The Buttonhook Society has been aware for some considerable time of buttonhooks listed on internet auction sites which are not authentic vintage examples. Some sellers are listing quite obviously modern conversions but others could be claiming vintage origin although the item has been made partly or totally from modern components. There has been much discussion on the Message Board about this subject which can best be encapsulated as follows:
Some food for thought.
Buttonhooks were objects manufactured for a specific purpose i.e. doing up
buttons. In addition they have now become collectable. The manufacture of
buttonhooks (with a handful of exceptions) ceased in the first half of the
twentieth century, therefore the buttonhooks collected are vintage or antique.
Some collectables are designed and manufactured purely as collectables and the
collectors are fully aware of this.
So, is a buttonhook manufactured in the late twentieth or early twenty first
century still a collectable?
In the case of the two TBS buttonhooks produced for society members, then yes,
it was sold as a collectable of modern production.
The buttonhooks from some sellers are described as collectable, by definition
collectable in terms of buttonhooks implies an age of vintage or greater. Other
sellers claim vintage or Victorian origin when they are obviously not!
Are the online auction sites right in claiming the sellers are doing
nothing wrong?
However, having closely consulted various experts on buttonhooks we have come to the conclusions below. These doubts can only be expressed as opinions, for the guidance of members.