Button Russian Imperial Eagle (silver, d=0.55 inch)

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The Emblem represents a double-headed eagle crowned with two small crowns, and a big crown above them. The crowns are united with a ribbon. In its clutches the eagle holds the scepter and orb. On its cheast there is a red shield with a silver rider in a blue cloak, on a silver horse, striking with a silver spear a black inverted backward and downtrodden dragon.

Around the shield is the chain of the Order of St. Andrew – the most revered disciple of Jesus Christ, the patron saint of Russia.

The three crowns over the heads of the eagle stand for the three kingdoms: Kazan, Astrakhan, Siberia.

The Great Imperial Crown is the main symbol of the power of the Russian monarchs, the official Imperial regalia from 1762 till 1917.

The Crown is a headdress composed of two silver hemispheres, representing the mix of the East and the West on the territory of the Russian Empire.

The scepter and orb stand for the state power and the unity of the state.

The horseman spearing a dragon is a symbolic image of the victory of good over evil.

The Order of St. Andrew the Apostle is the first Russian Order, the highest award of the Empire until 1917.

“You may become an archangel, a fool or a criminal, and nobody will notice it. But if you have lost a button – every one pay attention to it.” // Erich Maria Remarque

There are four main functions of buttons: the utilitarian (fastener), the decorative (ornamental), the magic (an amulet or a talisman), the informative (insignia). But only recently the button has become a collectible.

The decorative feature of the button was the main since the outset of its use, and only later they began to use it as a fastener. The utilitarian function always closely mingled with the ornamentality of the item, especially on outer clothing, footwear and headgear.

The semiotic function of the button as a distinguishing mark is realized in its distinctive parameters, such as shape, color, image or emblem on it, etc. In the most cases, buttons like that are fixed to the uniform clothing.

The development of the word “button” in the Romance and Germanic lines is similar to the extent that the most of the senses characterize its practical purpose as a clothing accessory.

The Slavic line of the development of the word offers two options. One is close to the European and explains the “button” by its shape – a bump, a bulge, a mound, etc. The second variant draws attention to the similarity in the formation of the Russian words “pugovitsa” (button), “pugat” (to scare) and “pugalo” (scarecrow). The latter version leads us to the magical function of buttons.

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