What happened to our
jewelry quality blazer button collection?

The stampings were then placed on a metal tray and decorated with cloisonné enamel – tiny glass beads which were placed with tweezers inside the ridges of the metal stamping. If, for example, the emblem in the stamping was to receive two or three colors of glass, each would be placed within the outline of the stamping – the reverse of the die. The stampings would then be fired in an oven, each metal wire tray moving through the small oven and coming out on the other side with melted glass secured between the ridges of the dividing metal on the stamping. Then another artisan would solder a brass loop onto the back of each stamping. The stampings would be polished to assure that the wires separating each color field were clean; and these stampings would then be strung on a plating wire and plated in 24 kt gold plate.

There are no answers to those questions. Everyone is long gone. But the process was one of meticulous craft: first the design for the die was drawn and then reduced to the size of a button. Remember, there were no digital files, no computers. Everything was done by hand. The diemaker engraved the die and struck a soft “lead” stamping for approval. The customer (Yale, for example) approved or modified the die. The diemaker hardened the die and sent it to the stamper. The stamper affixed the die to a stamping machine, from which it struck brass pieces in minimum quantities, then trimmed the brass, and sent it to the enamellist. The stampings were then placed on a metal tray and decorated with cloisonné enamel – tiny glass beads which were placed with tweezers inside the ridges of the metal stamping. If, for example, the emblem in the stamping was to receive two or three colors of glass, each would be placed within the outline of the stamping – the reverse of the die. The stampings would then be fired in an oven, each metal wire tray moving through the small oven and coming out on the other side with melted glass secured between the ridges of the dividing metal on the stamping. Then another artisan would solder a brass loop onto the back of each stamping. The stampings would be polished to assure that the wires separating each color field were clean; and these stampings would then be strung on a plating wire and plated in 24 kt gold plate.