Railroad Buttons Held Up The Pants That Were Made To Sell Sewing Machines

Over 100 years ago, a tailor named James Orr joined the Gold Rush to California. He didn’t find gold; instead, he ended up selling sewing machines.

To demonstrate this then-new appliance, he made overalls. Ever practical, he sold his demo garments for five dollars a pair.

When he returned to New York in 1871, Orr continued to make overalls. The cutting he did himself, and he hired six seamstresses to do the actual stitching.

Orr also took charge of the sales. He directed his sales efforts at the skilled trades and the railroad men, those who had enough income to afford some quality in their work clothes. From almost the beginning, he used buttons stamped with his name. In the 1880s, he advertised that they were sewed on so firmly, they would stay on for the life of the garment.

About 1900, the company adopted a new style of overall button that used a shank instead of holes for attachment. The sheet metal top was embossed with pictures and words appropriate to the maker’s brands and trademarks.

This type of button was soon adopted by most manufacturers of metal buttons. The most popular buttons depicted railroading, usually a locomotive. There are over a hundred different locomotive designs known.

Railroad buttons were even used on many of the work clothes made for other trades. The railroaders, especially the engineers, were at the top of the prestige ladder in the ranks of Labor, and railroad buttons were a mark of status.

Manufacturers’ names are usually stamped on the buttons. Look for Sweet-Orr (asd George Orr’s company was named,) Nunnally Bros., Scovill Manufacturing, Hap, Inc., H.W. Carter & Sons, and the one best known today, Oshkosh.

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Maria Brought Back Importance Of
Indian Pottery

The stages in forming a piece of pottery, prior to decorating. Old Stuff photo

The most well-known of all Native American potters is, by far, Maria Martinez of the San Ildefonso Pueblo. Usually, just the name “Maria” on the bottom of a piece of pottery is all that is needed to excite the interest of any collector of Indian pottery.

The San Ildefonso Pueblo is located about 20 miles northwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico, on the eastern banks of the Rio Grande River. The area has been inhabited since about 1300 A.D. The earliest mention of its pottery, in addition to some passing references in the records of the Spanish who invaded the region in the 1600s, was an 1880 report by an expedition of men from the Smithsonian Institution. However, pottery making at the San Ildefonso Pueblo had almost died out by the first decade of the 1900s.

Its revival was brought about by Maria and Julian Martinez, especially with their discovery of the black-on-black ware about 1918. Prior to this, what little pottery was being made at the Pueblo was polychrome.

In 1911, Maria and Julian, (who was responsible for the designs on Maria’s pots,) were allowed to demonstrate pottery making and sell their wares at the Museum of New Mexico in Santa Fe.

And by 1915, Maria had “mastered the art of making larger vessels... Her pottery was characterized by relatively thin walls, hard firing, careful forming, smooth and clear finishes, carefully applied and well-executed designs, and in the case of black ware, a highly lustrous surface polish.” (From Maria, by Richard L. Spivey.)

The invention of the black-on-black pottery happened sometime in 1918-1919. (There is some disagreement by authors as to the exact date.) The team of Maria and Julian produced outstanding pieces with this technique, Maria making the pottery and Julian with his sense of design doing the decorating.

One of the best, if not the best, collection of Maria’s pottery is at the Millicent Rogers Museum in Taos, New Mexico. It is housed in what was Rogers’s home. Maria’s family also donated her tools for display at the museum.

Maria was the first of the pueblo potters who regularly signed her work, but these signatures changed through the years.

Around 1918, she experimented with the use of Poh’ve’ka, her Tewa name, which means Pond Lily.

Her signature is often found with another of the family members with whom she was working. These can be roughly grouped as follows:
Marie: Mid-late teens, 1934.
Marie & Julian: 1934-1943 (when Julian died.)
Marie & Santana: 1943-1956.
Maria and Popovi: 1956-1971.
Maria Poveka: Undecorated wares only, (after 1956.)

Everyone with whom she worked is not identified in a signature, however. For instance, her youngest sister, Clara Montoya, did much of the polishing and finishing work, although her signature is found only rarely.

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Hard Paste Porcelain Formula
Re-Invented In Meissen

The porcelain produced in Meissen, Germany, has been of the finest quality since the manufactory was first established in 1710. The reigning king at that time was Augustus II, and he had what amounted to a passion for porcelain, or “white gold” as it was called.

The story of the discovery of the correct formula for making a hard-paste porcelain, equivalent to what was being produced in China, reads almost like a fairy tale.

A young chemist, Johann Boettger, and his team of assistants were ordered to work in isolation, first in an old medieval fortress and then in a closely guarded laboratory in a tower of the king’s castle in Dresden. Fortunately for Boettger, they were successful in developing the formula. The first manufacturing plant was established immediately in the nearby town of Meissen in an old Gothic fortress. The work force consisted of 23 prisoners!

Through the years, thousands of products and patterns have come from the Meissen porcelain factories. Without doubt, the most famous, and the most copied, is the Blue Onion pattern. It was not copyrighted and over 60 different factories, in America, Europe, Japan and China, have made their versions of this pattern. Many of these are very well known in their own right, such as Villeroy and Boch, Royal Copenhagen, and Hutschenreuther. Blue Danube is a contemporary line based on the Blue Onion pattern.

To read the fascinating history of Meissen porcelain, and for examples of Meissen patterns, including the Blue Onion, see Meissen Porcelain, Identification and Value Guide, by Jim and Susan Harran (Collector Books, ISBN 1-57432-474-8.)

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