Black Glass Mudlarked Button Pendant

Historical Information

Find: Black Glass Button
Pattern/Details: Small round black glass button with four sewing holes and smooth glossy surface; slightly worn edges from age and exposure.
Date: Circa 1880–1910
Material: Press-moulded black glass.
Find Location: Essex Coast, England

Additional Information:
This small button is made from black glass, a popular material in the late 19th century for both fashion and mourning wear. After the death of Prince Albert in 1861, Queen Victoria’s prolonged mourning influenced clothing trends across Britain, making black glass buttons – often called jet buttons – a staple of respectable attire.

Pressed from moulds in glassmaking centres such as Bohemia and Birmingham, these buttons offered the lustre of true jet at a more affordable price. Smoothed by the sea, this fragment of fashion history reflected an era of elegance, sentiment, and resilience — a once-practical adornment, now transformed into wearable art.

Findings - Stainless Steel