Thursday, December 17, 2015

BEETLE MANIA

These buttons are KHEPERS (keepers)! *grin*
Meet the Beetles!  
These sweet little lovelies are Egyptian SCARAB BEETLES and are mounted in silver. What a great find at the antique show I went to last Saturday! I calmly and politely bargained for them. I put on a poker face, trying my best to act uninterested... seeming ready to pass them back and walk away (never!!) as I made a final offer...and was victorious.  

Yes, I admit it... I did a little happy button dance walking away from that table clutching my prize! My husband acted like he didn't know me for 5 minutes. LOL


They are a Dung Beetle, which is an ARTHROPOD and scarab comes from the taxonomic family name, Scarabaeidae.  This video about blew my mind... pretty interesting if you have an interest in these bugs!

These odd beetles spend their days flying around (yes, they have wings!) searching out piles, forming and rolling balls of dung backwards with their hind legs.  Yeah... doodie, poop, number 2!! The dung is not only their food source, but they will roll the ball to put under ground in a burrow where it then lays an egg in it, which keeps the egg warm due to composting action. 
Mom!  Herman isn't playing ball with meeeeeeee!
The egg incubates in the warm crib of caca known as a brood ball, hatches and then the single offspring eats it while in larvae form until ready to molt and emerge from the nest, fully formed and ready to fly away to carry on the tradition. 

"Hey kids! Dinner's ready. I don't care what you think it tastes like! Just eat it.!"   I should remind my husband about the dung beetle next time he complains about having to eat leftovers.  At least it's not the same **** every day.  haha... 

BEETLE MANIA


An Egyptian Scarab beetle is also known as a Kheper, which is an Egyptian PUN (and we all know how I love a good pun!). 

The Egyptian word kheprer means both scarab and "to exist or become" and to the ancient Egyptians, the strange insect was associated with word the due to their other worldly sudden appearance out of the earth. 

The beetles were worshiped by the Egyptians and became an important symbolic figure of creation and resurrection akin to the cross and its symbolic meaning for Christians, Almost everyone wore the symbol of the scarab in one form or another as an amulet worn around the neck on a cord or string or tied to the wrist or a finger.  

The scarab beetle was often depicted with a sun overhead since like the sun, the beetles appeared and disappeared each day. They also believed the dung beetle kept the Earth revolving just like a giant ball of dung they rolled underground, linking the insect to Khepri, the Egyptian god of the rising sun who was believed to control the movement of the sun.

The Egyptian god Khepri, (also derived from the same word Kheprer) was considered the god of the sun, creation, life and resurrection and like the scarab, like the scarab, he was believed to also be self-existing (appeared on his own and not created by anyone or anything).  

He is usually is depicted as a human with a scarab beetle on his head or with the head of a scarab beetle. Like the scarab, Khepri was believed to push or roll the sun along the sky each day, just as the Scarab pushes along his "special" cargo and food.  The little beetles do in fact, follow the sun for guidance in navigation to their burrow.  

The scarab was used as an important Egyptian symbol before 2000 BCE and continued well beyond the the last Pharaoh ruling Egypt.

Hmmm, a bug and a guy with a bug head who have coprophagia (your FBR word of the day... gah!) and then you want to become a big fan boy of that guy and the bug? The early Egyptians weren't the sharpest crayons in the box I think.  LOL

THIS OLD BUG

When you thinks of Egypt, the pyramids, sphinxes, mummies, and the scarab amulet are probably the first objects that come to mind.  Okay, and maybe the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones flashed in mine for a second or two and to be honest, the Bangles song Walk Like An Egyptian song became a brain worm for a day. DOH!  *shrugs*

The scarab has been collected for centuries, with the most interest for them starting in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as drawings of the wonders of Egypt started to appear after the first European explorers reported their findings.  Before the 19th century, travel from Europe to Egypt was difficult and almost unheard of. In 1799 Napoleon's expedition drew attention to the treasures of Egypt.  Exploration of 1845-45 and documentation started the desire for all things Egyptian and the Egyptian Grand Tour era was born.

Archaeological and antique Egyptian treasures were both a popular tourist item and the small scarab amulet pieces were brought back or imported in order to sell to collectors and were often incorporated into jewelry (and occasionally buttons and studs). Egyptian design became highly popular all through the 19th century when the first Egyptian Grand Tour era was in full swing during the late-Victorian era.  Many antiquities, but especially small scarabs, were brought back from Egypt because they were so plentiful back then.

The interest in all things from Egypt really ramped up again when in 1891 British archaeologist Howard Carter started searching Egypt again, even though most of the ancient Egyptian tombs had been discovered.  

The little-known King Tutankhamen, who had died at the age of 18, was still unaccounted for and shortly after World War I Carter started an intensive search for King Tut’s Tomb. On November 26, 1922 he and a fellow archaeologist (Lord Carnarvon) found and entered the amazingly intact tomb. The interest in the story and news of the found treasures greatly and quickly influenced design. Jewelers such as Cartier, incorporated faience, scarabs and other Egyptian made pieces in fine pieces of Egyptian inspired jewelry around that same time.
Scarabs have fascinated the amateur collector for well over a century.  Interest in the little amulets in beetle form heightened when in 1917 W.F.M. Petrie published a now classic guide which is most often referred to by collectors.  Scarabs and Cylinders with Names not only has become the reference for scarab collectors, but also by those who wish to deceive collectors and use it to produce forgeries. 

There are scarabs which bear the names of kings, the royal family and names of officials, of which are carefully and artfully carved on the reverse in both raised or intaglio carved hieroglyphs.  Much in the same way that coins show the changes in a civilization, the reverse of a scarab can provide a method of dating them and applying their historical place in Egypt.

THE BUTTONS

When I saw and purchased the buttons, I just assumed them to be a glazed ceramic or Egyptian faience. Faience is an odd material, and is made from sintered finely crushed silica (a finely crushed quartz), plant ash and copper oxide.
Back view of silver shank.  The bar connecting the bezel obscures the carving on the bottom.
It isn't really a pottery, but is the earliest known NON-CLAY ceramic composition (similar to Prosser china buttons in a way). It was a precursor to glazed clay-based ceramics, such as earthenware and stoneware, and also to glass (which wasn't invented until around 3500 BCE). It was made to mimic precious stone (lapis and turquoise) and can be found in a wide range of shades of turquoise, blue and green, though the oldest found usually has a glaze that has mostly turned to a brown color. Water was mixed with the crushed paste mixture to make it moldable and as it dried, the water and alkali migrated to the top of the piece, bringing with it the copper oxides which self glazes the piece as it is fired and creates a vitreous hardened surface as the alkali fuses with the quartz and copper. 
ANCIENT FAIENCE HIPPO WITH BROKEN LEGS WHICH SHOWS THE QUARTZ PASTE BODY
Tuesday I started off what would become a looooong day doing research on Egyptian scarabs. I figured I was on the right track ROLLING IT around in my head *grin*, that all scarabs were made of Egyptian Faience. Right?
An ancient molded faience Scarab

W R O N G
*SIGH*
While there are faience scarabs, everything started to indicate that the buttons I found were made of glazed carved STEATITE (a mineral talc occurring in a consolidated form, or as it's more commonly known as SOAPSTONE) once I started reading about the history of the scarab.

Both the earliest Egyptian scarabs (antiquities, beginning around 2040 - 1786 BCE ) and modern antique scarabs were carved from steatite and then they were glazed with copper or cobalt based glazes that were fluxed with plant ash and fired to give them their beautiful glossy blue and green colors and also fuses with the steatite and creates a hardened surface in the same manner that the glaze did on faience material.   

Glazed mineral or stone!?  Wow.  Well, I certainly learned something new!  I didn't even know that glazing a mineral was even possible!!
Range of colors in the set of buttons.  So pretty!
One clue that you have steatite is that you won't see fine sharp molded details (as with a ceramic or glass) and when you have a set, it's easy to see that they all are carved just a bit different. 


The glaze makes it difficult to identify just what the material is made of (and I was only about 80% sure about these being glazed soapstone by this time). So to be SURE... I emailed an expert who is a collector of early Egyptian Scarabs and seals who lives in Germany. 

I told him that they were in a (tarnished) silver setting, and that the scarabs were each drilled at each long end. There was a sharp point from the silver bezel setting holding the scarab cab in the setting by being inserted into the holes at each end.

I also told him that I thought they were probably soapstone/steatite, and that I figured they were put in the silver settings during the Egyptian Revival period, around 1920, though I had no idea of the age of the scarabs themselves.  I also said that I would value his time and opinion since I wanted to write about these, and wanted to provide correct information for anyone who would care to read about them, and also so I could categorize the material and age correctly in my collection.  I offered to send photos as an email attachment if he cared to see them.  He replied fairly quickly and told me to send photo attachments.  

This was is reply late yesterday:

Hi Vicky,

Thanks for your Email and the pics. I think you are perfectly correct with a date around 1920. They are not antique in terms of archaeology but certainly older than 50 years in my opinion.

They look as if they are coming from the same workshop or even were made by the same hand. However the stuff coming from modern workshops in Egypt does not reach this quality.

Material seems to be glazed steatite and at least on one example I can see a stylized Amun-Re inscription with flanking Neb signs (=lord) so the inscriptions seem to make sense, which nowadays is not always the case. The shape is inspired by 19th Dynasty scarabs (roughly 1300-1200 B.C.) They were probably made when Egyptology reached it's height of popularity in the 20s or 30s. Older examples from the 19th century are known as "Grand Tour scarabs" These are sometimes hard to distinguish from the originals. Authentic Grand tour scarabs are carefully made, often glazed and mostly have a readable inscription, often copied from illustrations in Petrie or Newberry. You can find examples on the internet but the term is often used to sell modern forgeries especially on ebay. 

For a button collector your scarabs must be very interesting, thanks for sharing them

Best Wishes and Merry Christmas
Olaf
(if you'd like to have a look at his website and pieces from his collection, it's really fascinating! )

So there we have it!  Not ancient antiquities, however the scarabs older than the settings, and they're glazed steatite.  The markings he noted on the back of each scarab are interesting, but unfortunately, the setting blocks viewing them for the most part.

Olaf also sent me a link to a scarab from the last century BCE which was in a setting from the Victorian period to show me the difference between a true scarab antiquity brought in during the Egyptian Grand Tour and set into jewelry to compare with I have. The very early scarabs are very finely carved and finished.  He warned me though, that there are many forgeries of these out there that mimic these ancient scarabs. You can see the lovely piece here:

Modern scarabs, especially those in the last 50-80 years which are imported for jewelry, beading or crafting usually aren't hard to distinguish.  They are a bit boxy rather than oval and the top is flatter (rather than rounded top shell).  Details, especially the head and legs just aren't carved well on most of these. 
Modern scarabs sometimes sold as old.
A BUTTON SCARAB as called by scarab collectors, is actually a SCARAB AMULET. They LOOK like a button fastener, but are NOT.  They were also worn, suspended by a drilled hole through a formed hump area on the bottom of the scarab and a thread or cord was threaded into the hole and it was tied on as a necklace, on a wrist or finger. Many of these amulets found today are fakes, made to look like the ancient ones in order to deceive scarab collectors, and may pop up in button collections or for sale as a button once in a while. 
AMULET CALLED BUTTON SCARAB.  BACK VIEW.  NOT A BUTTON!!

ANOTHER BUTTON SCARAB AMULET
Resist buying those with these "self shanks" that are thick and usually have lined carving on them. One of these was mentioned in the NBS bulletin Sept. 1955 as a button, in a collection.  Ugh! A bonus though, if a true antiquity (and not a later forgery) it could be worth a bundle of money!!

When a scarab cab is set in metal or has more of a typical button style self or inserted metal shank, you can be assured that it was meant to be used as a button.

Keep a look out for a lovely real beetle shell set in metal button also! It's NOT a scarab (as sellers like to identify it as), but a Brazilian or Ecuadorian beetle known as a Cassidinae or TORTOISE BEETLE from the Chrysamelid family. It's a leaf beetle with a beautiful iridescent shell that makes for a wonderful button, just not as scarab beetle example!
Photo from Pinterest
Scarabs have had several eras of design popularity and when one shows up on a button, pricing on them usually is stiff, so snap up bargains quickly! 

A set of six jeweled gold-mounted Nephrite scarab buttons marked Fabergé, Moscow, 1899-1908.
Sold at Christies auction for $50,602.00
Fun group of scarab and Egyptian theme buttons found on Pinterest, noted as sold on eBay for $124.95.
They're always a popular pictorial for button collectors and it would take a while to put together a whole varied tray of them because they aren't terribly common, especially Division I scarab examples! Both Division I and Division III (modern) eras have scarab pictorials in a variety of materials such as ceramic, plaster, carved stone and gemstone, glass, enameled metal and modern plastics. There are also a few fabulous metal scarab buttons to be found. 

Scarabs, beetles and other bugs are fun to search for on buttons and are probably one of my favorite pictorials (next to Dogs). 

I was pretty happy to be able to bring these guys home AND it was a birthday gift to myself.  I'm tellin' ya...on the way home from the antique show, I could hear all 7 of the little beetle buttons singing "Crappy Birthday toooo Yoooouuuuuu!" from inside the bag, I swear it!!
.   

Wishing you and yours a Merry Christmas and a buggy button New Year from myself and Luna the Wonder Chihuahua here at Flying Button Ranch.

FBR xx

8 comments:

  1. So much interesting info, thanks, Vicky. I have 1-2 of these that are not set in metal. Because they are not buttons, I didn't pay much attention to them. Next time I see them, I will definitely take a closer look.
    Happy holiday hugs! Joss

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  2. Thanks Joss! Merry Christmas to you!! ((hugz))

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  3. Wonderful -- very interesting, thanks also for the fun humour -- I've always loved scarabs & found them fascinating, too. Deb of Melbourne (Colorado)

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  4. So interesting. Thanks for all the wonderful research.
    Dora

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  5. OK - Mz. Mayhem....how about a picture of the shanks? ;-) love ya bunches....Snooze ;-)

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    1. Awww phoey! I can't believe I forgot that photo! Thanks for letting me know!

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  6. Thanks everyone for the comments! I've updated with a photo which shows one of the backs. *head slap* Can't believe I forgot that! LOL

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