Historical information

Button hooks were used to fastens buttons on boots and long gloves. It is a tool used for the closing of shoes, gloves or other apparel that uses buttons as fasteners. The steel hook end is inserted through the buttonhole to capture the button by the shank and draw it through the opening.
This hook is most likely to have been used to do up boots

Significance

Women and young girls generally wore boots that were either front laced or side buttoned, particularly in the period from the 1870s . Buttonhooks were needed to do up the buttons on buttoned boots and were used by poking the metal hook through the buttonhole, grabbing the button and pulling it through the eyelet.
This item is an example of a commonly used accessory no longer relevant.

Physical description

A button hook made of metal with a beaten silver handle ornately decorated with scrolls and foliate design. At the top is a small ring on the handle end. This could have been for a lady to attach the item to her chatelaine at her belt, or on a necklace.