The Complete Button Book
More than 5,700 buttons illustrated, identified and described
by Lillian Smith Albert and Kathryn Kent
Foreword by Carl W. Drepperd
Those buttons attached to the old clothes you have stored in the attic may turn out to be miniature gold or silver mines. Fantastic? Not at all. This story told by a seasoned collector is typical of what can happen in the hobby of button collecting. "My old aunt died and left many of her cherished possessions to her twenty-two nieces and nephews. Because I was the youngest of her brother's and sister's children, I was willed her box of buttons. I think she meant it as a remembrance more than anything else, but after I became interested in my legacy I discovered that she had left me more than five hundred dollars' worth of rare buttons. My aunt's inheritance formed the nucleus of my present large collection of buttons. I acquired more buttons by trading the duplicates from my aunt's box with other collectors. I've had more fun with my seemingly worthless inheritance than any of her other heirs."
Foreword
"Every art, industry, calling, trade, profession, and pursuit is reflected by buttons. Button history touches touches every craft, and profession within the arts and sciences, fine and liberal. The frills, foibles and and modes of every age are reflected in its buttons. Button collecting is really the higher mathematics of collecting."
Chapter XIII: The Hobby of Button Collecting
"Our grandparents and great-grandparents, as far back as we care to go within our colonial background, were collectors or hoarders of buttons. They did not collect for the fun of it but for very practical reasons. The primary purpose of a button is utilitarian: it is a device keep clothes fastened and in place. Our thrifty ancestors saved buttons because they could be used again and again. Buttons removed from worn out clothing were kept in a convenient box until a further use for them was found.
For this reason there are more people who have buttons of some value today, perhaps without realising that they own them, than there are button collectors. There are strings of buttons, boxes of buttons, and buttons still attached to old clothing, in innumerable attics, closets, and barns; in trunks, bandboxes, and other hiding places. To say that some of these hidden buttons may be worth one hundred dollars each, some fifty dollars, and others worth twenty dollars a dozen, and nearly all of them worth from ten to fifty times the original price is not to overestimate.
One of the chief problems confronting the beginner is how to get in touch with other collectors. Whether you want to buy, sell or swap buttons, you will have to know where and how to reach the buyers, the sellers and the traders. This could be called the lazy person's hobby because almost all of your transactions can be carried out in your own home, by mail, and by parcel post.
To be considered a collector's item a button should display fine craftsmanship, be in good condition, and have features which lift it out of the ordinary into the unusual class. Above all it must be interesting to the collector. It may be an exquisite example of handmade artistry or a crudely formed amateur attempt at workmanship beyond the ability of the creator, or it may be anywhere in between. The earlier handmade buttons are the more lasting in value. It is comparable to the advance in the cost of human labour.
Collectors who enter buttons in competitive exhibitions, staged under various state button societies and other groups, indulge in much good-natured rivalry with their fellow enthusiasts. There are rules and regulations governing the mounting of buttons for display and the various competitive classes in which they may be entered.
If, by any chance, you should find a "charm string" in your personal button hunt do not make the mistake of taking it apart in order to place the individual buttons within the different categories of your collection. Charm strings were a popular fad during the Victorian period, when young girls exchanged favourite buttons, or received them as keepsakes, and placed them on a string. Ordinarily, no two buttons on a charm string are alike, each one was placed there for sentimental reasons to remind the owner of the giver. Although charm strings are now considered rare, many as yet undiscovered and unreported examples must exist. Button charm strings now in hiding may eventually bring to light a vast new store of these engaging mementos of other days.
Although the hobby of button collecting is fairly new, many museums and historical societies have anticipated - some by many years - the growing interest in the subject by arranging permanent displays of buttons. The museum of the Cooper Union for the Advancement in Science and Art in New York City has an excellent collection of antique buttons, largely of French origin. Admirers of military buttons will enjoy the comprehensive collection of Luis Fenollosa Emilio, now housed in the museum of the Essex Institute at Salem, Massachusetts. The Pennsylvania Historical Society at Philadelphia and the New York Historical Society in New York City have displays of buttons of historic interest. The Metropolitan Museum in New York City exhibits 18th century buttons and costumes. The Traphagen School of Fashion, also in New York City, has a variety of types on permanent display and often sponsors displays of buttons owned by private collectors. It seems quite likely that many other museums will eventually arrange displays as the interest in buttons expands.
Innumerable types of buttons are now purchased by people having no basic collector's interest. They have the buttons polished, plated with gold or silver, and fashioned into clips, earrings, brooches, stickpins, bracelets, necklaces, and shoe buckles. This is not merely a vogue or a fashion. It is an eminently sensible device."
Reflection
This was a very good find as it is such a comprehensive book about the history of the button, various manufacturing processes, the uses, button collecting (my main focus) and how to value them when buying or selling. While the majority of the work is far too in-depth for what I need at this stage in my research, I will be keeping this book out of the library so I can dip in and out at any point during this module.
by Lillian Smith Albert and Kathryn Kent
Foreword by Carl W. Drepperd
Those buttons attached to the old clothes you have stored in the attic may turn out to be miniature gold or silver mines. Fantastic? Not at all. This story told by a seasoned collector is typical of what can happen in the hobby of button collecting. "My old aunt died and left many of her cherished possessions to her twenty-two nieces and nephews. Because I was the youngest of her brother's and sister's children, I was willed her box of buttons. I think she meant it as a remembrance more than anything else, but after I became interested in my legacy I discovered that she had left me more than five hundred dollars' worth of rare buttons. My aunt's inheritance formed the nucleus of my present large collection of buttons. I acquired more buttons by trading the duplicates from my aunt's box with other collectors. I've had more fun with my seemingly worthless inheritance than any of her other heirs."
Foreword
"Every art, industry, calling, trade, profession, and pursuit is reflected by buttons. Button history touches touches every craft, and profession within the arts and sciences, fine and liberal. The frills, foibles and and modes of every age are reflected in its buttons. Button collecting is really the higher mathematics of collecting."
Chapter XIII: The Hobby of Button Collecting
"Our grandparents and great-grandparents, as far back as we care to go within our colonial background, were collectors or hoarders of buttons. They did not collect for the fun of it but for very practical reasons. The primary purpose of a button is utilitarian: it is a device keep clothes fastened and in place. Our thrifty ancestors saved buttons because they could be used again and again. Buttons removed from worn out clothing were kept in a convenient box until a further use for them was found.
For this reason there are more people who have buttons of some value today, perhaps without realising that they own them, than there are button collectors. There are strings of buttons, boxes of buttons, and buttons still attached to old clothing, in innumerable attics, closets, and barns; in trunks, bandboxes, and other hiding places. To say that some of these hidden buttons may be worth one hundred dollars each, some fifty dollars, and others worth twenty dollars a dozen, and nearly all of them worth from ten to fifty times the original price is not to overestimate.
One of the chief problems confronting the beginner is how to get in touch with other collectors. Whether you want to buy, sell or swap buttons, you will have to know where and how to reach the buyers, the sellers and the traders. This could be called the lazy person's hobby because almost all of your transactions can be carried out in your own home, by mail, and by parcel post.
To be considered a collector's item a button should display fine craftsmanship, be in good condition, and have features which lift it out of the ordinary into the unusual class. Above all it must be interesting to the collector. It may be an exquisite example of handmade artistry or a crudely formed amateur attempt at workmanship beyond the ability of the creator, or it may be anywhere in between. The earlier handmade buttons are the more lasting in value. It is comparable to the advance in the cost of human labour.
Collectors who enter buttons in competitive exhibitions, staged under various state button societies and other groups, indulge in much good-natured rivalry with their fellow enthusiasts. There are rules and regulations governing the mounting of buttons for display and the various competitive classes in which they may be entered.
If, by any chance, you should find a "charm string" in your personal button hunt do not make the mistake of taking it apart in order to place the individual buttons within the different categories of your collection. Charm strings were a popular fad during the Victorian period, when young girls exchanged favourite buttons, or received them as keepsakes, and placed them on a string. Ordinarily, no two buttons on a charm string are alike, each one was placed there for sentimental reasons to remind the owner of the giver. Although charm strings are now considered rare, many as yet undiscovered and unreported examples must exist. Button charm strings now in hiding may eventually bring to light a vast new store of these engaging mementos of other days.
Although the hobby of button collecting is fairly new, many museums and historical societies have anticipated - some by many years - the growing interest in the subject by arranging permanent displays of buttons. The museum of the Cooper Union for the Advancement in Science and Art in New York City has an excellent collection of antique buttons, largely of French origin. Admirers of military buttons will enjoy the comprehensive collection of Luis Fenollosa Emilio, now housed in the museum of the Essex Institute at Salem, Massachusetts. The Pennsylvania Historical Society at Philadelphia and the New York Historical Society in New York City have displays of buttons of historic interest. The Metropolitan Museum in New York City exhibits 18th century buttons and costumes. The Traphagen School of Fashion, also in New York City, has a variety of types on permanent display and often sponsors displays of buttons owned by private collectors. It seems quite likely that many other museums will eventually arrange displays as the interest in buttons expands.
Innumerable types of buttons are now purchased by people having no basic collector's interest. They have the buttons polished, plated with gold or silver, and fashioned into clips, earrings, brooches, stickpins, bracelets, necklaces, and shoe buckles. This is not merely a vogue or a fashion. It is an eminently sensible device."
Reflection
This was a very good find as it is such a comprehensive book about the history of the button, various manufacturing processes, the uses, button collecting (my main focus) and how to value them when buying or selling. While the majority of the work is far too in-depth for what I need at this stage in my research, I will be keeping this book out of the library so I can dip in and out at any point during this module.
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