Is this a Leo Popper button?

[bookahtoo]

Someone told me that buttons like this were called poppers. When I looked it up I found out that Leo Popper's company was famous for making this type of button. I have 20 of them. They are about 1/2" across.

Has "poppers" become a generic term? Can I call this a  popper? Or do I need to figure out if it was made by the Leo Popper Co., and how do I do that?  Thanks very much in advance for any help you can give me!

[tyeldom3]

You taught me something book.....I never would have looked twice at those....they are very collectible .:)
I found this page with some info that might help.
Here is one of the paragraphs that tells what to look for:
After you have examined a button made by the Poppers, you can easily pick them out. Almost every collection of glass buttons will have some in it. The edge on the back is beveled, and the shank, a small shank plate with two prongs that are about ¼" apart and embedded in the glass. They also made self shanks, many of the "key" shanks, and some swirl backs. I did not find any sew thru's. The biggest output seemed to be black glass, with many mourning and semi-mourning ones. Glass in many beautiful colors and combinations of color, stripes, marbled, and mottled markings were seen. Some also have silver or gold trim.

And the page it came from:
http://glassian.org/Prism/Popper/buttons.html

They are pretty little things, and I hope you can find out some info. 🙂

[bookahtoo]

Thanks tyeldom!

I guess these weren't made by the Leo Popper Company - the shanks have four or five prongs and the button isn't beveled on the back.

Can I put poppers in the listing title and not be keyword spamming?

BTW, I've had these in a little dish on my desk for about a month now. I knew they were unusual but that's it. A customer, dealer, saw them and told me they were called poppers but she couldn't tell me why. I'm a "must know why" kind of person!

[tyeldom3]

Book, can you post a picture of the back?
From a few other things I've been reading, it looks like they (Leo Popper) made other types of shanks too.
So maybe if someone with more knowledge comes along, that could help.
Also, I found a pretty interesting site that you may want to look at.
This page is showing button backs.
http://www.buttoncountry.com/BackTypes1.html

[bookahtoo]

Wow - that's a great link.

I can't post a picture of the back right now - the pictures are on the computer at the store.

[tyeldom3]

Yes, I think you are right about these types of buttons being called "poppers" as a generic term. I think it would not be keyword spamming, and be ok to use. The "Leo" part, I would not use, unless, of course you find out otherwise.

[kladstrup]

You just call it a "Popper" now.  And the way to tell for certain that it's a popper is the shank.  It's a sort of horseshoe-shaped shank that isn't on any other buttons I've seen, and I've been collecting for decades.

[city*satins]

Given that the company went out of business in 1917, it's FAIRLY safe that the term is now in the public domain. But you will want to check the the word hasn't become trademarked again to apply to some other product.

An example where that happened and caused grief on eBay was the word UGG.  The term was generic in Australia and New Zealand but trademarked here in the US.  Some AU and NZ offered uggs for sale on the US site and had their listings taken down. 

So check to make sure.