the front. For them, modern, economical mobility aid button hooks are sold online. Third niche: the bridal market! If you’ve ever watched a bride walking down the aisle and wondered how on earth she fastened all those tiny buttons going up her back, the answer is either A. they’re just decorative or B. her bridal attendants used either a dedicated, special button hook provided by the dressmaker or they had to improvise with a plain old crochet hook. So yes, there actually is some overlap between the two kinds of hooks!
Using a Victorian Buttonhook: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7G5E2xEB1A
Using a Mobility Buttonhook: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1byAvzvcbA
Using a Bridal Button/Crochet Hook: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irkha_nbGj0
Tuesday Treasures was started by our staff member, Jeanne Lusignan. Each week she will be featuring items that have been found at our estate sales. If you would like to submit a treasure for Jeanne to feature in a future installment of “Tuesday’s Treasures”, please follow the button below and send us an email! Please attach a few photos of your treasure in a beautiful setting as well as any details you have about your item such as manufacturer, use, age, region of origin. If you don’t know about the piece, that’s okay! We still might be able to research it for you! Don’t forget to tell us what makes this item such a treasure to you!