Hatpins Collection Tour - Voices of History: The Big Hat Hatpins.

Bugs

2009-08-23T21:03:00.000-04:00

Big-hat hatpins
Bugs

Brassy and green stone (glass?) butterfly hatpin

1. Brassy butterfly, wingspan 2 1/4", length 1 7/8".

Green stones, one missing on right wing. Red stones for eyes.

Rod length, 5 7/8".

Howard C. Scharfe and Marjorie Scharfe Hatpin Collection, bobbler butterfly, metal and black glass (onyx?)

2. White-gray metal butterfly. Black stones, largest at body is inset, others fixed to surface. All are faceted.

Side view, metal and black glass (onyx?) butterfly hatpin, showing bobbler spring

2.1 This is still #2 butterfly hatpin. It is a trembler.
The rod has a spring at the top end so the pin bobbles.

Length of rod from top to toe, including the spring, 117/8".

Enamel, multicolor and detailed bee hatpin

Multicolor bee, on a swivel at the top so she can sit facing at you, or resting on the rod. Swivel works. Length 1".

Rod= 8 1/4'.

Cloisonne Enamel butterfly, believe French

Enamel butterfly, 1 1/4" at longest span, no sterling mark on back.

Multitude of Goldy-Brassy; Maybe Some Stones

2009-08-09T11:47:00.001-04:00

Big-Hat Hatpins

Brass and gold hatpins

Miscellaneous lengths 7" to 8" - l-r then around:

1. Tapered plain: and miscellaneous brassy hatpins

2. Gold, we think, with black something, with crystal going around? Head 3/4". Rod 7 1/2".

Brass helix hatpin-

This is a major pin, with a minor top. The head is surprisingly delicate, open, twisted brass (looks like) design minor top - that should clean up nicely. Head 1". Then look at the Rod length - 11". Major hat.

Brass and blue hatpins

Clockwise from 1:00 -

1. Top one faceted

2. Blue - glass? Head is 3/4" to the finding. Rod 7 1/2".

3. Goldy, lengthened teardrop shape, engraved - Head 3/4",Rod 6".

4. Hiding, goldy angular lengthened teardrop shape (what else to call it?)

5. Goldy round tapering, with purple stone or glass, at the 9:00 position - Head 1" to rod. Diameter 3/4". Rod 10"

Miscellaneous brass hatpins

These are, from top clockwise,

1. rod length 8";

2. rod length 6 3/4" (a little bent); and

3. rod length 8". Filigrees, and openwork.

Amethysts, Purples, Set #2, Some Plain, Some Openwork, Filigree Settings

2008-09-12T06:58:00.005-04:00

Purple Hatpins. Some in our collection may be real amethyst, others amethystic

Set #2 of the purples. See a very early post for Set #1.

Howard C. Scharfe and Marjorie Scharfe Hatpins Collection, purple section

This is a big, heavy pin. Narrow part of oval including the raised openwork setting is 1 1/2", long part of oval total is 1 3/4". The stone alone is 1 1/8" long at longest part. The setting is cupped- raised up there, with a height of 5/8" -- and then, the finding is attached to another set of prongs, cupped, adding another 1/4". The rod is 6". This thing is heavy. All the rhinestones in the brassy setting are intact. Smooth stone, no facets on top, but the bottom shows the usual cone faceting. Beautifully transparent.

Large amethyst hatpin

Large amethyst color, 1 1/4" at longest part, 1" at narrower. The setting is simple - four prongs on an outer ring that is barely visible looking down - stone just fits. There is a single bar across the back where the finding attaches. The rod is 9 1/2" long.

Amethyst (?) and brass hatpin

Large amethyst (anything purple that does not look like glass, and how do we know, is amethyst; except when we note differences in color) pin, rod 11 3/4", diameter longest points, 1 7/8". The openwork setting dips and curls down at each side, and the finding in back is two cross base so that the rod attached at a level with the dips.

Square form amethyst, rhinestone hatpin

Amethyst center, four rhinestones in stylized four square pattern (that looks floral) setting, Rod is 9 3/4", Diameter crosswise is 2". Each side of the big square is 1 3/8". The finding is attached to two prongs stemming from it, with the space between the base where the rod starts, and the actual pintop, makes a raised area at 1/2"

Round form brass hatpin, amethyst

Small amethyst set in brass openwork. There are no stones - none intended. Just the holesin a ring midway out. The setting is dome-shaped, and the finding attaches to six flat prongs, curved out from the finding and each prong then tapering to a point where it attaches to the setting, like a starfish but six. Looks Turkish? The rod is 9 1/2". raised

Shield-shape brass, rhinestone and small amethyst hatpin, openwork

We don't know what to do with this one. The purple ring toward the center looks like simple glass, not amethyst. The rod is 10 1/4", and each side of the triangular part of the pintop is 1 7/8. One rhinestone is missing, there at the top. There is an openwork overall setting, and we are looking up the difference between openwork and filigree. This looks more solid that the pins we think of as filigree. The finding is attached straight to the back, no rods, no raised prongs in the back.

Round amethyst, dome setting, hatpin

We are looking for the side view of this one, because the setting is a high cone of brassy openwork, 1 1/4" from base of the cone, to the round brassy ball ring that surrounds the setting for the amethyst. The diameter of the setting including the brassy ring is 1". The rod is 10".

The Graduate

2008-08-09T10:38:00.004-04:00

Big-hat hatpin

Graduate, sterling hatpin

Congratulations. Sterling. Mortarboard, diploma, tassle. Additional hallmarks on back, three heart shapes, one with a B in it, middle can't figure and the last one has a P. Need better picture for all the detail - graduate holds a diploma, has on a fine robe, and there is another symbol on the left (his left) shawl end. A Maltese Cross? something Masonic or do many institutions have that?

Head of this flat hatpin is 1 3/4" - and the rod is 8 3/4 - quite big - or should we say, quite big, actually, with an accent.

Hats on Hatpins

2008-08-09T09:51:00.006-04:00

Big-hat hatpins

Howard C. Scharfe and Marjorie Scharfe Hatpin Collection, hats as hatpins: Grapes hat, boater hat.

Grapes hat. Marked as "sterling front." Rod 11". The backer is separately attached, making this nicely dimensional.

Brassy boater: That is a lovely little bow at the back, and the ribbon going around the brim is textured. Diameter 1 3/4". Rod 9".

On the other hand, boaters often had narrower brims, and were worn by men. Ladies also wore a style from the Venetian gondoliers. See the costumer at ://www.thecostumer.com/cfwebstore/index.cfm?fuseaction=category.display&category_ID=177.

So, maybe this is none of the above, and just a model of a nice ladies' straw hat to shield her from the sun.

Pins by Rod Length - Ongoing Effort. Glitz Queen.

2008-08-09T09:15:00.013-04:00

Big-hat hatpins

Glitz Queen hatpin, 12" long
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We have been asked to list the pins by length. That is a big job and we will try to do it over time: look up the precise pin from the labels section, main page.

Here is Glitz Queen at 12". The glam is on the top so is not reflecting the light. The base does not say sterling, looks something else.

So: since we cannot photograph the length of each pin, each entry means "at least" the length given, but not up to the next category.

This is going to be too much. May stick to the really long ones here.

13" Big Iris, floral, now we believe to be Big Lily
12" Glitz Queen, rhinestoney bigs
11" Grapes hat, brass helix,
10" Goldy round top, purple stone (in multitude of goldy-brass); green guillochet; pair of lavender guillochet
9" Goldy globe, goldy sculptural top; topazy golf club drivers, boater hat
8" Goldy with filigree; bullet; the graduate;
7" Crests, military, regimental; jockey; silvery golf club drivers (all nearly 8")

Floral - peony, day lily, or iris? other

2008-08-08T02:11:00.011-04:00

Big-Hats Hatpins

Big Iris. This is the one on our home page.

Is Big Iris really a day lily? Here she is, posing with one.

The Big Lily hatpin, with the natural red variety, Howard C. Scharfe and Marjorie Scharfe Hatpins Collection, Florals section.

Our former Big Iris, reidentified as Big Lily.

Th3 diameter 3", rod 13". Double checked the length and found typo that then just got repeated at 18".

To appreciate the length of the rod even at 13", follow that straight line behind the lily with your eye. That is the hatpin's rod. It goes on and on. Think of how large the hat was that it helped to secure, with much bunned hair beneath.
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Little Lily (in the sky) with Rhinestones hatpin, Howard C. Scharfe and Marjorie Scharfe Hatpins Collection, Florals section

Little Iris, now probably Little Lily, With Stones.

Reidentified as a a day lily.

This is our other Iris - Lily, shorter rod - 8". The head is 2 7/8 wide or so. We had thought this was an Iris but it may well be just a day lily - as with Big Iris above. .

These are our Theology Fleurs. Somebody tells you something all your life, that these are iris flowers, you believe it, then you dare to go off on your own and check it against real life, and find it ain't necessarily so.

The Theology Flowers.

Now: Will finding out another truth, or even the possibility that all is not as certain as they say after all, make a difference to some folks? Probably not.
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Four-petal red-stone brass hatpin, Howard C. Scharfe and Marjorie Scharfe Hatpins Collection, Florals section

Sweet little Four-Petal, with red stone in center. Glass? We can't tell what is what. And we understand that the Victorians-Edwardians mastered the art of the ersatz. Width 7/8". Rod 8".

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Brass stylized floral hatpin

Serious looking hatpin with foliage. For a no-nonsense hat on a no-nonsense head.

Rectangular with little pleats or tucks at the corners, foliage in center. Width, 2 1/4". Rod 10". Brassish on front, but back is a whiter metal. Looks like there is some marking there, but we can't figure it out. Will try to get back to it.
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Floral brass hatpin, plain, dull, like we are some days

Another serious flower hatpin. Functional. Six-petal, pressed. Width 1 3/4". Rod 11". See the detail on the petals. Should be a shiny brass - the protected back side is much shinier.

This would look less serious with a good polishing.

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Little peony hatpin

Little peony. This one is translucent - a lovely thing carved into a rose shape or perhaps a peony, still in bud, going from pinks to blues.

A little larger than a standard marble, Rod 8". It is surprising to see the long rods with little ornaments.

Events, Commemoratives, Historical. King George V.

2008-08-07T12:24:00.021-04:00

Big-hat hatpins

Howard C. Scharfe and Marjorie Scharfe Hatpins Collection, King George V, commemorative coppery hatpin

Enter, Royalty. This hatpin is coppery color, shiny, hard to photograph - George V of England. The inscription around the circumference reads, "Georgius V rex et ind imp". The back has a lovely little repeating leaf pattern going around, and the solder needed to affix a button on the rod. The rod is 10 3/4". Width is 15/16".

See him as Emperor of India and think of times gone by, at //www.flickr.com/photos/atthealtar/2582921257/. And wars: The Central India Horse, the 21st, King George V's own, fought in World War I and World War II. George the Fifth - see ://www.channel4.com/history/microsites'/R/real_lives/georgev.html.

Then think of the "Edwardian era" -the glow of wealth and pomp before WWI. That was the reign of the father of George V. The era of the great Edwardian hats and their hatpins - 1901-1910.

Edwardian Era: Edward had two sons: 1) Albert Victor, the elder, in line to the British throne, known as Eddy, who died close to his planned marriage; and 2) George here, later George V, born 1865.

George married the bride, and they had six children. One child, John, was possibly autistic, and was epileptic, and was hidden, mostly. Out of sight, off on a farm, or peeking through high balconies at everyone else. Do find the TV show on this. Can't have that in the Royal Bloodline. There was also a hemophilia strain stemming from Victoria, see ://www.sciencecases.org/hemo/hemo.asp., and speculate where it came from, paternalistially speaking, at "Victoria's Secret," at //www.anusha.com/secret.htm.

See more on the Royals at FN 1. George V reigned from 1910 to 1936 - a turbulent era. World War I, the increasing independence of countries in the old British Empire, the troubles in Ireland dividing it Catholic against Protestant, and the beginnings of World War II. Some good decisions, some worries of the British were justified, some not so, power and foibles, flaws and circumstances and conflicting demands arising from the times, not easy. On balance, salute?

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FN 1. Edward VII presided over excess; George V presided over change and turmoil. Do look up photos of him and the Queen (Mary, known as May) in India for special ceremonies, a "durobar" or something like that. Have to check. He also was injured seriously while visiting the front in WWI - his horse rolled over him. See ://www.englishmonarchs.co.uk/saxe_coburg_gotha.htm; ://www.firstworldwar.com/bio/georgev.htm; ://meerutup.tripod.com/durbar/,

Was he British enough?

Remember that British and other royalty were interrelated, all over Europe, and thrones moved about the different families' branches.

In George's case, there was concern that his loyalties tilted to Germany, Saxony, Russia. So, in 1917, George V by edict changed the family name from the Victoria surname of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (for Victoria, close German royalty connections - before Victoria the British Royal Family had been Hanover, etc.) to the more British "Windsor."

This almost but not quite allayed fears that he harbored allegiance to German interests, and there were echoes of that continuing. Meanwhile, his Russian cousins, Czar Nicholas and his family, sought refuge in 1917 from the Russian Revolution. George did not allow it, out of concern for its effect on his image as well. The Bolsheviks shot the family.

1932 - Rudyard Kipling wrote a script for a Christmas radio speech, George delivered it, and a tradition began for the annual Christmas Royal Message.

George V's children: Two of George's children are important here: 1) Edward, the elder son had met and was seen openly with American divorced lady, Wallis Simpson, and 2) George, the younger son, married and had two daughters, Elizabeth, and Margaret,

1935 - Jubilee celebrations. 1936: George V became sick, comatose, and was euthanized (shots to bring on death at a propitious time). Son Edward became King Edward III in 1938, and abdicated within a year of his coronation, in order to marry Wallis Simpson.

So, the younger brother, that other George, became King George VI. He died in 1952 and his daughter Elizabeth, now Elizabeth II, became Queen. See the whole fam damily at ://www.royal.gov.uk/files/pdf/European%20monarchs%20family%20tree.pdf

Royalty is an impossible puzzle unless it is your life to figure it out. Check out information against ://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/British-Royal-Family#Family_tree_of_members. We may be missing an Albert or an Albert George here, by George, see ://www.english-for-students.com/By-George.html; and ://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/5/messages/1321.htmlearlier on.

We give up. Enough for the Royals.

Lillian Baker - Facets: Hatpins, Supporter of WWII American-Japanese Relocation Camps Here

2008-08-07T10:44:00.008-04:00

Big-hat hatpins
Resources - Information

We have "Baker's Encyclopedia of Hatpins," Lillian Baker, Schiffer Publishing 1998. She founded the International Club for Collectors of Hatpins (we are members of no hatpin group, yet, perhaps we will at some point)

Lillian Baker was more than that. More facets. See article, "Concentration Camp or Summer Camp," by Robert Ito ://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/1998/09/ito.html. She was a writer; historian on her own (not by professional training); and she opposed what was became popular cause: criticism of the US Govt actions in interning Japanese-Americans by blanket sweeps during World War II; and reparations for Japanese interned at those "relocation" camps during the war.

See an overview of the camps and the issues of the process used, and effects, at "The War Relocation Centers of World War II: When Fear Was Stronger Than Justice," at ://www.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/89manzanar/89manzanar.htm.

She argued military necessity, and was concerned with overlap between Japanese military strategy and effectuators; and Japanese-heritage civilians.

She wrote books with photos of the camps, and photos of the German camps, to show that ours were so much better. Others question her filtering out of the bad pictures, and publishing only the mild. There apparently were incidents of concern in sabotage here, perhaps it is a matter of degree, and magnitude of consequence. Do read the article. She would be called a "revisionist" on that issue - imagine a pendulum. The swing to internment in war, big swing to one side; then, after the war, realization that the net snared too many and in the wrong way, so revise the war tactic and try to correct; then the revisionists to the revisors, we suppose, saying that the internment was correct and appropriate at the time. Gets very complex.

The point here is that Lillian Baker is not just another hatpin collector. Find her papers at ://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf9v19p0gr

Damascene style hatpins

2008-08-07T05:22:00.009-04:00

Big-hat hatpins
Damascene style

The Damascene technique is an interlacing of gold or iron on steel. See ://www.aimjewelry.com/damascene.htm - Toledo, Spain is known for this. There is also a Saint John Damascene, see ://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08459b.htm, not our tradition but we wondered about the name. Connection probably with Damascus, Syria - John of Damascus. Did the technique originate there.

Damascene hatpin, floral

Tall Damascene two colors of brass metal, and black. Looks Moorish. Head is 1 1/4" tall, rod is 9 7/8" long.

Howard C. Scharfe and Marjorie Scharfe Hatpin Collection, Damascene, serpents, big-hat hatpin

Petaled round. Damascene snakes looking at worried rabbit. Special form of metalwork.

Rod 10 3/4", top diameter 3/4".

See the Damascene section at the Lillian Baker encyclopedia at p.36, see Hatpins Collection, Lillian Baker. She says that, yes, this technique did originate in Damascus.

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Damascene or Damascene-type hatpin, horse

Damascene Horse: Head 3/4" diameter, rod 10 1/2". But the back looks very gold. Is this Damascene? Or just an oriental style?

Oriental - Hand-Painted Florals and Gold Highlights on Ivory, Round Hatpin

2008-08-07T05:10:00.006-04:00

Big-hat hatpins
Oriental style

Carved and painted ivory globe hatpin

Carved ivory ball.

Many hatpins display combinations of technique - here,a painted ivory globe head, oriental-looking florals, with places of applied gold for reflection, and small indentations or carvings also made in patterns. The rod looks drilled through, with a softened-point pentangle shape holding the top, molded to fit, and the same shape at the base of the globe. Rod 8"

Shields and Crests; Other Emblems

2008-08-01T11:40:00.015-04:00

Big-hat hatpins
Crests

Crest and heraldry hatpins

Mystery crests. We Three Crests.

Apparently, the crest is the part above the shield. See ://www.fleurdelis.com/coatofarms.htm

Sterling on the backs. Rods 7 1/4". Two silver (sterling?) rods, one brass rod.

Shield and crest hatpins, Howard C. Scharfe and Marjorie Scharfe Hatpin Collection,

And a close-up of one. Look at all the symbols there.

We think we identify a Victoria Crown, then seven "elements" or areas on the shield, two on three and two below; and note the colors.

Some of those elements are further subdivided.

We have checked all the Canadian Province crests at http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1SEC887202. Even coats of arms. This is not a coat of arms, however. A coat of arms belongs to an individual, not a family, we find. Wikipedia is no help here. Do not go to ://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coat_of_arms

Moving left top toward bottom: a start as we look. Remember, red cross, white ground; set on three stars, green ground.

Trying to do a shortcut and look up images to identify.

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Green-tone shield-crest hatpinAnd another mystery crest.

A single. Different crest. Close in shape, but not in symbols.

No sterling mark on back, and 7"rod.

Still looking.

Knocker hatpin

2008-08-01T11:10:00.006-04:00

Big-hat hatpin
Knocker, grimacing face and ring

Howard C. Scharfe and Marjorie Scharfe Hatpin Collection, knocker hatpin

Some faces deserve their own space.

Set it down somewhere. Dimensions coming.

Knockerman.

Porcelains - hatpins

2008-08-01T10:50:00.011-04:00

Big-hat hatpins
Porcelain, hand-painted

Violet floral porcelain hatpin

We are trying smaller pictures so they will load faster.

This porcelain blue floral is 1 3/4" at its longest point, and 1 1/4" at its narrowest. Rod length 10". Porcelain is a ceramic that has been fired at high heat, to give it a glassy quality. See ://www.madehow.com/Volume-1/Porcelain.html.

The flat brass backer here is a perfect fit with the porcelain head.

We can't tell a hand-painted porcelain from a transferred image yet.

Howard C. Scharfe and Marjorie Scharfe Hatpin Collection, portrait, porcelain

The head on this portrait-type porcelain hatpin is circular, 7/8" diameter. Rod 6 1/2".

Its brass backer is a perfect fit with the porcelain head.

Rose floral porcelain hatpin
Backer, rose floral hatpinThis floral, one red and two pink roses, is a repair job. Not by us, but the backer does not quite fit the size of the porcelain.

We read somewhere that this means a recycled head, not meant for that backer. So, the first one broke? Life happens. The floral head is 7/8" in diameter.

The rod is 8".

Oval, four roses porcelain hatpinHere is an oval floral, four roses. It is 1" x 3/4". Rod 7 3/4"

None of these have any markings on the backers.

Swords

2008-08-01T04:20:00.009-04:00

Swordfighting. Learn how to win at ://www.wikihow.com/Win-a-Swordfight. Draw your sword and watch for your opponent drawing first; relax; balance; assess; engage very carefully; defend with strength; keep weapon ready; bend elbows, keep them close; attack only when sure; your distance depends on sword length, your height, and style; stay calm and control the flow. For a lady being compromised, poke and run.

Sword hatpin

Sword, total length 8 1/4" - for rod people, the rod itself is the flat blade at 6 1/4". There are paste "stones" -now dulled, but a professional may know what to do, at the end of the hilt, and where the hilt joins the blade. Also at various points on the handle.

This one needs attention. It also would make a good weapon - not the pin shape rod, but a significant flat blade with a dandy point. Easy to put in purse, and remove from hat.

Read about hatpins as weapons, or injuring bystanders unawares, and the need eventually for hatpin tip protectors in "The Good Old Days," by David Lewis Cohn, http://books.google.com/books?id=0uB15d5hE38C&pg=PA347&lpg=PA347&dq=hatpin+ordinance&source=web&ots=cZ-L8iYSdg&sig=aTTSSznML8Av-f9m_WeMRx3JrQw&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=4&ct=result.

These smaller hatpins could date from before the era of big hats, or after, when fashionable hair was bobbed or at least shorter, even loose, and hats were smaller.

Sword hatpin with chain and scabbard

Here is a sword with an attached tip protector, a sheath. Sterling, blade and hilt. Total length, 5 7/8". Blade alone (the rod) is 4 1/4". The blade is flattened, like a blade, and is not a long pin shape. Chain distane to sheath (sheath is detachable) is 4 1/4". Sheath is 2". Much detail - the sheath has a raised dot place to stop the blade from going further into the sheath - a brake.

Wirey sword hatpin

This pin-type sword does not look very strong, but is. More serious than it looks. Dainty in shape, but not in heft of material used: perhaps for an indoor lace cap, or light ornamental cap. Total length - 7 1/2".

Looks like one long pin, simply shaped at the top and wrapped, but on close look, the hilt is copper, and the pin is brass.

Great detail - there is a textured area for the handle, an overlay well fitted to the rod, for a firm grip if Tom Thumb were to get serious in his duel. Not sure of the metal for the handle. Not copper, and not the same color as the brass pin rod.

More examples online - see ://www.rubylane.com/shops/drury/item/4006-x784096. Some were made as replicas of actual swords, actual Generals - listing for a General Buford sword hatpin at ://www.kovels.com/priceguide/kovels_hatpin/

Winged Baby - Cherub or Putto / Putta; The Smaller, Shorter Hatpin; an Era; or for a Child. Baker's Encyclopedia

2008-07-31T11:09:00.017-04:00

Big-hat hatpins

Winged baby hatpin

Winged Baby. These did not start off as Christian angels - they appear pagan as well. There are also debates as to what to call them properly. For purists, these are not real "cherubs." See FN 1.

Many today are lapel pins. This is not - the pin rod is attached straight out from the other side here, so the little flier takes off at a right angle to the pin top -- pin to be seen from the side, not up and down.

We put this in the child's hatpin category because of its little size, with a little rod, 2 7/8", and longest part 7/8". The detail is exquisite - hair in a little bun up there, although that could be a great tussle of curls, not a little pompadour. There is a tiny scarf flung over a shoulder, and visible front and back, a little bottom, but the scarf covers up the necessary information for gender. The wings are in slightly different positions, not symmetrically places, showing take-off has already occurred. The better to fly. FN 1
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FN 1 Collector Information. The reference book that appears to be most revered among hatpin people is "Baker's Encyclopedia of Hatpins and Hatpin Holders," by Lillian Baker, Schiffer Publishing, ours is 1998.

Child's hatpins - Are these defined by length and size of head, or just by the sense of it? See Baker page 104. We list our small hatpins as "sixers" for "six inch" in length, or less. We had thought these short, delicate ones with their very sharp ends to be for adult indoor use, a little house cap, or frame of lace, or for outdoor modest hats before the big pins were required for the bigger hats.

Is, then, our little brass bow, the ribbon with the swivel top, a child's pin? See it at Hatpins Collection Tour, Adjustable Heads. How to know?

Baker's pins - all shiny and perfect. Ours not so. We are not doing any cleaning at all here - have been told to leave that to professionals. On some we see solder, but is that a simple repair?

Side issue - Cherub vs. Putti vs. Putta. Does gender really matter to baby angels? It should not for the adult ones - the tradition is for mighty females - see the Cherub with the flaming sword guarding the Tree of Life, of Genesis fame, was female. See Genesis 3:24 in the oldest Hebrew transliteration at ://www.scripture4all.org/OnlineInterlinear/Hebrew_Index.htm. See also Martin Luther's Stove, Additional Transliteration Site.

Look up the terms now. How we use and misuse "cherub" to mean cute, pudgy and cuddly. We say "cherub" all the time - but see how Wikipedia proves us wrong. There are different kinds of winged babies, different interpretations, and the idea of little flying babies goes back go pagan times. Romans have them on their sarcophagi. Go to ://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Putto. See ://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherubim. Cherubim are Biblical, large jobs to do; and putti-puttae are not and have not.

A putto (plural would be "putti") is male, rediscovered in the Renaissance from earlier times, and a putto is not a cherub by most uses. Putto can be for male religious type babies, and Cherub for secular type babies, determined from the theme of the art. The baby probably doesn't know the difference. Information is inconsistent. Still, Putto. Putti. Male, males. Boy babies flying.

Girl babies flying? Despite the female angel with the flaming sword in the most important role at the Creation turmoil, No. The word for girls would have to be "putta" or "puttae;" and you know what that means by now - remember the puttanesca sauce, that delicious capers, olives, tomato and all else in the pot for pasta, to keep the ladies of the evening well fed until dawn. See ://www.foodreference.com/html/a-ladies-puttanesca.html. So, if you follow the research, see if this makes any sense at all: A little boy as a babe can be a putto, regardless of what he might become; but a little girl as a babe cannot be a putta, because she just might become a lady of the night. Roles. Restrictgions. Persuasion to stop people from thinking. And using religion to support it? Need the address for the global Adulterated Religion Interpretation Department, "ARID" for short.

More technicalities: Cherubim v. Seraphim? Count the wings, then check out the Seraphim, and their wings, and the costumes, poses of each, and purposes. This little one of ours is neither Cherub nor Seraph, we conclude. This one is just cute.

Trinkets in Motion. Adjustable Heads; Tremblers; Bobblers

2008-07-31T10:42:00.010-04:00

Big-hat hatpins
Tremblors, Tremblers, Moving parts

Brass swivel bow ribbon hatpin

Hatpins on the Move. Adjustable ends.

Little brass swivel bow. Many hatpins cross categories - here is a dainty shaped ribbon shape, a single strip of metal for the head, and it is on a hinge. It will rest flat on top, or to the side like a lollipop. The rod is 5" long. Shorter rods could mean an older pin, before the big hats period; or, just a fastener for a small cap, or piece of lace for indoors. Or a later pin, when big hats went out of style. No idea on this one. A hinge expert could tell.

Other movable hatpins:

Bobbler bug moth or butterfly hatpin, with onyx

Here is a bobbler, a repeat from the bugs section, at Hatpins Collection Tour, Bugs.

Twin blue cloisonne hatpins
These have a tilt mechanism, as do a yellow pair we also have. These are also repeats of pins at another post. See them, and other adjustable-ends hatpins, at the cloisonne and enamel section at Hatpins Collection Tour, Cloisonne, Enamel. We are learning the difference between cloisonne, guilloche and enamel, and think these are just guilloche enamel because there are no metal dividers with various colors on these that would make them cloisonne. Is that so?

More on pins in general, including the kind with adjustable ends, see ://www.glitzqueen.com/hatpins.html.

Light blue and white guilloche. To be added here: we have a lovely round guilloche enamel that also looks cloisonne hatpin, white narrow outer ring, and a light blue crosshatched large center area, diameter about 7/8", rod length 8". Says sterling silver back. Look in the enamel or blue sections for it now.

France - Fleur de Lis; and Its Migrations Elsewhere

2008-07-31T04:17:00.018-04:00

Big-hat hatpins

Fleur de lis

The "Fleur de Lis" or flowering lily, or flower of the lily, has been a symbol of France for centuries. It is usually seen in one dimension: on fabric or china or clothing as a decoration or in pattern, a familiar shape, stylized. This one, in the round, in several kinds of metal, looks human - arms akimbo. Look at me! It is little, with a rod 5 1/2", but it has attitude.

Howard Scharfe and Marjorie Scharfe Hatpins collection, Fleur de Lis hatpin

Its history: Either an angel presented medieval King Clovis with one on the occasion of his conversion to Christianity; or, later, in the 1100's, it was King Louis VI who first adopted it for his shield; or King Louis VII. See ://www.fleurdelis.com/fleur.htm

English kings used the fleur de lis on coats of arms to show a claim to the French throne. Other knights also began to use it, without the same bona fides, leading to heraldry controls.

Politics: Joan of Arc used it
Religion: The Roman Catholic Church attaches it to the Virgin Mary; or the Trinity (the three "arms")
War: Some US Army divisions incorporate it to show martial strength.

Other sites: this one associates power, and light with the symbol, see ://www.fleurdelisfashions.com/history-of-the-fleur-de-lis.html. It may also represent a lotus.

Lengths of rods: These do not necessarily match with older or newer. Pin styles and rod lengths matched the proportion /size of the hat, or bonnet, or veil, or cap, sought to be held on. In some cases, shorter pins are older because they were used in the era before the Big Hats, the later Victorian and Edwardian. Or they could be newer, for the era after - the 1920's on, where hair was shorter, less useful as an anchor, and hats smaller.

Migration. Ideas. People. The story of the world. Somebody sees a good thing and would like part of it - no wonder. No keeping it behind fences. Might as well just relax and enjoy. Who are we without our stuff? Who are we without our ethnicity? Maybe we are just fine. Shall we let it happen and see. Immigrant ideas. Immigrant people. Us. Share the feast.

British Military connection? The fleur de lys was used as the badge of the 7th Battalion, Manchester Regiment, see ://www.arcticmedals.com/catalog/item/3730512/3441001.htm#image_1

More history at France Road Ways, Fleur de Lis/ Overview site - see ://www.anthemflag.com/itemdetail71.htm/

Christopher Columbus - Tiny, With Anchor

2008-07-30T13:19:00.008-04:00

Big-hat hatpins
Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus hatpin

Christopher Columbus. We think we have identified him by the costume.

At first, this looked like William Penn, but there is no hat and the coat is loose and flowy. The anchor here could have been connected to William Penn, however, who landed at a place called "Dock Creek" and an anchor can symbolize the landing, see ://www.williampenn.org/.

But Penn is usually shown as portly with hat and more tailored coat. Columbus has a wardrobe more like this one: a short skirty belted tunic and tights. Not Penn's style, so we conclude: Christopher Columbus. Silver metal, but no sterling mark. We can't read something there.

Back view, Christopher Columbus hatpin

Here is the back view. It is tiny, but with excellent detail. Statue down to the start of the rod is 1 1/4". The rod itself is 7 1/4" long. That puts it clearly in the Victorian or Edwardian era.

Do an Images search, and compare William Penn and Columbus. We think this is right.

Mystery lock? Two Fanciful Parts With Cat.

2008-07-30T11:34:00.003-04:00

Big-hat hatpins

Lock and key. A cat key.

What group was this for, if any? A fraternal order or what? Just a brass keyhole shape hatpin?

Howard C. Scharfe and Marjorie Scharfe Hatpin Collection, mystery lock, with separate cat key

Lock. It is flat to the rod, sitting flat on top of it and holding the pin straight out and flat, not in the same line as the rod, like a lollypop, rod 8 1/8", longest at 1 3/8", width 3/8". There are two holes in the bottom part that go through. Then, where you see the curved line, that flat part beneath is recessed by about 1/16" - so, top circle with the asymmetrical ears you can see, is above and out by 1/16". The ears would catch on something if the circle is rotated, it looks like. There is a circular design in the engraved pattern with lines radiating out. The larger center circle is in the center of that design.

Cat key, fits odd lock shape with it, hatpin pair

The Cat. Now, add the second pin - a match in style, but their meaning? Still looking. Meet the Mystery Cat. Rod 8 1/4". This one also protrudes out for the head, then there is the lower area, flat also but on a different plane.

Hold them both at an angle. The large hole on the Cat aligns with the small hole on the lock-looking shape above; and the small hole on the Cat aligns with the large hole on the Lock thing.

Looks rather Cheshire. Do an Images search, but ours has a more subdued cat-half-smile; and the cat does not disappear.

Old Quebec - The Golden Dog, Le Chien d'Or; William Kirby

2008-07-30T08:32:00.010-04:00

Big-hat hatpins
The Golden Dog

Howard C. Scharfe and Marjorie Scharfe Hatpin Collection, The Golden Dog, Quebec (Je suis un chien qui rongelo")
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The Golden Dog. This hatpin of dog and bone, in sterling with a black enamel rectangle inset, is modeled from a bas-relief * in Quebec, above the post office entry, see it at ://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Golden_dog.jpg.

We have been asked if we know the value of this or any other hatpin. No, we don't. Some are on ebay (gossamer258751 a/k/a Tree of Knowledge Books) but our starting asking price is just to get things started. Too many do not have comparables.

The inscription starting from the 9:00 position, thinking of a clock here, is Quebec; then at 12:00 is, "Je suis un chien qui rongelo," meaning roughly, "I am a dog who gnaws," and at the 3:00 our hatpin has a date 1735, but that date is not on the bas-relief at that place. The date 1736 is below the whole thing, at the post office bas relief. The date of the story, however, is 1748? See below.

At bottom on the front of the hatpin and the bas-relief, at the 6:00 is the further inscription, for Francophiles: "en le rongeant, je prends mon repos en tems viendra qui nes pas venu que je morder qui mauda mordu," or something like that. Hard to tell the u's from the v's because all is v's.

Inscription: Have to look it up. What it means:

"I am a dog who gnaws his bone/ I crouch and gnaw it all alone/ The time will come which is not yet/ When I'll bite him by whom I'm bit."

Translation from ://books.google.com/books?id=0zbdUkJkm10C&pg=PA94&lpg=PA94&dq=Quebec+golden+dog+translate&source=web&ots=JdxmmSRUlu&sig=pSB07N-_mYHuj2dFpYB5LCGy9Tw&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=2&ct=result

The story: "Le Chien D'Or / The Golden Dog - A Legend of Quebec" was written by William Kirby (writer and man of many talents), see Kirby's biography at ://www.biographi.ca/EN/ShowBio.asp?BioId=40948.

Information from that site: The book was published in 1877 by Lovell, Adam and Wesson & Co. NY and Montreal. It was beloved by Queen Victoria herself: a story of the New France, in 1748, before conquest by the British. With quirks and mistakes in copyright, Kirby received little for his efforts except fame, and later versions were unauthorized and abridged by others. It may even be impossible (?) to get a complete version any more. The New Canadian Library Series version 1969 is not it.

Try to find Pamphile leMay's, something out there reprinted in 1989? Still, think of the plot - New France as an Eden, one Francois Bigot as the Devil, destroying it and innocent people, and a tragic ending: good may only sometimes prevail, not always, and when it does, at huge cost, with enormous difficulty.

Backer, Golden Dog, Quebec hatpin

The backer: Still at it with the big magnifier. Tarnish and all, the inscription says, "A Dog Gnawing A Bone," and in line with the rod and partially covered by it, "Sterling." There is a hallmark on the left and the letter A on the right. Then: "While I am gnawing I take my rest _____ will come which is ________ soon when I will bite______________________."

Victorian Canada - "Old Quebec" was a frequent topic inAmerican and British literature and history of the times. See ://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3683/is_200410/ai_n9437655/pg_17

*Bas-relief: a "low-raised" technique, dimensional, but meant to be seen from one angle, not as a sculpture, with various views. See ://www.artlex.com/ArtLex/b/bas-relief.html

States, Places: Connecticut State Pin

2008-07-29T21:11:00.006-04:00

Big-hat hatpins
State of Connecticut Shield

State of Connecticut Shield, hatpin

The Great State of Connecticut. "Qui Transtulit Sustinet." Translated variously, "He who transplanted still sustains," or "He who transplanted continues to sustain." See http://www.netstate.com/states/mottoes/ct_motto.htm. Dates from a 1775 letter, or possibly the Psalm 80, another says the 79th Psalm, go check. Three grape vines. Clusters.

Governor Rell? Have a hat?

Hartford Courant August 18, 2008 - "Since You Asked" column, says:

flag made official in 1897
original seal had 15 grapevines, not our 3
1639 - English colonel George Fenwick used the original seal at Saybrook Colony (see our "Old Saybrook")
1711 -CT made a new seal, with the 3 grapevines perhaps to represent the then CT colonies or plantations of New Haven, Saybrook, and "Connecticut."

What everyone does agree on is this: there were lots of grapes here, not fenced in like in the Old World, wild, and here free to all. Reinstate that!

Or, is this from Psalm 80, "Thou has brought a vine out of Eqypt and planted it." Selah.

Lucky Symbols, Horseshoe, Gold Vein? Wishbone

2008-07-29T20:35:00.004-04:00

Big-hat hatpins
Gold vein in nugget hatpin
Lucky hatpins

Gold vein in nugget hatpin; horseshoes and wishbone hatpin

Rock with vein of gold running through - held with wires to the finding. Looks like gold - would take a jeweler. Rod is 7 1/2".

Two horseshoes, interlaced with a wishbone. Dainty, 5/6" wide, rod 8".

The Lethal Length of the Hatpin: Victorian, Edwardian

2008-07-29T18:13:00.006-04:00

Big-hat hatpins
Lethal weapon length

The Big Lily
Big Lily hatpin, lethal length 13"

Never Go Walking Out Without Your Hatpin, sang the bawdies of old London, and you can memorize the words at ://www.soileddoves.com/hatpin.html; and hear it at ://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pJ0NhhO4-s (you might want to shut your eyes).

Do a search for "bawdy cockney songs" and up will come one Elsa Lanchester and her version, "Never Go Walking Without Your Hatpin," without the "out" - enjoy.

These Victorian and Edwardian hatpins are weapons.

Big Lily, the hatpin on the first page of this site, has a rod that is 13" long. The blossom only adds another 3/4", however, so our bling one - still to be posted - is still champ. We have a "paste" one - looks like rhinestones, but probably not, and its rod is 12" long. The head of the pin is 2 1/4" tall. Total? 14 1/4" long. A weapon.

One hapless pastor, the Rev. S. H. Phillips of Durham (the news was from Bethlehem PA so think central) died in 1895 from a friendly jab in jest, in his leg, by a Miss Cope, a parishioner, reported by the New York Times on July 11, 1895. See://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9B04E3D7103AE533A25752C1A9619C94649ED7CF, and click to get the actual story. Cause of death: blood poisoning. He was 31. There was the prick, then six weeks, then the leg was amputated, and it did not work out well.

Hatpins were even advertised as weapons. Self-defense. See ://www.heliograph.com/trmgs/trmgs2/adventuress.shtml. Using the hatpin qualified for close combat rules: fencing. Typhoid Mary even used her hatpin to hold off the police trying to arrest her. That site shows some hatpins from the Sears & Roebuck catalogue 1897. Some swords are there. We have some, coming.

Hatpins are still used for protection. See://www.i-mockery.com/visionary/didyouknow.php.

There is somewhere on the net a poem from the era on how these were used. Ordinances: In Chicago, an ordinance was passed to prevent the long pins from injuring others in crowds if the wearer turned around quickly. See this one from 1910 - Violation can lead to arrest and a fine of $50, the exposed point of the pin could only protrude 1/2", and it passed 68-2. Women protested that the hatpins were their only defense - ://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9903EFDA1430E233A25751C2A9659C946196D6CF. In Paris: similar, 1913 - no exposed points in buses, etc. See http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9F04E6DE1F3BE633A2575AC0A9649D946296D6CF. Some people had been blinded.

That led to hatpin tip protectors, but enforcement was difficult, see Berlin and New Orleans incidents and descriptions at "The Good Old Days," book by David Lewis Cohn - ://books.google.com/books?id=0uB15d5hE38C&pg=PA347&lpg=PA347&dq=hatpin+ordinance&source=web&ots=cZ-L8iYSdg&sig=aTTSSznML8Av-f9m_WeMRx3JrQw&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=4&ct=result.

Crowns - Variations

2008-07-29T17:26:00.005-04:00

Big-hat hatpins
Crowns on hatpins

Crowns: Different crown shapes for different monarchs, some change mid-stream. Here is a site with many of them - perhaps all, British? See this Australia - New Zealand site at ://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-badges/00-badges-index.htm

The Victoria Crown, button hatpin

Victoria Crown, or the St. Edward's Crown - Think Alice in Wonderland's Queen, crown with a dip in the center, protruding out and up on either side. See ://www.worldcollectorsnet.com/magazine/issue20/iss20p2.html. The Victoria buttons had to be replaced when Victoria died, so they are very rare. Or is this rarity only for a particular Irish Regiment that wore them? Pictures of buttons at ://www.angelfire.com/wa/dianaspage/BritishButtonsPage.htm. None ours. Both the Hertfordshire Yeomanry and the Royal Canadian Regiment Smylie F111 can still wear it. for valor in WWI. Those also do not look like ours, however.

About the crown: //www.worldcollectorsnet.com/magazine/issue20/iss20p2.html. Shape also used by other monarchs, but is most associated now with Queen Victoria 1837, 1901. A/k/a St. Edward's Crown.

Crown of Aragon: See Hatpins Collection Tour, Insignias, Knights Templar.

Military Hatpins - Canada. Military Button Conversions.

2008-07-27T11:31:00.013-04:00

Big-hat hatpins
Canadian Mounted Police

Is one from William Scharfe? Could be. Hello.

Canadian Mountie button hatpin

The Mounties! 1904 or earlier. Canadian. Small, 3/4" across, rod 7 1/2". Victoria Crown on top, then banner with "Canada", and below that, a buffalo, see http://www.ucalgary.ca/~dsucha/mountie/macleod.html. Below that is"NWMP". North West Mounted Police. The Mounties. 1874-1904. See ://www.nwmpmuseum.com/historyofthenwmp.html.

NWMP, instead of other letters, see below, puts this button-hatpin at 1904 or earlier. This site shows a slightly different logo, with the French, "Maintain le droit," at://www.ucalgary.ca/~dsucha/mountie/mountlist.html.

The Northwest Territories came into the Dominion of Canada in 1873. The Hudson's Bay Company departed, leaving a vacuum in law enforcement on the frontier. The first two congingents of Mounties, probably not known by that name then, about 400 men, were trained and deployed in 1874 at Manitoba. Then their reach extended to Saskatchewan, and Fort Edmonton, and at a place called "Fort Whoop-Up" (thanks to the whiskey trade) in Alberta. Fort Whoop-Up later was renamed Fort Macleod, for Col. James Mcleod, see ://www.ucalgary.ca/~dsucha/mountie/macleod.html. See photos and a buffalo at ://www.canada-photos.com/alberta-photos-cat.htmand the role of the Mounties moved on to guarding and controlling settlements for the railroads, and new settlers. Then came the North West rebellion, native peoples; and the Yukon Gold Rush - always work to do.

1905-1919 - Edward VII added the "Royal" - Royal North West Mounted Police or RNWMP. That dates our button-pin as before Edward II, or 1904 at the latest.

1920 - Federal police then joined the RNWMP to become the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the RCMP. We like this stuff. Dad was Canadian. In WWII, the RCMP - took on intelligence, security roles.

See 1940 film, by Cecil B. DeMille ://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_West_Mounted_Police_(film). Gary Cooper! And W.C.Fields in "The Fatal Glass of Beer," 1933:" 'Tain't a fit night out for man nor beast," snow-in-the-face, slam, and "Officer Posthlewhistle of the Canadian Mounted." See ://louisville.edu/~kprayb01/WCFatal,beer.html,
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Canadian Engineers Military Button, Sappers, Hatpin

Canadian Engineers. The Sappers. Combat and other construction, troop movement facilitation. The lettering on this button-hatpin is too small and worn to be seen well here. The logo is a beaver, so think of the bottom part of the logo here as a log, with a beaver sitting on it facing left. See ://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Military_Engineers

WWI Canadian Engineers - the "sappers" - see them at ://www.art-ww1.com/gb/texte/024text.htmlengineers were to facilitate troop movement, whatever that required - bridges, anything. Tunnels under enemy trenches. See Vimy Ridge. See France Road Ways, Vimy Ridge; and a very rough overview at ://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sappers.

At Ypres, see Belgium Road Ways, Ypres; and their lines at http://www.greatwar.co.uk/westfront/ypsalient/secondypres/gravenstafel/images/bridgedemo1-2.gif. Ypres is now known as "Ieper." When you do a search, use both names. See Belgium Road Ways, Ieper; and Belgium Road Ways, Ieper, Menen Gate. Sappers - also in Palestine WWI, and Europe in WWII - look up their full deployments. Story of one from WWII at ://www.ww2f.com/battle-europe/13272-sword-beach-bremen-veterans-tale-sapper.html

When did the Royal Canadian Engineers come in? If the terminology follows the changes in the Mounties, then the Royal Canadian Engineers came in in 1904; and the just plain Canadian Engineers were until 1904? That would put our button-pin as pre WWI.

Study the demolition of bridges at the Battle(s) of Ypres at ://www.greatwar.co.uk/westfront/ypsalient/secondypres/gravenstafel/bridgedemo1.htm. April 22, 1915. See also the write-up and symbol with the beaver at http://army.ca/wiki/index.php/Canadian_Military_Engineers.

Military Buttons II - Victoria's Crown

2008-07-26T13:57:00.010-04:00

Big-hat hatpins
Victoria's Crown button

For a broad resource on military badges, see ://www.arcticmedals.com/page/page/3727538.htm.

Victoria Crown button. British. Large. 15/16", rod 8 5/8".

Victoria crown shape at top, lion rampant left, unicorn rampant right, garter around with the honi soit qui mal y pense, dieu et mon droit, thistle lower right, other florals, shield in center, four areas, harp lower left (Ireland? Is this one of the rare Irish ones? no idea), three stacked somethings upper left, tiny lion rampant in profile upper right, three larger stacked somethings lower right. On the back: Firmin & Sons LD, Birmingham. Means 1882 on. See ://www.angelfire.com/wa/dianaspage/BritishButtonBackmarks.html

The roundy crown also used by Victoria (made for her when she became Empress of India) is known as Teddy's Hat. Used 1901-1952. After 1952 (Elizabeth) went back to St. Edward's Crown. See Hatpins Collection Tour, Crowns.

See Victoria's Crown on other British military buttons (now our hatpins) at Hatpins Collection Tour, Military Buttons.

Keys to Scale; Photographic Technique

2008-07-24T11:29:00.006-04:00

The big-hat hatpins
How to set them up for photographing
The Sole of the matter

Photography mechanism, big-hat hatpins. Patent to be applied for.

The backdrop for many photos shows puckers - a Brawny paper towel. A circle consisting of three rings equals 1 1/4".

If you add the ring that then combines with other larger rings for other circles, then you have 1 1/2".

The pins are poked through and held in a tilted vase with gutter mesh inside, and angled further with an Earthshoe.

Animal Hatpins: Horse, Wolf, Boar, Lioness, Cat

2008-07-23T20:59:00.018-04:00

Animal Theme Hatpins

Cat hatpin, Victorian

Cat - The Cat appears in several categories, including locks and keys. See this one in another category, those that appear to be about groups, signs, and this looks like part of a lock system. Visit Hatpins Collection Tour, Mystery Lock, Two Fanciful Parts With Cat.

Cat in Circle, hatpin, Victorian

Cat - blue enamel circle surrounding open area with brass cat inside, green paste eyes. What the materials are in all of this is an amateur's best guess. Diameter - 1 3/8". Rod 11 3/4".

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Lioness hatpin, Victorian

Lioness - width 1 3/4; rod 8". Pressed metal, yellower than this shows. Back has four arms radiating from the suspended or raised pin finding, with each end fixed to an edge of the pin.

Old Biblical texts say animals have souls, in the oldest form. The history of old texts and comparing to various beliefs is a side interest: and if you are looking at animals here, you may be interested in their well-being. Maybe not. If so, go to the "transliteration" of Genesis 1:24, the oldest Hebrew with the word-for-word English beneath each line, at the site in FN 1 here.

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Boar hatpin, Victorian. Howard C. Scharfe and Marjorie Scharfe Hatpin Collection
.
Beware the crashing Boar. Covered here with a lot of somebody's old brass polish. Tiny - about 3/4" at longest point, and 7/8" from tip top to where the rod itself starts. Rod 9 3/4".

The boar is a Celtic icon, among other cultural groups who featured it. See http://www.writer2001.com/boars.htm. There is a boar whose breath could set leaves afire and did other fierce things. For Chinese boars (part of the zodiac) see http://www.artisticchinesecreations.com/chinesescroll132.html. So far, ours is not Chinese, and not Celtic. Not fierce enough.

Little boar hatpin, Victorian

Here he is again. Polish rinsed a little. In heraldry, the boar symbolizes bravery, the fight until dead. See http://www.fleurdelis.com/meanings.htm

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Wolf's head hatpinWolf's head hatpin, Victorian. Ivory. Ivory. 7/8" at widest point, 3/4" top to bottom. The rod is 8 1/2" and attaches back from the lower jaw-cheek, at a line below the ear, toward the neck. It sticks straight out. The head is bifurcated, as though the halves were joined, see the line at the center bottom. It goes up between the nostrils and eyes. Two halves.

This looked just like any nice animal wolf's head, until we were looking up military insignias and crests. See it also at Hatpins Collection Tour, Military. Scroll down.

The wolf's head and its profile and shape as shown here, is also an insignia that represents the 27th Infantry, a result of a nickname for the regiment, the Wolfhounds. See http://www.tioh.hqda.pentagon.mil/Inf/27th%20Infantry%20Regiment.

The motto is "Nec Aspera Terrent," or "Frightened By No Difficulties." The regiment dates from 1901, was in battle in the Philippines (Lake Lanao, especially, see it at http://lakelanao.com/main/index.php; and General Pershing and WWI at http://www.worldwar1.com/dbc/pervandiver.htm); and later, after The Great War, participated in the Siberian Expedition 1918-1920.

We think this belongs with the military, after reading about the Siberian Expedition, and why US forces were in Russia at the time of the Russian Revolution, see http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA283474

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Horse head hatpin, VictorianHorse head. An action shot. Rod 8". Length 1 1/8" then height 2/3". No sterling mark, back is a flat piece, front looks pressed out. Back has two holes on either side of the finding attachment.

"Power, grace, beauty, nobility, strength, freedom." See ://www.whats-your-sign.com/horse-symbol-meanings.html

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Find more animal themes at the Damascene technique section: Hatpins Collection Tour, Damascene.
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FN 1 - Animals and souls at Creation, oldest Hebrew. Site: ://www.scripture4all.org/OnlineInterlinear/Hebrew_Index.htm. Click on Genesis 1 and scroll.

Find this: "and he is saying Elohim she shall bring forth the earth soul living to species of her beast and moving animal and animal of him land to species of her and every moving animal of the ground and he is seeing Elohim that good" No punctuation in oldest Hebrew, no spacing for phrases. A "mechanical" translation, not words as interpreted by a later culture.

As background, dry parts earth is spoken of as feminine, "she," and the waters and wet are spoken of as masculine, "he." We don't genderize this way. But it may help understand that old text better. Just for interest. See it ongoing at Martin Luther's Stove, Additional Transliteration Site.

Hatpins with crests: Alberta (Canada) heraldry

2008-07-15T20:27:00.010-04:00

See this site for an overview of the meaning of crest symbols: http://www.fleurdelis.com/meanings.htm. Some hatpins cross into different categories. This site has hundreds of crests: ://www.militarybadges.info/pages/uk/crest-brit.htm

Province of Alberta, Canada. Enamel crest, white, a circular ring that is lopsided, narrow at bottom, with the crest placed inside. Top of ring is a green viney motif. The crest is a red cross with the arm the longest, and the up-down part really short. Then below is a blue sky area, then mountains, then a sea perhaps.

Enamel technique: See ://www.hardrockcafepins.com/enamel.htm

At the site:

wavy line means sea or water, check.
maybe the cross is only a "nebuly line" meaning clouds

Ours here looks like the one at this Google search - images search - see the Alberta (Canada) coat of arms, at ://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://images.civicheraldry.com/120/g_alberta.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.civicheraldry.com/page/1840&h=212&w=200&sz=23&hl=en&start=188&um=1&tbnid=yFS-iRyuftwVrM:&tbnh=106&tbnw=100&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcrest%2Bheraldry%2Bmountains%26start%3D180%26ndsp%3D20%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26channel%3Ds%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26hs%3DLuF%26sa%3DN

That is hugely long, so try your own search in images for crest heraldry mountains. It is at the 10th page of that search. Hurrah. Virtue rewarded. Easier to find at ://www.civicheraldry.com/page/1840.

This makes sense because we do have a button on a long hatpin for the Alberta Light Horse Cavalry, and that would be World War I. Will find it. Howard Scharfe (this collection) is/was Canadian, Ottawa, Ontario, naturalized here in the 1930's. Relatives all over.

Amber -

2008-07-13T18:42:00.008-04:00

Howard Scharfe and Marjorie Scharfe Hatpin Collection, amber hatpinAmber is a petrified pitch or resin, often with insects trapped inside and visible. Good history of it, and its uses by humans, at ://www.emporia.edu/earthsci/amber/amber.htm. Even the name "Bernstein" represents amber.

It washes up on beaches, at an age of some 30-90 million years (!), where in the old days, it was collected and traded along "The Amber Roads" of history - including the lovely beach at Sopot, Poland, see Poland Road Ways, Sopot, Amber Trade. Here is a site for working with Baltic amber: ://www.amberworld.com/roh2.htm. Read about The Amber Road at ://www.bernsteinstrasse.net/website.php?id=/en/news261/project-amber-road.htm.

This triangular one has carving on it. Bugs perhaps inside.

This little round one is clearer.

Amber made Knights and others rich. From the beaches in Poland to the Vistula River through Germany to the Po Valley in Italy. See ://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/amber.htm. Teutonic Knights controlled the trade for a long time. See Poland Road Ways, Malbork, Marienburg. Military maneuvers for the real purpose of economic gain - not a new concept, eh wot?

Greens - Guillochet, Cloisonne, Other

2008-07-13T11:23:00.008-04:00

Guillochet and Cloisonne: green enamel -

This is a combinationo piece, diameter 1 1/2", rod length 10"

a) Guillochet is a technique of etched undermaterial, with a surface superimposed; see how to do it in easy-to-read form at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guilloche. Here, the center looks like a chrysanthemum, and the outer ring is foliage with concentric lines, interspersed with diagonal, decorative divider things; and

b) Cloisonne - a high quality technique - many steps, pressing out a cast, ending with recessed areas and an area of metal separating them, pour in paint powders, heat so it all fuses, finish.

Techniques discussed at ://www.hardrockcafepins.com/enamel.htm.

The Greens will come up as we do them.

The Saw - Must Be A Story. Advertising Hatpins.

2008-07-13T11:16:00.008-04:00

No, this little saw is not a designation of rank anywhere. It is just an advertising gimmick - in brass we think, and some white metal, no sterling mark. Tiny words on the blade top say something like The Simonds Saws Are The Best.

Howard C. Scharfe and Marjorie Scharfe Hatpin Collection, Simonds Saws Co. Advertising Hatpin

Here is Simonds, still in business, and at ://www.simonds.cc/ for Simonds International. Our pin rod is 8" long. Handle could even be rose gold, but there is no marking, so we guess just brass. Untarnished. Wouldn't brass tarnish?

A great American success story, it looks like. Go to the site for a detailed history of products, work for the war effort in WWII, mergers, and return to private ownership in 1988.

The site says Simonds was founded in 1832, Fitchburg, MA, making saws and knives, with successive factories and branching into Montreal and Chicago, then steel mills. It had a celebration for the 1832-2007 anniversary - the 175th. Other offices at Singapore, British Columbia, Shanghai, Barcelona, Germany and Latin America. And England, Texas, Ohio, many other states.

Notes of congratulations for their success may be sent to the World Wide Headquarters, 135 Intervale Road, PO 500, Fitchburg, MA 01420. I came, I saw.

Go, little saw, go. Other advertising hatpins are here: not ours - ://anphatpins.blogspot.com/

Scots Theme - Thistles, Crests. "Wha Daurs Meddle Wi' Me?"

2008-07-13T11:15:00.009-04:00

Howard C. Scharfe and Marjorie Scharfe Hatpin Collection, Edinburgh crest memento hapin
Scots themes. Pittsburgh had many Scots families.

Places.

Edinburgh commemorative enamel hatpin, with the name "Edinburgh," beside a central top anchor, a unicorn on the right holding a symbol for Edinburgh Castle, on the rocks, and a lady on the left. Nothing like it at ://www.rampantscotland.com/symbols/blsymbols_crests.htm. Maybe just early 20th Century tourism. Or purchased on a whim while on the Grand Tour. See ://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Tour. Looks like it. Just a drawing of something else?

Yes and No. Here it is, in its formal version, at ://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/CEC/CorporateServices/CorporateCommunications/coatofarms/crest.html. The Arms of the City of Edinburgh Council - since early 1700's and updated periodically. Rules here are strict, even with updatings.

castle, three towers
anchor, for the Earl of Forth
banner, with "Nisi Dominus Frustra" or a contraction of an old verse, "Except the Lord in Vain" - fr0m Psalm 127
supporter on left: maiden, many tales, perhaps stemming from use of castle as refuge, even nunnery
supporter on right, a doe, see St. Giles
coronet over castle, for the statutory council of the city

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Symbols. Meet the thistle. It was first used on Scots coins in 1470, James III.

Scots history, and the thistle: For 600 years, Scotland was ruled by the Kingdom of Norway - and at the Battle of Largs, 1263, they were defeated. It is said (believe!) that a Norseman stepped on a thistle while the soldiers were attempting a secret advance, and called out, alerting the locals, the Scots. See ://www.mcgrorty.com/thistle.htm. Scots motto: "Nemo me impune lacessit!" or "Noone harms me without punishment!" says the mcgrorty site. Common translation: "Wha daurs meddle wi' me?"

Thistle, enamel inlay surround, thistle in center. One red enamel bit is missing on the left.

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Single thistle, purple (amethyst or glass?)

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Thistle badge form, topaz on thistle or deep yellow glass?

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The thistle also appears on Queen Victoria's Scots Guards badge, see ://www.militarybadges.info/pages/uk/UK-1800.htm. There are also Third Foot Guards or Scots Guards with the thistle, see ://footguards.tripod.com/01ABOUT/01_Companies/01_companies00.htm. We think we might have some.

Intensive care; parts exchange available

2008-07-13T11:14:00.005-04:00

Openwork setting, stone missing from center. Head is asymmetrical: one arm at the right, two arms stand out at the left there.

Imagine the right arm as a dragon head - then there are two little wings out each side, and at the back, the widely spaced part. Like a fanciful amusement park coach? Part of a Venetian masqued ball parade! A gondola. Oh, swoon. Rod 6".

These are hatpins the worse for wear, kept in case parts are usable, or someone could repair them. Our walking wounded.

Metal - Sculptural, Pressed Faces, Some Two-Sided

2008-07-13T11:12:00.015-04:00

Grim fellow's head, holding a ring in his mouth, like a miniature knocker. This one has two sets of three hallmarks on the back, cannot figure them out. Flat ring around edge, some raised marks there as well, seem to be positioned specifically, not at all symmetrical around the ring, some square, two trapezoids, or like a little raised four-pointed star. Topknot on head. Seen from the side, the head is raised, juts out - all the better to knock loud. Small, for all this ferocity - diameter 11/16", rod 7 3/4".

Happy lady in big hat. Whitish-brassish metal, pressed. Length 1 1/8". Rod loops in back through the face part so the pin and the face are on the same plane, like a pen on a clip in your pocket. Rod 6" in all. Cheery, pressed out, like a cookie cutter. Thin stamp-out. No backer, no thickness at all.

Group photo. We refer to some of these, in the individual write-ups,, by their o'clock position here. This also may help give an idea of their relative sizes. The happy lady, above, missed the group photo.

Fat little man, leprechaun ethnicity?

Or does he reside under one of the bridges in Grimm's tales? Or a fat little Puck.

At 1:00 in the picture, a favorite. See a brassy trapezoidy shape with a chubby elfin little man, sitting, feet straight out and foreshortened so all you see are the soles, and toes, as he sits on his hands and squints. Like a fat Puck, almost oriental face. But not dainty at all. Moon face. Big ears. 2 1/4" x 1 3/8". Rod 9 1/2".

A fat little man twin-like. Same pose. Feet up. We just found this match for the first one, but this next one is smaller and yellower metal, with a stone and a more raised and different background design, in an oval shape. It looks brass - made at different times? same chubby fellow, same feet out, but with what looks like jade, a round jade to the left. Could be fake, is that a chip down there?

Twins. We may need another category. 1 3/4" x 1 1/4". His shape is shown as pressed out when you look at the underside. Pin rod 10". This one looks "better" than the trapezoidy one, that looks cheaper, but who are we.

Two-faced Girl, face on both sides, Faces in Gold-tone free form glob, swirls, roundy. Rod 8 1/2", face is there but you have to look closely. The hair swirls at the left, then there is the profile.

Howard Scharfe and Marjorie Scharfe Hatpin Collection, Moorish head hatpin
Who? See the headdress, looping under the chin. Moorish? The face here is matched by the same face on the other side. Two-face. Rod 7 3/4".

Or Janus?

If the two sides here were more three-dimensional in profile, it would look more like it. Do an Images search for Janus, the Roman god.

Janus has two faces, but they are conjoined farther back on the head, not making the slim profile we get here if we turn the pin sideways.

For each, though, the profile of each face looks out in the opposite direction.

Janus is the Roman god that was positioned at door entryways, to watch the going out and the coming in. See ://www.pantheon.org/articles/j/janus.html.

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We think the two in this section are a pair, and both Masonic.

Lady Face Rosette I. Diameter 2/3", rod 8", a little bit bent. Tough use, tough hat. The pin background is a five-petal floral. It is made in this upside-down way. If you hold it straight up, the head faces down. It does not swivel. You would have to put that one in aiming from low to up and out in order for it to be seen well. If you put it in your pocket like a pen with a clip, it is upside down. Enough.

There is a backer, with "sterling top" on it, and a five-pointed star shaped hole in the backer. These markings and materials look identical to Floral II below, and the discussion of whether this could be a "rosette" despite having only 5 sides, not 8. The ancient Egyptian form of rosette was 8 sides. See a 28,000(!) year old design found in Russia with more sides than that. ://www.recoveredscience.com/Phaistosebook05.htm. See in "rosetta stone" that held the key to the meaning of many hieroglyphics.

See various rosettes designs at ://www.graphicxtras.com/products/illustrator_symbols_rosettes_33.htm

Lady Face Rosette II. - Length of head 1 1/4" at longest point, top to bottom, and width 1 1/8Rod 7 1/2"Lady face in the middle of three asymmetrical roses or rosettes, silver. Overall shape is strongly triangular. She looks supremely confident.

Rose or Rosette - in Germany, symbol for confidentiality, see Germany Road Ways, Burg Eltz. The tour materials there (English cards as you followed around the German) said, as we recall, that Electors met there to elect the next Emperor - the rosette was over the door. Whatever was said in that room, under the rose, stayed under the rose - " sub rosa."

The Wikipedia article on "sub rosa" attributes other meanings. Most follow the same theme of confidentiality. The Burg Eltz website does not mention it, or else we missed it. see ://www.burg-eltz.de/e_index.html.

This site affirms that the rose symbol is for silence, and gives the history, and says it is a common masonic symbol. And here is our star - see ://www.subrosamagick.com/Articles/SubRosa.html. Other uses of words with same rose root - http://consultsos.com/pandora/rose.htm

Masonic: rose, freemason symbol of silence, sworn to. A Master Mason's apron has 3 "rosettes" (they use the word) meaning fidelity to the craft, silence as to proceedings, and secrecy as to "sacred secrets." See ://www.themasonictrowel.com/Articles/Symbolism/general_files/the_3_rosettes_on_a_mm_apron_explained.htm. This takes the history back to Egypt, Greeks, Romans, others. Everybody loves a rose. "A rose is a rose is a rose." Gertrude Stein

There is a row of symbols there at masonictrowel - one is a Victoria crown.

Underside says "sterling front" and here is a punched out star on the back plate. Hollow.

These two must be a pair - not twins, but the themes are the same, lady face, rosette /rose on one, multiple roses/ rosettes on the other, identical markings for sterling front, and the backer with the star (each with five points, identical).
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Lady Face, Goldy-brassy and Silver, triangular two-sided Masonic? 11:30. Pressed, hollow, two-faces, one each side. On one side, though, is a maltese cross beneath the chin, and inside that, a tiny center section that looks like enamel,with the sliver moon, three stars below, and a T resting on some ground. Very tiny. Does not look like a cross inside the circle, armpieces dip. Art Nouveau style face, with swirl hair. Leaf shapes, look like ginkgo, or other trefoil. Branch of the Masons? Rod 7 3/4". Width longest part 1 3/8" at bottom of triangle, other sides about 1 1/8".

Why a ginkgo? We just planted one. We would have expected a rosette symbolic theme, see Ladyface Rosettes above.

There is much on supposed Masonic symbolism, including hand positions in art and elsewhere, with the ring and middle fingers together, the forefinger and pinky separated to make an "M" - see ://www.scribd.com/doc/3289775/Famous-Freemasons-Exposed. It is all foreign to us, but we do see the sliver moon and stars, and the cross.

Republique Francaise Liberty Lady. 2:00 in the picture - The Republique Francaise is inscribed on the top of the coin, going around the circumerence - bronze? a coin shape, with a relief figure of Lady Liberty, wearing the Phrygian Cap of historic fame. The hat - see Hello, Fodder, Fodderwear - Phrygian Cap. There is a bar across the back, where the finding is attached. Rod 8". Diameter 1 1/4" scant.

We love our big magnifying glass. There on the back in tiny writing is something like "patent August 11 1923" we think. Ha - look that up and we find that is the date that some poor soul was taken to a train station and never seen again - insurance coverage for the disappeared case - see ://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=ok&vol=/supreme/1934/&invol=39151.

More promising as to connection is this one: a review of Year 1923, and we find Mussolini and Hitler acting up. See ://www.answers.com/topic/1923

Many here are art nouveau in style, with faces in floral or swirly hair background designs. Better and individual photos as we have time.

Go to the animals section for the Horse head. 3:00 in the picture. Angle is wrong for really seeing it. Fine action pose. Silvery, rod 8". There are three holes in a row on the underside, with the finding attached at the middle one. Was this once a pin of some sort? 1 1/4" at longest part.

Lady face, upswept Victorian hairdo 1900. At 7:30. Looks like your aunt. Topknot. Can't see anything written on back plate, but very dirty. Rod 7". How did we get at the 1900? have to look. Flat backing has two little holes in it.

Photos to come:

Lady head with swirls looking again like rosettes, triangular, long hair, flat backing with a star punched out in the back - what on earth is that? An actual star shaped hole there.

The Yellows - Stones. Topaz, Other. Hatpins

2008-07-13T11:11:00.008-04:00

Howard Scharfe and Marjorie Scharfe Hatpin Collection, topaz color selection hatpins

Rhinestoney Bigs

2008-07-13T11:10:00.003-04:00

Glitz Queen. Top totally crusted with glam, bling, paste or rhinestone, we have to learn. Rod length 12". Diameter of head, 1 5/8".

Glitz Queen with friend.

Shell, Ivory, Pearly

2008-07-13T11:09:00.002-04:00

These are the shells and pearly shell bits.

Coming: ivory florals

L'il stone, l'il nugget (very l'il)

2008-07-13T11:06:00.004-04:00

Howard C. Scharfe and Marjorie Scharfe Hatpin Collection, rock with gold veinsStriking it Rich. Stone about 1" at longest point, rod is 7 1/2"

This stone, held by wire on the pin rod, has a little vein of gold it looks like, going through.

Don't get your hopes up.

Marbles and Balls

2008-07-13T11:01:00.004-04:00

War - Bullet, Regiments

2008-07-13T10:59:00.007-04:00

Howard C. Scharfe and Marjorie Scharfe Hatpin Collection, bullet on a hatpinTrying to find out what bullet this is. Length 1 1/4", diameter 1/4". Boom. Rod 8".

Sports - Golf, Baseball

2008-07-13T10:57:00.015-04:00

A. All these are golf clubs. The angle does not show some well. Measurements coming. To be photographed - the topaz-colored glass golf club top left, with the silver overlay. Looks like glass. Not sure. A similar one in green glass with silver overlay is dated at 1900 at this site, ://www.bathantiquesonline.com/antiques-collectibles/hat-pins-hatpins/antique-hat-pins-hatpins-collectibles-1.html

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Three silver/ silvery golf club drivers:

1. This golf club has a silver hallmark, an anchor and an animal, and the rest we can't decipher. Head is just under 1", then the cuff at ", then the rod at 7 3/4".

There is one like this dated at 1900 at this site, ://www.bathantiquesonline.com/antiques-collectibles/hat-pins-hatpins/antique-hat-pins-hatpins-collectibles-1.html

Other golf hatpins 1910 at 051ls ://www.bonhams.com/cgi-bin/public.sh/pubweb/publicSite.r?sContinent=EUR&screen=ResultXDescPrint&iSaleNo=15798

56 92 ls

They do start to look alike. This one has a trapezoidy marking for the sweet spot on the club, and a pointy oval marking on the other side of the club.

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2. Golf club, our biggest head although it does not look it here, and with picture of a golfer and clubhouse and in flag on base, at bottom. No sterling marks.

Head is over 1" long, then the cuff at 1 1/4", and the rod at 7". The head has a shaped pointy tip, more than the others, like a ship's prow.

Here is its base, with the golfing scene - golfer finishing a drive, and clubhouse with flag behind. One like it is at lot 301 at ://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/4195989

No sterling mark, no hallmark.

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3. Golf club with sterling mark. J something& Co?

This resembles another here, but is smaller - head about 5/8" long, then add the cuff before coming to the rod, another 7/8"; then the rod itself at 7 3/4".

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Then, two topazy glass drivers:

4. Golf club - this is a driver, but the flat end is facing out, not the curve part, in a deep topaz-color glass probably.

Rod = 9 3/4".

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Howard C. Scharfe and Marjorie Scharfe Hatpin Collection, one of several golf club hatpins5. Fancier driver, topazy-glass? With mark on the silver, "MMF". Rod - 9".

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B. Other sports

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Howard C. Scharfe and Marjorie Scharfe Hatpin Collection, jockey or possibly baseball player hatpinSterling shouter. Is this baseball or a jockey? The long brim would catch the wind in a horserace, or even hit the horse's neck if the jockey leans over, butt up, head at the mane. Rod here is 7". Head of pin is just over 1".

Still, someone else has a jockey hatpin, and the hat has the long brim as this one has. See ://anpmorehatpins.blogspot.com/. So: need to look up jockey uniforms through the years. In baseball, the long brim would shield the sun. Still checking.

Jockey may be closer to the recreational interests of the leisure classes?

Insignias, Special Symbols (Groups); Masons, Knights Templar, Swastika, Other

2008-07-13T10:51:00.018-04:00

Howard Scharfe and Marjorie Scharfe Hatpin Collection, Knights Templar Chartiers Commanderie hatpin

1. Knights Templar symbol, with a crown and angled cross, this time with laurels around. Top is 7/8" wide. The rod is 9" long. On the back is raised lettering, the Chartiers Commanderie KT 78. Look that up and find that there is a Knights Templar chapter #78 at Chartiers, PA near Pittsburgh.

In cemeteries, this site says that the symbol of the Crown and Cross is put inside a Maltese Cross - the equal sided cross from the Crusades.

Crown: Could be the symbolic Crown of Aragon. See://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/03/Aragon_Arms-crown.svg/436px-Aragon_Arms-crown.svg.png. In 1130 they had a large presence in the Crown of Aragon, Spain. See ://www.lleida.org/domustempli/english/order.htm.

The Knights Templar were a militant order of monks founded 1120 to protect Pilgrims going to and at the Holy Land, as well as conducting their own financial and other activities. See ://cemeteries.wordpress.com/2006/09/23/knights-templar-in-hoc-signo-vinces/. That Maltese Cross is missing here, and the laurel shown.

The symbol at the site also is within another cross: crown, on Maltese cross, all on regular cross: larger and straight-up cross behind; and has the Latin "in hoc signo vinces" - for "in this sign, conquer," first used by Constantine in the 4th Century, and the entire symbol plus Latin seen on some graves. Freemasons in the 1600's began using Templar rituals. This symbol of ours does not have the Latin. See FN 1

Maltese Cross Flag, Templar Square, Prague CZ

2. Here is a picture of a Maltese Cross. Prague was a center for Knights Templar activities during the Crusades, as on one of the routes to the Holy Land, and after, when the Knights were expelled from the Holy Land. See ://www.lleida.org/domustempli/english/order.htm.

This symbol of ours, top, hatpin, does not have the Latin.

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Howard Scharfe and Marjorie Scharfe Hatpin Collection, Masonic Figural hatpin

Figural hatpin, Masonic with Maltese Cross beneath chin, and Masonic symbols in center.

Freemasons in the 1600's began using Templar rituals.

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3. Swastika

Swastika. The hooked cross, or old-termed swastika, used to be a symbol of peace and prosperity. See ://www.thegavel.net/Octbat.html.

Howard Scharfe and Marjorie Scharfe Hatpin Collection, hooked cross hatpin, predates WWII era

Swastika or from the Sanskrit.

It was only at WWII that the German use of it morphed that old symbol into death and oppression. Hitler turned it around to be left-turning, apparently, as (story tells) he was left-handed. Bad luck.

The old symbol, from the Sanskrit, had been right-turning, for life. Good luck.

The gavelnet site says the symbol is found as early as Troy. Also some native Americans, and in Great Britain. Am not clear on the left-turning and right-turning. This one is angled to the right. Is that not the German, then? Do an images search for German swastika and they all turn this way. Do a search for a Sanskrit swastika, and it also turns this way. Do a search for left turning swastika, and you see the difference, but we see no German connection there. See both with that search.

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FN 1
Knights Templar Chartiers Commandery. Large, 15/16", flat, rod 9" long, see identification used at http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.geocities.com/garys_hoard/Buttons/butt/Militarybutton08.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.geocities.com/garys_hoard/Buttons/millbut.html&h=255&w=300&sz=22&hl=en&start=42&tbnid=YXJJYjclhvOYxM:&tbnh=99&tbnw=116&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dqueen%2527s%2Bguard%2Bbutton%26start%3D40%26gbv%3D2%26ndsp%3D20%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN. Button has diagonal cross going to upper right, behind a crown, leaves going around outside. On back: Chartiers Commandery 78 KT. Chartiers is outside Pittsburgh, in Carnegie. They meet at 600 Washington Avenue on the 4th Thursday. Is the 78 KT for 1878 Knights Templar? No, the 78 is just the number of the organization, looks like.

Unknown group. Set it down somewhere here. Ouch.
Not there.

Military - Buttons, Insignias, Other. US 27th Infantry?

2008-07-13T10:50:00.018-04:00

Military buttons - from a distance, look similar. Up close, not so. And all military-related symbols are not just on buttons. See the wolf head here, that we think represents the US 27th Infantry, below.. It is also shown in the animals hatpins post because we aren't sure of the category.

Military buttons hatpins, Group photo

To identify, as a start we tried the British://www.militarybadges.info/pages/uk/ribbons.htm, but cannot enlarge the hundreds of buttons/ badges enough on that site to see detail.

We see for the American buttons: ://www.thetreasuredepot.com/cayenna/home.html. But can't activate the navigation. Trying://metaldetectingworld.com/buttons.shtml

1. Honi Soit Qui Mal Y Pense. Small. British. rampant on left (facing us) and faces viewer. Unicorn rampant on right, in profile. Crown on top of button, no lion on top of it. 7 1/2 " rod, button 5/8" across, shield area. Latin looks like "Honi Soit Qui Mal Y Pense" that to us meant Order of the Garter, but in the Cronin collection of badges at the military badges site, is seen on two badges there, one RSM 1988, so phrase still recently in use. Latin at bottom may be "Dieu at mon droit." The back: Appears to say Play Bros. Cannot find that on internet.

The motto, Honi Soit Qui Mal Y Pense appears on Queen Victoria's 1st Dragoon Guards badge, see ://www.militarybadges.info/pages/uk/UK-1800.htm

The lion and unicorn with a lion above appears at ://www.militarybadges.info/images/r-m/16.jpg - master gunner or 1st class staff sergeant? Also regimental sergeant major/ See ://www.militarybadges.info/images/r-m/17.jpg.

1.1 Honi Soit With The Royal Garter (looks like belt buckle)

- Large. 15/16" Rod 8 1/2". Lion rampant left side, Unicorn rampant right side, Lion on top, just over another detailed symbol, can't figure it out. Garter symbol around, on which "Honi Soit Qui Mal Y Pense" is written. "Dieu et mon droit" at bottom. Central shield, worn, looks like four areas. Could be ://footguards.tripod.com/01ABOUT/01_Companies/01_companies00.htm, similarities, but no top portion above with the little additional lion we have. Also, that site is for Revolutionary War. For hatpins, we are looking later than the Revolutionary War, when large hats were in style.

Honi soit: The Order of the Garter. Three tales. One, that King Edward III used his leg garter to signal battle, perhaps at Crecy. Two, that he was dancing with a lady and, gasp, her garter fell to the floor. The King swooped it up, and gallantly placed it around his own leg, saying the honi soit - "Evil to him who evil thinks." Three, that the King named a new Order and Brotherhood in honor of the Table Round, commemorating Arthur, the Order of the Blue Garter. See://www.berkshirehistory.com/articles/garter.html. Great detail there of the history.

Note the crown - Victoria's Crown.

1.2 Second, smaller button: Here is one like the larger one above, rod 7 1/2", width 1/2". From a cuff instead of a front button?

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Howard Scharfe and Marjorie Scharfe Hatpin Collection, military button, perhaps General Sickles Excelsior Brigade, NY 3. Excelsior (on back) - United States New York. Could be General Sickles Excelsior Brigage 1861, below, who knows? See article. Medium. 3/4" across, 6 1/2" rod. Eagle rampant (to us that means wings outstretched, face in profile). Flat ring around, then high dome, raised stars going around, lined field, shield divided with two vertical areas: Left, sunburst with mountains and sea below. Left, American flag shield form, half of it, with stars all in top part, then stripes vertical below. Back: John W. Boylan, NY Then: SNY.

Here it is, on eBay, at ://cgi.ebay.com.sg/ANTIQUE-EXCELSIOR-NEW-YORK-MILITARY-BUTTON-BY-BOYLAN-NY_W0QQitemZ250239063538QQihZ015QQcategoryZ41195QQcmdZViewItem. Nobody's buying. Says that Excelsior is the NY state motto. There is an 1800's version at ://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,57217.0.html, but that is not ours.

See NYT article July 17, 1861, about local military movements, General Sickles' Excelsior Brigade, at http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=980DE6D61639E43BBC4F52DFB166838A679FDE&oref=slogin.
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Howard Scharfe and Marjorie Scharfe Hatpin Collection, military button, military button, civil war enlisted man4. Civil War Enlisted Man's Coat Button,Medium, shield level with eagle, see ://howardlanham.tripod.com/link26.htm. Eagle with shield at center, flag symbols, stars on top area, then striping vertical below. 7/8" wide, rod 6" long. Those made after 1875 have a raised shield.

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5. N.G. - British heraldry, still looking. The double unicorns supporting the shield is unusual to us. More often, lion and unicorn. There is a Canadian unicorn connection, and with the Canadian items we have, perhaps. See below about unicorns. But not US. No flag, no stars or stripes. Unicorns Rampant. Medium. 7/8", rod 6". Back says Waterbury Button Co. and that is probably Waterbury CT? Primitive tiny eagle at top with a keystone over its head, then two unicorns rampant with shield between but not American flag type. Looks like on shield is crown at top, then a single symbol of something below, and below that, three symbols (alike but not like the one above) in a row. Leaves-laurels go around left side, but different, simpler florals around right side. Now to find that one: so far, no luck.

Ok. Here are Victorian UK badges and symbols, at http://www.militarybadges.info/pages/uk/UK-1800.htm.They have many eagles, including for Waterloo, so have to be careful in assuming eagles on our buttons are American.

Unicorns: Yes, these are in Canada. Believe. See ://pages.infinit.net/cerame/heraldicamerica/etudes/unicorn.htm. There are nose-horned dinosaurs, and one who did not fit on the Ark was towed behind by the horn, and unfortunately drowned. There are unicorn sightings still. Also associations with the Holy Ghost, Virgin Mary, then medieval things. Also appears in Arabia, and the 3d Century BC, and original home possibly Atlantis. Believe! Then, from Scots royalty in the 1400's using the unicorn to support the central shield, we come to Canadians using the Unicorn to support the shield as well: dexter supports for Arms of Manitoba and Newfoundland. Still can't find ours. Trying ://www.unicorn-fellowship.com/heraldry.htm. Scots connection with unicorn supports again, but not ours. This one discusses terms and poses,://www.heraldsnet.org/saitou/parker/Jpglossu.htm. History of heraldry at http://www.bryanrawlings.com/about-heraldry.asp. Giving up on our button with the N.G. for now.

Here is something. "C.G." designates the Coldstream Guards, British, see ://footguards.tripod.com/01ABOUT/01_Companies/01_companies00.htm. So what are other Guards called? Any N's?
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6. General Service Button? British, large 15/16", rod 8 1/2", looks like this one at http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.geocities.com/garys_hoard/Buttons/butt/Militarybutton08.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.geocities.com/garys_hoard/Buttons/millbut.html&h=255&w=300&sz=22&hl=en&start=42&tbnid=YXJJYjclhvOYxM:&tbnh=99&tbnw=116&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dqueen%2527s%2Bguard%2Bbutton%26start%3D40%26gbv%3D2%26ndsp%3D20%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN. If so, is 1901-1953. Honi soit, dieu et droit, lion and unicorn, crown, with another lion above, shield, hard to tell if identical to picture. Looks like the harp LL, three stacked symbols UL, hard to tell UR, LR. On back: _____ison & Smith LTD
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7. New Zealand Volunteers. Tiny. 1/2", rod 5 1/2". Back: West ____ Button Co. Words written around top, with four little stars in a square in the center. They are shown as 1895-1911, see a picture of five of them WWI at ://www.nzhistory.net.nz/files/images/stories/anzac/anzac-021.jpg.

Fun - go to the site, expecting to see WWI soldiers. But the picture includes a lady. The Fifth person in the picture is one Ettie Rout, a WWI "safe sex campaigner" who saw venereal disease as a medical and not a moral problem. She educated, and gave out treatments, and sold kits for treatments, with powders, ointments, condoms. See ://www.nzhistory.net.nz/media/photo/ettie-rout. The New Zealanders were at the Gallipoli campaign, Egypt. She organized women to go frm NZ to Cairo to help her. She ultimately put together her own kit to sell the soldiers.

The NZ Expeditionary Force saw the benefit of the kits, adopted the idea, took them over, and gave her no credit at all. The Cabinet banned her from the news for the duration of the war. Some said she should not make vice safe.

NZ and Australian soldiers were known as Anzacs, and Anzac Day is April 25 to commemorate them at Gallipoli. NZ proud of role as its own nation. Excellent.

Confirmation -://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.diggerhistory.info/images/nz2/MMRV1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-uniforms/mangonui.htm&h=931&w=487&sz=48&hl=en&start=16&tbnid=ys5EaVxisP5jOM:&tbnh=147&tbnw=77&prev=/images%3Fq%3DNew%2BZealand%2BVolunteers%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DG. NZ Volunteers 1895. When they were founded. And here they are in uniform - full dress, and with cannon, and many war photos, action, horses, and detailed history, at ://www.militarybadges.info/nz-army/images./volunteers.jpg
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G C, crown over crest, large. 7/8", rod 9/16. On back, Paris at bottom of circular text, at both sides are letters H at left, M at right, and around top TW&W

Out only clue so far is a search for Canada National Defense. That turned up a military recruiting website, URL at ://www.forces.gc.ca/site/index.html. Maybe we are on the right track. There is the "gc." Now to look up the crest, get more specific. We have contacted the site just in case someone likes history.

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Ivory wolf's head. We have it at the animal hatpins section. Now we ask, Is this military?

See the wolf's head, now at Hatpins Collection Tour, Animal Hatpins, Wolf. The wolf's head was the symbol, from 1909, of the 27th Infantry, with action in WWI (Philippines). See ://www.tioh.hqda.pentagon.mil/Inf/27th%20Infantry%20Regiment.htm. The shape, the profile, are startling. So alike.

It is also on something called "The Siberian Expedition" after WWI. Please check. See the US Army crest, with wolf facing either way, and motto at ://www.tioh.hqda.pentagon.mil/Inf/27th%20Infantry%20Regiment.htm

Good heavens. Look at this. American Expeditionary Force, Siberia, time of the Russian Revolution. See ://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Expeditionary_Force_Siberia. There is a New York Times archive article from 1/28/1920, when the forces began to come back, at http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9502E1D71F38E533A2575BC2A9679C946195D6CF. The heritage goes back to the War of 1812 possibly, right through Iraq and Afghanistan now.

For the military account, and the context, and why it was important to be there at that time, do see http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA283474.
Wolf's head, we conclude that you belong here, and not just with animal (read interesting and fun, but not pivotal) hatpins, where this also appears.

Blues - Turquoise. Hatpins

2008-07-13T10:48:00.004-04:00

Starter photo while we look things up. Turquoise here, other shades and stones to follow.

Black - Jet, Glass, Bakelite, other Mourning Hatpins

2008-07-13T10:47:00.006-04:00

Many processes can result in black jewelry. Often the circumstance was mourning.

Jet: a variety of "lignite" or brown coal, would you believe,because of its brown streak (somewhere). See http://www.cst.cmich.edu/users/dietr1rv/jet.htm. Commonly used for mourning garb. Term goes from Anglo-Norman, to Latin, to Greek. Some pieces date from the Paleolithic, fashioned with flint tools. Your basic black goes back a long way. Many other names for black shiny-ables, from glass to other stones. Do read the cmich.edu site. See also ://www.cst.cmich.edu/users/dietr1rv/jet.htm.

Amethyst, Other Purples; Set#1

2008-07-13T09:28:00.010-04:00

Howard C. Scharfe and Marjorie Scharfe Hatpins Collection, Purples

Purple stones. A starter photo while we look things up.

See reference here to an enamel gilt dore setting - ://www.rubylane.com/shops/theporcelainkingdom/item/VAN-1547.

This site shows colors of various purple stones, ://www.bernardine.com/gemstones/purple.htm

1. 12:00. Triangular setting hatpin near 12:00 in the picture, each side 3/4",with raised pyramid shape purple stone, soft edges, blunted point, rhinestone (we can't tell those from any other sparkly, but these are not diamond, trust me). The triangle shape setting is fixed to a smaller base of now-dark something, rusted on underside, with three points forked like a swallow's tail, sticking out that you can't see here very well. Is that configuration masonic? Anybody know? Rod is 8 3/4". Color looks like jasper or agate, from the bernardine site. Not transparent, but glowy. It looks blue-ish here, but is really purple, and a lightish purple. The stone looks the same as in the mother of pearl round one here.

2. 1:00. Round setting on filigree hexagon, near 1:00 in picture, one missing rhinestone, and look closely- all that part is on a filigree hexagon, 1 1/2" diameter overall, with little shiny rosettes on each. There is some green on one of the six points. There is a solder area at the finding. Rod 9".

3. 3:00 toward center. Circular shell, mother of pearl? Powdery old polish paste on it. Will not try to do anything to rinse it. No stones missing. Overall diameter 1 3/4". Stone looks like the one at #1 here, jasper or agate? The stone looks blue, but is a light purple. Setting has on underside same four forked points, as at #1 here, but these are flat to the shell, not extending as part of the decoration seen from topside. Pin rod 9 7/8".

4. 3:00. Oval faceted purple, filigree setting. Pushed in at one side. Very dirty underside. Bar across back at underside, with finding attached to the bar. Stone about 1" x 3/4". Rod 10 1/2"

Aha - here is a twin, a second oval faceted on filigree, and here undamaged. Not mushed in on one end.

6. 6:00 big one. Pin rod 11". Diameter of whole thing 2 1/4" x 2 1/8, including the setting. Stone, round, 1" diameter. Floral/fruit motif beneath as well as vine superimposed over stone. Underside pressed out, bar across, finding attached to bar.

7. 9:00. Little oval shape amethyst, rhinestones, longest diameter for whole thing is 7/8", underside looks like old silverplate, bar, finding attached to bar. Rod 10 1/4".

8. 11:00. Larger oval shape amethyst, rhinestones. Does not show up well here at all. Purple stone like the others (looks black there), surrounded by very dirty rhinestones. No bar across underside, finding affixed to base of setting, looks like solder there. Rod 9 7/8.

3 bags more of purples to come.

Cloisonne, Guilloche, Enamel Hatpins

2008-07-13T09:25:00.009-04:00

Several here are also twins - the blue enamel ones , and the yellows, one here is on its side so it does not show up beside the first one well (these swivel)

To be added:

Pair of lavender and white guillochet hatpins, diameter 1 7/16", rod length 10". Center section radiates out, lavender, outer ring white with 3 florals, each with lavender blossom, green leaves on either side.

Light blue six-sided, top converging like an almost folded umbrella, but no indentations, just the cone idea with facets. White rim below, metal dividing the facets, very subtle guillochet pattern in the light blue. Head is 1 3/4 from base of finding to the top, rod below 6".

Guilloche - the technique of etching a finely intricate pattern on a material, usually with another material then superimposed so that the pattern shows through. See an everyperson's overview at ://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guilloche.

We have another of this type, a green, large hatpin, looking for it to cross reference now.

Background Topics: Descriptions

2008-07-12T23:45:00.000-04:00

Hats on Hatpins

Welcome to our Start on this big project.

Overview: We are sorting through an old collection, learning as we go. The plan is to post separately for different types of hatpins that we see here, grouped according to our own idea of similarities until we learn better, and first lay out the sites that tell us what is old and good, or new and fake.

We are learning, including about "findings" - the connectors between the long pin rod and the decorative attachment.

The hatpins have not been cleaned in years, and we do not plan to clean them, so pictures may show darker or less shiny than you want. We understand that cleaning should be done professionally and we are not that.

Varieties of hatpins to come: We took silly pictures of the whole thing laid out in sillier vases on the driveway. That helped us categorize the basics.

Great variety. For golf buffs (many hatpins with golf clubs), a baseball player, animals, nationalities (Scots and Canada in particular), regimental buttons and other crests including one from the Order of the Garter (honi soit qui mal y pense), as well as a long hatpin with a hooked cross symbol, now a pejorative. Or, from wartime. No idea.

Give us time - have to learn the photography, am doing look-ups now. Some I already know I cannot part with - like the one with the Phrygian cap, and one with a brass chubby fellow face front, seated with feet out so you can only see the soles. He looks either smug or pained, can't tell which.

So far, just some of the big and little fellows are up here. Come back as we go.

Watch your fingers. Many do not fit in the baggies, and poke out - thus the folded-stapled paper shields to tame the points.

Basic book reference: "Baker's Encyclopedia of Hatpins & Hatpin Holders," by Lillian Baker, Schiffer Publishing Altglen PA 1998 (revised from the 1980?)

THE HATS! Look up Victorian and Edwardian hats (think Titanic) and listen to the rinky tink at ://www.eastangelhhttp://www.victoriana.com/EdwardianHats/arbor.com/

Edwardian hats are at ://www.victoriana.com/EdwardianHats/index.html
Victorian hats are at ://www.victoriana.com/Victorian-Hats/index.html
Other Basic online references as we find them.

Our photography is miserable. What happened here?

We have a half-dozen that look like midnight. Brighten them up to see, and the color goes haywire. To be revisited. that cleaning should be done professionally and we are not that.

Why Bother. Why Annotate, Research? Do Place, Military, Group Memorabilia, Even Stories of Fashion, Matter? Yes

2008-07-12T18:36:00.000-04:00

Why personalize hatpins. Why try to get beyond the category of mere "collectible;" to see the individuals, the events, among the mass of items now for sale or view.

Why? It is history and a connection to the past, and the wearer. In 1903, even the NYT had an article about a woman's hatpins as a clue to her character, whether she jabbed them in regardless of prior holes, how many she used to tilt the hat, multiple hatpins at once, and whether hatpins were an improvement on sensible strings. See ://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9A03E1DF1539E433A25751C2A9679D946297D6CF/

We have looked on eBay and auction houses and private sales, and considered just a mass sale. Hatpins are indeed collectible. They bring in money, and are even disregarded and sold by lot if that is what it takes.

Which pins held these great hats? This, an old, unused postcard from a London series.

But hatpins, and military buttons in particular that were made into hatpins (we have those, no loose buttons), may carry more meaning than that. The wearers of the hatpins could well have had some life connection to the particular battle participant; or to a commemoration; or just to a beautiful setting. Or, it might have been worn just to be patriotic, see ://www.antiqueshoppefl.com/archives/hatpins.html. Perhaps there was a death that the button-hatpin represented.

As to costume pins, even the better ones, someone wanted that - wore it, coaxed a spouse, perhaps, to buy it for her. Whatever. It meant something. We wish we could see the particular hat.

Our personal choice, then, is to take time. Avoid trivializing hatpins as mere collectibles. On The Road appraisers have gone over the top in valuation. Maybe they are right. Ours, however, are not just glitz. They are people.

Mere collectibles? No. They represent lives, events, feelings, fashion, specific people. As to the military ones, we have some from the Civil War, through WWI. And Knights Templar groups, and crests of states, and families. After WWI, hats became less fashionable, and hair shorter. But we want to remember.

So we look up stuff. And find fun, and even tragedy if the bullet hatpin we have meant that someone was killed. The Howard and Marjorie Scharfe Hatpin Collection - coming to life again.

Etty Rouk. For example, see hatpin #7 at Hatpins Collection, Military Buttons. The New Zealand Volunteers WWI small button turned into a modest hatpin. Follow the sites, and find the lady connected to the New Zealand Volunteers, at Gallipoli, photographed with them and looking right at you - there she is, brave Etty Rouk. Read her story there - only found while looking up a little military button.

We thought it was five men from the Images photo, no, it is four men and a woman. Etty is among them, bringing venereal disease treatment to the soldiers. Medicine over morality judgments. The army took over the effort ultimately; and then took all the credit for the kits' effectiveness, while barring her from the news.

See what we find? Gallipoli and safe sex in WWI. Never underestimate a button, or a brooch, or a special gemstone, or the hatpin it became. There is a story behind it.

The Howard C. Scharfe and Marjorie Scharfe Hatpin Collection - simply, "the hatpins"

2008-07-12T14:10:00.011-04:00

Welcome. We would like you to enjoy our Howard and Marjorie Scharfe Hatpin Collection - known to us, growing up, simply as "the hatpins" - collected by our parents, Marjorie Scharfe and Howard Scharfe, while they lived in Pittsburgh PA. Great folks. An odd family name, stemming from the Norse, and the Norse colonizing elsewhere. See Orkney Road Ways, Norse, and Icelandic sagas. See Roots.

Here they are:

Howard Scharfe; Marjorie Scharfe

This is our information central. Follow along as we think and post. Inquiries invited. Special requests? We might have it.

Only some are here. Just no time. We can't possibly write up all of them. They came "undique" - from all sides. Remember that from Caesar writing about the Gauls. See ://www.thelatinlibrary.com/caesar/gall1.shtml. Mrs. Hogg, your teaching was not in vain.

1. Fakery - Collection closed, to our knowledge, in 1971, with no additions after. So anybody's "fakes" in this collection are older than 1971. What is a fake? When a stone is so big that is has to be a fake, because the Queen herself wouldn't put a real one this size on a hatpin, but would save it for the Crown itself, then it clearly is a "fake," but intended to be so. A real gemstone? Or faked? Victorians had great ways of faking stones. Takes an expert. We just enjoy.

A real fake with no pretenses is not a fake. Think of rhinestones. Where they crust a hatpin made of base metal, they are surely not diamonds. Not fake. Just costume quality, or lack of it. This is not a Sotheby's type collection. A hatpin made from a brooch - is a real hatpin, made from a brooch.

To us, a fake is a hatpin that pretends to be old but isn't. A fake hatpin is one made for the purpose of the buyer's sale or collection, not for use - as a hatpin. Many of ours are well worn, bent rods. We will describe what we see.

So far we do not see any from those sites that will make hatpins to your specifications - did they even exist back then? Those are real new, we suppose, even though they call themselves "Victorian" - really Quasi Victorian? see ://victorianhatpins.com/pins.html
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2. Area of origin - collected in the Pittsburgh PA area, mostly as gifts from many fine ladies who were last in the line of their families, or were otherwise moving possessions out of their attics. Once word got out that our parents enjoyed the hatpins, more arrived, and more.

Howard Scharfe and Marjorie Scharfe Hatpin Collection, Brass holder, for giant sponge for hatpins display

They were cared for and displayed - on a huge set of real sponges on bronze stands. Here is one stand, missing its extension rod (must be in the garage) that made it much higher.

The annual cleaning was not professional - some were damaged, but they were loved. We are leaving old polish and dirt now as is. Long boxed.
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3. Metals
Base Metal. Means it looks dull, any old whitish grayish stuff. This is not a collection worthy of Sotheby's. But it is big.
Silvery - means color, not sterling unless sterling is stated. Silver or silvery includes any base metal that shows up as silvery, or white.
Silver Plate - we try to spot it
Sterling - means there is a mark for that on the pin, or the word "sterling"
Brassy - means color, not necessarily bright; we do not know real brass from anything else. May be the real thing.
Bronzey - means color, but we are not good at differentiating it from dull brassy
Coppery - means color; ditto. May be the real thing.
Gold - means we think we can tell because of that lovely shine-glow, but not necessarily
Gold Plate -
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4. Findings. The "join" between the long pin rod and the ornament. Experts know what to look for here. We see some repairs, solder, on some.
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5. Fast Mass Production. We are looking up how to spot those.
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6. Settings. We are ignorant.
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7. Technique
Cloisonne. Means the technique looks like it - see ://www.cnarts.net/eweb/knowarts/jingtl/
Molds - ://www.nga.gov/feature/nouveau/exhibit_intro.shtm
Pressed - pressed metal hatpins may or may not be good ones.
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8. Damaged. Many are. Rhinestones rolling down history, stones long gone, beading undone, roses chipped, somebody cleaned something and the old polish is still in the crevices. Difference between rhinestone and "diamante?"
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9. Cleaning. We are not doing it except to buff off rusty places on the cheap ones. We understand that all the years of the house doing it any old way - in the kitchen with all the polishes - has hurt some of them, not helped.
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10. Paste. Still figuring out what this means. See ://www.bathantiquesonline.com/antique--collectible/hat-pin-hatpin/antique-edwardian-paste-hat-pin-collectible-30459.html.
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11. Rhinestone vs. "diamante" - who knows. See ://vintagecostumejewellery.co.uk/shop/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=shop.flypage&product_id=707&category_id=31&manufacturer_id=0&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1&vmcchk=1&Itemid=1
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Howard and Marjorie Scharfe Hatpin Collection, Giant sponge, for display of hatpins like a porcupine.

It still washes. Put it in the washer a few years ago, expecting it to disintegrate, and it did not - it rejuvenated. Now, I just dampen it once in a while. It looks like a "sheepswool" sponge - we forget these were/are real marine life - see http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/SG045. This is how they used to be harvested, often from the Mediterranean - ://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=950CEFD91231E033A25752C1A9679C94679ED7CF&oref=slogin.

12. Eras
Victorian - 1830-1901, see://www.victoriaspast.com/FrontPorch/victorianera.htm (this site also has a section on Black Victorians in England - excellent)
Edwardian 1901-1910 - "La Belle Epoque" - reign of Edward VII, reference period extended to 1919 roughly, see://www.pbs.org/manorhouse/edwardianlife/introduction.html
Art Nouveau 1890-1914 - a different style during time period encompassing also the Edwardian? see ://www.nga.gov/feature/nouveau/exhibit_intro.shtm
Vintage - 1940's on? This forum site says that "vintage" must be used with year attached. We thought it just meant not old enough to be antique (less than 60 years old? somebody says even the 1970's is vintage, though) - see ://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa?threadID=400098219&tstart=2720&mod=1112307266034
Antique - not sure - anything over 60 years old?

For eras and definitions, see://www.daysofelegance.com/glossary.html
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14. Marks - see ://www.broadwaterrosejewels.com/Jewelry%20Marks%20and%20Identification.htm? No, this looks mostly like just costume jewelry
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15. Colors of stones, structures - do not look for precious stones here. See this glossary for types - ://www.bernardine.com/gemstones/gemstones.htm
Black -
Black glass
Jet (what is the full definition of that?)
Purple - amethyst
Blues - lapis lazuli, turquoise,
Yellows - amber, citrine, tourmaline, see ://www.bernardine.com/gemstones/yellow.htm
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16. Sites with various descriptions, including bakelite, lacquer, celluloid -
://www.bonnies-treasures.com/category/.boudoir.hatpinspinholders/
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17. Themes Include: (so far)
Sporting Themes
Nationalities, places, wars
Animals
Shields ://www.bonnies-treasures.com/category/.boudoir.hatpinspinholders/
Crests for groups, other insignias

Links

2007-07-11T11:37:00.000-04:00

http://hatpinscollection.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default