Large brass (?) buttons --could these be antique?

This is a 1990's coat, cashmere with silk lining from a East Coast couturier. Coat would have been made to order. There is almost nothing online about the maker as they were only open for a few years, but a newspaper article did a story on them, and the coats when new in 1995 sold in for $2,500-$5,000. (I won't realize anything close to that in a resale, only mentioning to point out that all details were very high end and individualized for this clothing.) What caught my eye in the newspaper story was that they talked about a different cashmere coat (same couturier) that had: " one-of-a-kind Victorian amethyst buttons".

Any chance these buttons are older? About the size of a half dollar. Either brass or some kind of brass colored coating. They are metal. Thanks for taking a look.

 

I doubt it; they look contemporary to the coat. They're supposed to look like copies of something from the Art Nouveau era, but I think they're more inspired-by than copy.

 

The metal, construction, backs etc are all wrong for antique and dead on for about 1990-later.

 

I'm at a bit of a loss because all my button books are packed away (seem to recall that someone else here also has the 'Big Book of Buttons') - but will say that these seem to be very detailed and well made, from what I can see on my phone, having a soldered wire shank, not something I'd expect to see on a modern button.

This is one of Charles Pillet's designs, and the thought occurs to me that they might even be uniface medallions converted to buttons, but there is certainly the possibility that they were originally buttons. They're very nice, even with the wear...

What is their size in millimeters?

~Cheryl

 

A silverplated version, perhaps the size of yours? https://www.rubylane.com/item/1634482-p2g00417/Large-Art-Nouveau-Silver-Plated-Metal

If you scroll down to Charles Pillet on this page http://www.pauljbosco.com/beauxarts.htm there is a 24mm 'Flore' medallion, believe that would be smaller than your buttons, but no reason to believe it wasn't produced in other sizes...

~Cheryl

 

Wow, amazing Cheryl. Thank you.

The buttons on this coat are 35mm and do match in size the silver plated Art Nouveau button in your first link. So interesting.

I noticed on the silver plated one the signature, "C.M. Pillet", appears under the word "FLORE" the ones on my coat do not seem to have that signature.

Would mine be actual Art Nouveau buttons or converted medallions? If yes, do you think they had some kind of coating applied to create a more uniform look or would they always have had this brass color?

I really appreciate you taking a look.

I would not have thought these older just at first glance, but did think they looked a bit special. When I read the newspaper article that this couturier sometimes used antique buttons, and money seemed to be no object, thought I better do some digging. That would be very cool if they were older.

 

Again, not able to look through my references to see if they might be shown - but my gut feeling is that they are period. Pillet's name does appear to have been obscured, but believe I see remnants, and though showing quite a bit of wear, the detailing is good, even her thumbnail is well-defined, would expect to see less definition if a modern recast, with a self-shank being cast as well, rather than the soldered wire. The one in the link appears to be silvered bronze or brass, while yours appear to be gilt, though with such a relatively bright finish, they might have been replated. Don't really have anything else, but if I saw these in a button bin, would snatch 'em up...

~Cheryl