Budded Cross/Treflée/Botonée, Playland-Not-At-The-Beach El Cerrito CA California

Description

There is an old hand-cranked penny smasher from the Atlantic City Boardwalk from the 1970’s (?) with 8 different original images on a big wheel that was donated to this mini-museum.¹

Dies include the following designs:

1. Budded Cross (also known as the Apostles’ Cross, the Treflée, Botonée or Cathedral Cross)
2. “Million Dollar Penny”
3. “Space Encounter” (with Shuttle and UFO image)
4. “Lord’s prayer”
5. Star of David image
6. Earth Penny
7. “Good Medicine” (Marijuana Leaf)
8. “The New Atlantic City image”

Playland-Not-At-The-Beach² Playland-Not-At-The-Beach is a non-profit, family-oriented museum in El Cerrito, California celebrating America’s bygone amusements, operated entirely by volunteers.

The museum’s 25 exhibits have specific emphasis on the attractions that once existed at Playland at the Beach and the Sutro Baths & Museum. Included are numerous artifacts from the original Whitney’s Playland at the Beach, including the giant clown’s blue hat from the top of the Playland Funhouse, and Walking Charley, one of the original hand carved life-size wooden characters from the terrace above Laughing Sal in the front window of the Fun House. Thousands of historical items are present, from cases of never-opened books of Playland tickets to original signage, parts of rides and games, rare photographs, employee uniforms, and prizes from the Playland arcade games. Additionally, there are over 30 pinball games, carnival skill games, dioramas celebrating Halloween and the Yuletide season, and miniature circuses, including the Marcks Family Miniature Circus.

The Budded Cross³ also known as the Apostles’ Cross, the Treflée, Botonée or Cathedral Cross may have a long stem or all four arms may have the same length. There may be one bud or several. The arm edges may be straight or convex. The arm ends may be straight, convex or concave… and innumerable other variations.

There is a huge variety of Budded Cross styles, all with slightly different meanings, to suit whatever purpose the church or other organisation may wish to convey.

The discs or circles at the ends of the arms may be spherical or rings, but in artwork they are usually assumed to be two-dimensional solid discs.

The Pagan use of the Celtic Cross is well known, where the circle or disc represented the sun. It is believed that design was copied by the early Christians in Europe.

A cross with three circles or discs on each arm in a Christian context represents the Holy Trinity but was probably also copied from earlier Celtic Druidry, where the circles or rings represent the three dominions of earth, sky and sea.

There are several names for this cross, depending on the interpretation. These include Budded, Apostles’, or Cathedral Cross, all implying a religious theme, and Treflée or Botonée in a heraldic context.

In Abrahamic religious art, each arm of a Budded Cross may have one or more buds, three buds being the most common. Each arrangement can suggest different meanings.

1. Source: PennyCollector.com ↩

2. Source: Wikipedia.org ↩

3. Source: Seiyaku.com ↩