WOOTON Wood Buttons

WOOTON WOOD BUTTONS

**NEW! Updated 7-/24/2020 (previous update 4/25/2015)

I have kicked around doing an article about Wooton wood buttons for a while. Problem was, there isn't much known about them! Since the topic came up on Button Bytes, I thought I'd just kick it off here. 

Wooton Blue Bird - Heat Stamped.  
Courtesy of Mona Abrahamson

Thanks to Mona Abrahamson for bringing up this topic on Button Bytes (with the above and below pictured button) and to Gil Biggie who emailed me to remind me that we got to yacking about Wootons after I pulled one out of a Poke Box and shoved it in her face to look at during the Arizona show, LOL!  Gil asked me to share what I do/don’t know.  Well, it's mostly DON'T *grin*  

The original card that started the discussion - Blue Bird.  
Courtesy of Mona Abrahamson

Wooton wood slice buttons were one of the first sets of interesting buttons that I found on their original store card when I first started collecting a zillion years ago (okay, about 20 years ago).

I don’t know why, but I adore these buttons *shrugs* and they make for a fun thing to search for at a show.  About the time I think I've seen them all, a new one will pop up.

My cute and UNUSUAL SMALL SNOWMAN.  Heat Stamped.

The Wooton topic is also timely, as I’m reworking my collection by material, and JUST pulled out tons of wood buttons yesterday to start to work on.  All sitting in sorted piles, baggies and little boxes in my dining room as I type.

 

So many wood buttons, so little time.

For those that don’t know…Wooton buttons are made from slices of natural tree branch with the bark still on the edges.  They are usually decorated by a stamped hot brand design before being painted.  A metal heat brand stamp is usually used first, so the individual designs are all uniform/identical (they’re not hand decorated with a hot tool, so technically probably not pyrography, which literally means fire writing).  Colors used may have changed within the design scheme over time.

*additional info. added on 04-16-2015:  The Big Book of Buttons shows a different horse head on Plate 96, #13, page 254 (old version) and describes it as "A slice of cherry wood, including the bark.  The horse head was stamped with a hot iron, then tinted and painted.  There were several other designs made in the same style including a colorful bunch of cherries.  $2.00"

Four Leaf Clover - Photo courtesy of Phyllis Culp

I have a leaf that seems to have a slight impression stamped of the same design that is on the front of the button on the back side, but just barely, like it was an error.  Maybe the stamp was cold, or perhaps it didn't have paint on it?  Not sure.  None of the others I have show any sign of stamping on the backs like this.

LEAF FRONT (THIS VERSION ALSO HAS BEEN SEEN PAINTED BROWN)

LEAF BACK - ODDITY.
NOTE THE IDENTICAL SLIGHT IMPRESSION OF THE FRONT DESIGN, BUT NOT HOT STAMPED.

After the design is stamped, they are hand painted and then varnish applied over the paint (I have a few that show light varnish checkering over the paint).  

They seem to be usually painted in basic primary colors of red, blue, green, yellow, white, black, though some unusual colors may also be seen from time to time.  Because these are a natural wood, the sizes won't be uniform, but I have them in everything from small (Snowman) to extra Large (almost 2"), though most seem to be around the same size and the small buttons seem to be more scarce. 

I also have some that are identical designs but the designs are rendered smaller to accommodate a button of a smaller size (see Butterfly and Cherries button pairs below).

Wooton buttons that I happened to have on my table while working on wood yesterday.

There are quite a few different designs, so they’re fun to look for in poke boxes.  Horse/rider, at least two different Horse head designs, Acorn, Cherries, Leaf, Snowman (small), Cactus (extra large), Basket of Fruit/Veggies with leaves in the background, several birds, a Scotty Dog with red bow, painter’s pallet and a Butterfly are a few that come to mind that I have around here… somewhere.  

I also have a few with conventional designs that seem to be Wootons as well but I've never seen them on an original card to confirm it.

MY LATEST NEW WOOTON DISCOVERY THAT I JUST FOUND!
 LARGE BASKET OF FRUIT WITH LEAVES, 1-3/4"

ANGLE SHOWING EDGE/NATURAL BARK

BACK VIEW OF BASKET BUTTON

PROBABLY NOT WOOTON DUE TO WOOD TYPE AND DARK CENTER CORE.
Courtesy of Merry Jo Thoele

I have other painted wood branch buttons, but they aren't stamped in like the Wooton buttons and just don't seem to be painted in the same color schemes.  

There may have been other companies who copied their idea and style and at this point are probably best left to call "Wooton Types" until more on the original card can be identified or a sample card turns up.  

We may have to think of them as we do the Burwood/Syroco wood composition buttons.  It's nice to know who made them, but they can be categorized as a type, without knowing what company made which buttons.

You can find artists doing painted/pyrography/heat stamping on wood branch buttons today on Etsy and other craft sites.  

 

WOOTON CARD OF HORSE HEAD BUTTONS

Another different Horse head version.
Note the crazed/chipping varnish.
Courtesy of Claudia Chalmers. 

The following is original card shows NO HOT STAMPING.  An error?  An anomaly in their production?  Maybe Wooton had a fast track line of buttons that were quickly painted with line and dot designs?  Perhaps more of the hand painted natural wood slices (with bark) we see actually ARE Wooton buttons!  

Unstamped painted Posies.  Note that the 1st button has white paint, and the other 2 have yellow instead.
Courtesy of Joyce Bimbi.  
**NOTE: Claudia Chalmers also has this same original card of buttons which are not heat stamped either.

*Claudia Chalmers and Merry Jo Thoele of Minnesota have given me permission to add the buttons that they each collected about 10 years ago.  They were featured in an article Claudia wrote called The Cross Cut Branches for the Minnesota State Button Society bulletin. Some interesting versions of Wooton and types appear below and through this article with their permission. *added 04/25/2015

About ten years ago, Merry Jo Thoele and I entered into a friendly, informal competition.  Both of us having an interest in wood buttons, we decided to see what we could do with one of the simplest wood button types, the cross-cut branch.  There were a couple of lightly outlined rules: 1) There had to be bark on the outer rim to prove it was a branch and not a drilled disc;  2) The buttons had to be vintage and not modern studios.  We had great fun with this, and would recommend these informal competitions to other collectors.  It was, as Merry Jo put it, “ . . . fun  . . . because it is just between us - kind of a secret like best friends have. “  We were trying to beat each other to various dealers’ tables, having dealers search for and hide away buttons for us, bragging about our “finds” and sometimes the low price we paid for them (these buttons are usually very reasonably priced).  

Mushrooms in a Forrest.Courtesy of Claudia Chalmers

Flower Border in 3 colors.
NOTE:  HAS A DRILLED OUT SEW THROUGH HOLE.  WOOTON?Courtesy of Claudia Chalmers

Pussy Willows.  Heat stamped.Courtesy of Claudia Chalmers

Painted Sailboat.  No stamp.Courtesy of Claudia Chalmers

Snowman with Pipe.  (Note, different design from my small Snowman button)
Courtesy of Claudia Chalmers

Unstamped (note wood species difference) Painted Umbrella.  Probably Wooton Type made by a different company/person.
courtesy of Claudia Chalmers

Unpainted, heat stamped Four-Leaf Clover (see painted version at beginning)
courtesy of Claudia Chalmers

Unstamped Red FlowerCourtesy of Claudia Chalmers

Unstamped TulipCourtesy of Claudia Chalmers

Hearts and Clovers.  Stamped.
Courtesy Merry Jo Thoele

Diagonal cut slice.  Probably not Wooton.  Mushrooms.  Not Stamped.

Courtesy of Merry Jo Thoele

Heat Stamped Stylized Flowers with multiple color centers.  Courtesy of Merry Jo Thoele

THREE ORANGES  Heat Stamped.Courtesy of Merry Jo Thoele

Three Objects - Tambourine, guitar and castanets.  Heat Stamped.Courtesy of Merry Jo Thoele

Okay, I have NO idea what this is supposed to be!  Heat Stampled?
 Courtesy of Merry Jo Thoele

UNPAINTED MUSIC NOTES (MISSING FLOWERS)  Only heat stamped design.Courtesy of Merry Jo Thoele

PAINTED HEAT STAMPED VERSION OF ABOVE (WITH FLOWERS)
Courtesy of Claudia Chalmers

Painted without stamping. Courtesy of Merry Jo Thoele

Flourishes or a Letter?  Part of another design?  Heat stamped, no paint.  

 Courtesy of Merry Jo Thoele

Original Card Hearts & Clovers.  Heat Stamped.  Courtesy of Claudia Chalmers & Merry Jo Thoele.

There are no back marks of any kind found on any of my Wooton buttons.  If you don’t have the original card, you’d never know that Wooton was the company who made them.  It seems that the original cards haven’t ever been printed with the State/City that they were made at.  Although the card states Registered, without some kind of clue where the company was, it's nearly impossible to search for more information.

WOOTON CHERRY BUTTONS
 IMAGE RECENTLY TAKEN FROM THE INTERWEBS FOR MY OWN INFO PURPOSES, SO SORRY!  I CAN'T GIVE CREDIT FOR THIS ONE

I’m not sure of the dates either.  It’s my thinking (well, you know how THAT often goes) that these could have started to be made around the time of the Great Depression (branches would be a cheap/free material) and may have originally only been sold locally (where ever the maker was).  

HORSE AND RIDER

A hot stamped but unpainted version of the same Horse and Rider that is shown above it.

Photo courtesy of Merry Jo

Perhaps after some local success, they were marketed later to dime stores on printed cards with the company name during the 30’s or early 1940’s through the late 1950’s to maybe early 1960’s.  The green/brown design on the printed cards seem to fit that same period.

Hummingbird  Photo courtesy of Janet Gerhardt

They also would have fit right in during the time period when metal and other materials were limited to the War Effort for WW2 (1939-45 era).  

The only reference to them I've found so far in Button books/magazines is a small blurb mentioning the Cherries button in Hobbies Magazine (Vol 81, Issue 7, December, 1976):

Recently I saw a Wooton card of the Cherries with a F.W. Woolworth’s price sticker on it (just a partial with the store name, no price) and I saved the photo.  Store price stickers could help to ID when they were sold for sure.  Woolworth’s had a solid 5 and 10 cent price limit until 1932 and 5-10-20 cent price line limit from 1932 through 1935 when they started to carry more items in more of a department store way.  Their WoolCo chains started in 1965.  Unfortunately, most resellers tend to take the original price tags off. L

 

PARTIAL F.W. WOOLWORTH CO. PRICE TAG

** UPDATE INFO 7/24/2020
These photos of an original card with a dated back were sent to me by Suzanne Whyte Munroe of Rhode Island. The Scottie card is dated July 19, 1944 on the back and has a price stamp of 25 cents!

Photos of dated Scottie Dog card
courtesy of Suzanne Whyte Munroe
of Rhode Island

Since the Big Book identifies it as Cherry Wood, maybe that can help with the place of origin or at least target Washington, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Oregon, Michigan and California as starting places to look.

I plan to dig through my piles of printed info. in my file cabinet (ugh!) and find my boxes of saved original cards with the original buttons to see what I still have in the way of other original Wooton cards or if I have any the original company data or other clues that I tucked away over the years.  If I found out any information at one time, I’ve forgotten about aaaaall about it by now.  LOL

I'd like to thank everyone who has offered encouragement and participated with photographs of their Wooton and Wooton type buttons.  I hope to be able to continue to update this with new information as it shows up and show as many of the designs they made as possible.  If you have something to add, please contact me!

So...Check back here often, as I’ll add an update here for new examples of Wooton buttons as they come along and I'll also add anything that I find that can help to determine where and when they were made.  

Until then, I'll be chipping away at reorganizing my collection of wood buttons.

Working on Wood:  Burwood/Syroco, ANN/GAP and Masonite ready to go on new cards

And, if you like wood buttons, and have an interest in Wood Composition buttons, you can take a look at the article I did (waaay back in 2002) here:
http://www.iwantbuttons.com/education/vmwood/wood.htm

I'd love it if you would leave a comment, or suggestion. Have a new find? Send me a message at my paqe on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/FlyingButtonRanch/)  I hope you'll follow me to receive notification on the next post on buttons!  Trust me... the next one will drive you crazy!
Cheers,
Vicky