Large livery button with the coat of arms of the Vremeyev nobles

Brass, iron, gilding. An original and rather rare button in very good collectible condition. The diameter is 28.5 mm. High terrain. Here is one of the biggest mysteries in the world of buttons. The origin of these buttons seems to be known. The coat of arms depicted on them belongs to the noble family of the Vremevs, who lived in the Kursk province. Some of the buttons were silver-plated, sewn on to the livery of the footmen who served the Time. However, against the background of a seemingly ordinary thing, there is one feature that turns these buttons into a mystery.

These buttons are widely known among collectors as"Vremev liveries". It is believed that they were worn by various traveling footmen, servants hired on special occasions, bellhops and doormen. However, the catch lies in one circumstance: in their number. The number of buttons with such a coat of arms, still widely used by collectors, is truly huge, if you compare it with other samples, and completely inexplicable given the rather modest scale of the Vremev family name. Where did so many of them come from? How many servants did the Vremevs have? "Vremev liveries" are a mysterious phenomenon.

Very little is known about the Vremevs themselves. The history of noble families knows two Russian families with this surname. The first of them dates back to the end of the XVI century. According to available information, it originates from Mikhail Antonovich Vremev, who became a landowner in 1621; it was recorded in the VI part of the genealogical book of the Kursk province. The second branch was founded by a native of Bessarabia, Captain Fyodor Timofeevich Vremev (1680-1744). F. T. Vremev left for Russia in 1726, at the invitation of the princes Kantemirs. He and his descendants owned estates in the Kharkiv and Kursk provinces, which are included in the IV and II parts of the genealogical book of these provinces. From the history of the family name, it is only known that one of the Vremevs, a major, was killed in Moscow, in 1828, during a card game, by the famous composer Alexander Alexandrovich Alyabyev, which caused the latter's exile to the Siberian city of Tobolsk. That's basically it. Although there were two families of the Vremevs, although they had estates in two provinces, they stamped so many buttons that the floor Russia could be dressed. What for?

The Vremevs traded in their coat of arms. In fact, there were many merchants and service people who did not have the right to a personal coat of arms, but they really wanted to. Such a person could pay Vremev money and get the right to place their coat of arms on their papers, clothes, buildings, etc.Today, such things would be called franchising. This version is original, but for those times it is completely implausible. The attitude to the family, to the surname, to the coat of arms in the noble environment was very serious (rememberthat for even a minor, according to modern concepts, insult, insult, the culprit could be called to a duel!). To sell such things as a coat of arms was simply unthinkable for a nobleman of the XIX century.

There is another version — the exchange of hired servants. Along with the servants who lived in the same house with their owners for years (and sometimes all their lives), there was always a need for temporary servants — for big holidays, for some seasonal or special occasions. Someone could organize something like a company that provides services for hiring such temporary workers, and all the servants provided by the company could be given a single uniform. The buttons, respectively, were also the same on this uniform. If the founder of such a company was someone from At times, he could put his coat of arms on such uniforms. This version may explain why so many buttons were made, but it is, in fact, only a guess. There is also a version that the Vremevs owned factories for sewing liveries and sewed branded buttons on all their products. The version also has a right to exist, although it raises some doubts.

Whatever it was — Vremevskie livery remains a mystery, which still has not found a satisfactory explanation for all. Despite the abundance of these buttons in the Russia, no one has yet explained where they came from.