In this Aerogramme for March, I found a special group of buttons -- Middle Eastern niello, courtesy of Sheila Brudno and Jane Perry.
NIELLO WORK is a method of silver ornamentation dating from the Middle Ages, also used to decorate buttons in more recent years.The lines of the design were cut in a disk of silver, which was then completely covered with a black composition consisting of copper, silver, lead, and sulfur. On this was sprinkled a little borax, and the whole was then subjected to heat . . .
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