Lapel button from the caftan of the servants of the Vremeyev nobles (?)

Brass, steel, silver plating. An original and rather rare button in very good collector's condition. The diameter is 17 mm. High relief. Before us 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 are silver-plated, they were sewn on 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 "Time 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, which are still widely used by collectors, is truly huge when compared with other samples, and is 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? The "Time liveries" are a mysterious phenomenon.

Very little is known about the Time itself. 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, he originates from Mikhail Antonovich Vremev, who became a landowner in 1621; he was recorded in the VI part of the genealogical book of the Kursk province. The second branch was founded by Captain Fyodor Timofeevich Vremev (1680-1744), a native of Bessarabia. F.T. Vremev left for Russia in 1726, at the invitation of the princes Kantemirs. He and his descendants owned estates in the Kharkov and Kursk provinces, listed in the IV and II parts of the genealogical book of these provinces. From the history of the surname, 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 at one time, although they had estates in two provinces, they stamped so many buttons that the floor Russia could be dressed. What for?

The Timers traded their coat of arms. Indeed, there were many merchants and employees who did not have the right to a personal coat of arms, but really wanted to. Such a person could pay the Owners 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 (let's remember that for even a minor, according to modern concepts, insult, insult, the culprit could be called to a duel!). To trade in 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 have lived in the same house with the owners for years (and sometimes all their lives), there has always been 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 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, just an assumption. There is also a version that the Time owners 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, the Time liveries remain a mystery that has not yet found an explanation that suits everyone. Despite the abundance of these buttons in To Russia, no one has yet explained where they came from.