Buttoning Up the Competition

What a good post! I am a button addict! I love my local button and fabric store because they have a huge wall of nothing but vintage buttons! I also love going through antique shops and finding buttons...so much fun because you never know what you will come across.

How funny to read this..... my partner thinks I have a real problem as I have jars and jars of buttons. I remember my mother having a button basket when I was a child and I guess it marked me for life. My shelves contain beautiful old jars with all kinds of buttons. I also have friends who give me buttons and my daughter put a big bag of buttons in my Christmas stocking this year and I had put one in hers as well to both of our delight. Thanks for the great article!

There is something so magical about a bowl full of buttons...

Button's hold secrets ..... ╔══╗ ╚╗╔╝ ╔╝(¯`v´¯) ╚══`.¸ IT ...

I have long been a fan of buttons! Fab post! Hi Judy! :)

I inherited my grandmothers button collection! I used to love to piece through them when I was little, on her coffee table. Sweet memories :)

Wonderful article! Love buttons!

I have always had buttons in a can. My grandmother had them and I would set them out and marvel at their diversity and design.. and the wonder was they were beautiful and held a great function, keeping us buttoned up. I lived with the AMish in my younger days and became friends with my neighbor the Yoders and couldn't believe they never used buttons but rather straight pins. I still love hoarding buttons. So nice to see this wonderful article on Etsy! don't forget to "button up!"

What neat collections! I never knew how serious the collecting and competing could be. I appreciate this interesting article!

This is pretty cool. I also collect buttons

I always loved swimming through them - pausing when I felt the cool touch of a mother of pearl. Great post Linzee !!

I am starting to collect buttons! I love old and unique buttons.

Thank you so much. I would love to know the history of the buttons I have but, I had no idea of competitions. I have a handful of the button society bulletins and the pictures are beautiful. The porcelaine ones especially!

What a great topic! Linzee, you always teach me something!!

Lovely article, thanks for sharing

What a great article--buttons are endlessly fascinating. You probably can have too many, but I don't think I've reached that point yet (though my kids would disagree). Thanks for featuring my brooch!

I totally connect with this article *smiles* I love love love buttons too :)

Well, what a marvellous hobby and how interesting that in that lady's will the buttons were of equal value to her car! Who would have ever imagined that when we were scratching around in button tins that our Grandmothers gave us as playthings.

I looooooove buttons! I have a huge collection of buttons that were my mother's. I love using vintage buttons in my work.

Buttons. They're a lot like cats and potato chips and everything else you can't just have one of . . . :)

I'm a button sorting addict! Just love the way they feel!

WOW! What an awesome post! I LOVE buttons and have been collecting and selling online for sometime but, I haven't done in awhile and this inspires me. Beautiful and interesting post. Thank you :)

Love this - but of course I'm a bit biased :) since I'm a button maker myself! Gotta love those buttons! Robin

Great post, very interesting.

I'm constsntly amazed at the lengths colelctors will go to in order to prove to other collectors that their collection is better! :-) It doesn't matter what the items, somewhere there will be a town hall or marquee featuring "Best in Show" to the envy of all the rest. Is it some kind of deep-seated human need? Some kind of degraded survival instinct that pushes people to compete like this? All I know is that for the rest of us it's a fascinating insight into a world we would never have known existed & I absolutely love it! Where would we be without the quirkiness of button competitions...?

i love buttons!!

Interesting post!!

Just the other day I picked up a unique looking button on the floor at work and put it in my pocket. When I brought it home I tried to think of a craft project to use it in but nothing struck my fancy so it has been sitting on a table. I thought about throwing it away but now I'm glad I didn't because it will be the first in my collection. :)

Beautiful pictures! I once wrote a research paper on buttons.

Oh my gosh, I can't even LOOK at vintage buttons anymore. Total addict! I had no idea about the national convention. Oh. My. Gosh. Must concoct some sort of plan to rope my husband into a road trip to Portland this August. ;) haha!

Thank you for such an interesting article.

As a fellow Iowan (now living in AZ) I grew up playing with all the beautiful boxes of buttons in the Dry Cleaning establishment my parents owned. I guess as a youngster it kept us busy while Mom and Dad ran the store. I remember thinking of them as a sort of currency and the prettier ones were worth more and my 3 siblings and myself could amuse ourselves for hours. I still love buttons and now I want to go back home and dig around in the basement of our dry cleaners to see what treasures might still be there!!

Oooh, we ADORE vintage buttons, but I wouldn't go so far as to call us "collectors" - they do look fantastic on our dresses and jackets though :)

It's interesting to hear that button collecting has such organized criteria. I think that a poll would probably show that a huge number of people have a button collection of one sort or another and might not even realize they are collectors. It's also probably the first thing many people ever collected. I remember finding and keeping a special button in my pocket as a child until I dropped it into the pile of other interesting buttons in my drawer.

Great Post! LOVE OLD BUTTONS!

Beautiful bottons. Great collection...

Wow, these are some amazing buttons. Great story. I love buttons:)

You are my hero!

Interesting article!

Great article!

Love the historical content found within a simple button. I'm a sucker for edible vintage buttons.. I'm always buying them and adorning cupcakes with them. ♥♥♥♥

Very good article! Thank you!

OMG My favorite subject! Author of two button books.

I've been searching for buttons with a crown on them ( not a coat of arms). Has anyone seen any?

Like everyone here, I love old buttons too. I pick them up at estate sales and such, usually a few saved in a box or old cookie tin. I always assumed they were the "collection" of a frugal old lady who couldn't throw anything away. I like to use them as closures on my needle cases, since I only need one for each, so those odd singles work well for that. It would be fun to know something about the history of them, I may have to see if there are button collector events in my town! But I don't want to display them, I like to use them — and handle them!

Wow, I had no idea button collecting was so huge! I keep a jar of various buttons, but simply because they come in handy as a seamstress. I doubt I have any that are old or rare, but now I want to go look through them again!

I've always loved vintage buttons but I didn't know anything about button competitions and groups this is a very interesting article

Both of my grandmothers had jars and tins of buttons that I used to play with. Wish I had them now! Also - the chocolate buttons look yummy!

Who DOESN'T love buttons? They are crazy! I love them, collect them and make them! :) I got the best of all worlds! Wonderful post!

The variety and diversity of buttons is astounding!

Oh dear, button collecting can be truly addicting and I had to go cold turkey some years ago. I was partial to the buttons that had images derived from famous paintings.

I am not a fan of loose buttons...isn't it crazy? I had this "button issue" since I was a kid hehe. Anyway it is a great post...! =)

I have a bit of a button addiction! It started when my mom worked at a button factory and brought home incredible buttons to use on the clothes she sewed for me. I wish I still had those today!!! I remember all sorts of colors and styles with little creatures depicted on them too. Oh, what fun buttons are! I just have a hard time using them because I just want to keep them all buttoned up in a jar. But, I have collected so many (new and old) and use them in my pieces. It gives my customers the chance to have a piece of history too.

Interesting, I wonder if any of the funky buttons in my basement from my moms collection would be worth anything. Could be fun to look into.

Buttons - the love of my life!!

Great post!!! I turned my collection into jewelry and an independent women-owned livelihood! :) I love that people can wear them again and appreciate and bring history to life again! I do admit I have lots that I cannot part with - I just love being around them! The stories and balls and tea party memories are palpable!! Creek from Compass Rose

Wow I loved this piece. I always thought I just had a weird attraction to buttons. I didn't realize people actually collected them.

I just love buttons! Nice feature.

I remember spending hours playing with my grandmother's buttons, she kept tins of them in her sewing room, and she'd collected them for decades. After she passed away, I took them, but I couldn't find a project special enough to use them on until last fall when I got married. Grandma couldn't be there, but I bezel set some of her beautiful mother-of-pearl buttons in silver and made necklaces for myself, my mom (her daughter), and my bridesmaids, as well as cufflinks for my groom, and that brought her memory extra close for the day.

Fascinating! I, too, love to use old buttons in jewelry pieces tha tI create.

What a great article. I love buttons! I've been intrigued with buttons since I was a little girl and saw my grandmother's collection. My mother still has them. Now I see that the National Button Society's Convention is coming to Portland - just an hour away from us - and I want to go!

So fun to read about buttons! Love them for my designs, especially when ther are so many interesting buttons throughout history that can be used. It's amazing that something that is so functional can be so beautiful!

Wow! Great article!! A whole area of collecting I never really thought about.

Thanks for this wonderful article. Count me in! I love buttons too - as you can see by the jar of them in my profile picture. I love finding tins/jars/bags of them at sales. I can hardly wait to get home to sort through them. In fact, I've been known to play with them in the car all the way home from the flea market. :)

I have a passion for the button!!!!

buttons rock!!! \m/(>.<)\m/

I'm a restoration guy who dreams of being an archeologist. I've dug up quite a few clam shell buttons. Always a happy find.

LOVE BUTTONS! Great article.

How funny! People are experts at creating superlatives. If your not the best swimmer, then invent something else to be the best at. Button competitions sound like wondrous events!

My Etsy business began with an old tin of antique buttons! I loved this story. Thanks for sharing!

Vintage buttons are so fun!

Thank you!!!! When I cleaned out my grandmother's home I found buttons in almost every drawer. She never had much so she saved everything. She valued buttons. I now how them in a Mason Jar next to my bed. I admire them every day! Glad to know I'm not the only one who loves buttons.

I Love, Love, Love antique and vintage buttons. Victorian buttons are my favorites but also love my bakelite buttons and vintage plastic housedress buttons from the 1940's and 50's. Can never have too many buttons!!!

A magical journey into the button box was always a fascination for my sister and I when we were children, it could be an entire afternoon of entertainment - dreaming, sorting, swapping, describing the garments they would go on etc... when my mother passed, we both wanted the button box - an ornate red and gold Japanese tea tin - over flowing with buttons - we took turns with it even though we lived 1200 miles apart, until one day while antiquing during a visit, we found an identical duplicate tin in the small town my Mother grew up in - we now each have a tin and half of the buttons - mine sits in a place of honor on my living room coffee table with a handmade story book my Sister wrote about our "button box" - I can still envision my Grandmother in her camel coat with a mink collar when I see the buttons off the coat and every outfit my mother made us as children, if it had buttons, the extras went into the tin, a lifetime of memories..............I adore buttons!

Great post-who doesn't love vintage buttons?!

I have been mesmerized by vintage buttons since I was a small child. Now I buy exquisite old buttons from button dealers to use in my jewelry designs. There is a whole button world out there.

I was fascinated at a very young age by my Grandmother's button box, kept me occupied for hours !

Beautiful photos and the blog post is great reading. Thanks for helping me see buttons in a new light.

Thank you for the posting! I love buttons and always look for special buttons to use in some of my creations!!

I read a book once where all the girls had button strings and there was rivalry over who had the best buttons. Ever since then I have kept a jar of cool buttons around. But I'm no collector, not like these ladies. It's just that buttons are expensive, so I try to reuse them whenever I can.

Very interesting, fascinating article! I'm partial to a beautiful antique MOP button with a handpainted rose that I purchased here on Etsy. I also love large old MOPs with designs carved. Many times it is the statement button that makes the garment!

Great!

What a fascinating article on a subculture most people know nothing about! When I was in third grade, my best friend had a mason jar full of buttons and we loved to look through them.

Both my Grandmothers' had a button box and a button tin, and I would spend hours sorting them when I was very little. My Mom kept both of them and even after I got older, I would sort through them if I was bored (rarely) or sick. It made me feel better. I'd like to think the ceramic buttons that I make by hand today in my Etsy shop stem from those buttons that I learned to count and name colours with, and that my Grandmothers' and Mom would consider them worth adding to their collections.

Wow. I had no idea there were button competitions. Very interesting. Those vintage buttons are amazingly detailed.

I enjoyed this article. Loving to sew, of course, I love buttons! Sometimes I have to go shopping to find a new box of buttons to sort. Or, I will re-sort the ones I have. There are so many ways to sort them. Thanks for writing this article.

I love my button collection :)

Loved this article...glad to know I am not the only one with a greater-than-usual fascination with buttons!! :)

Buttons..we all have our memories, don't we? We all love them, me too!

Thank you for such an informative write up on Buttons and The National Button Society!!!! I love Victorian and Antique Buttons and are up on my Etsy site most of the time.

I like buttons...the big and colored ones :). The article is great! Bravo!

I enjoy buttons that come from archeological digs... talk about history!!!

Ooh Buttons, can there be anything more fabulous, interesting, unusual and fascinating. From the historical perspective - when buttons were first used and their significance and financial value to their sociological significance - you'd be wealthy if you could afford buttons and depending on how fancy they were would depend on how rich you were. Like Barb, I too became fascinated by buttons because of my Nanny, her buttons were amazing and we used them for money in play and as sound makers, but also as collecting items. Great post, thanks for sharing it.

I love buttons but never realised that there was such a thing as button competitions! You learn something new every day!

amazing article

So nice to know I am not the only one who loves the feel of running my fingers through a old tin of buttons! wonderful post.

Another great article Linzee - I also loved the one you wrote about the MOP buttons from the Missippee. Since childhood, I have always loved anything which was old & used, bashed & bruised. A chance discovery of the most beautiful button I had ever seen, triggered a long-held fascination with buttons. I love their sense of history and there is nothing better than spending a rainy day button sorting in my opinion! I have yet to experience the fun of a Button Club as it's something that has not really caught on in the UK for some reason as far as I am aware - so I go about spreading the love where ever I can!

What a lovely article (and examples too)! A clever mum shared a tip with me which has made visiting the fabric store easier: encourage my children to select 10 buttons each from the discounted button box, where each item costs 10 pence. The boys surprisingly took to it and it made my shopping a bit easier.

Wow thats quite a collection of buttons! The range of styles is just mind boggling. I always like wooden and natural style buttons

Great Post! I was just handed down a HUGE tin of buttons and am just beginning to dip in. I've always love buttons and this blog confirms what we all know... buttons are a wonderful walk thru time and trend.

Thank you!

What an eye-opening read :)

I design brooches I have used old buttons in my designs because thet are beautiful. Keep collecting

Thanks so much for this article. Some time ago I decided to actively resist becoming a serious 'buttonologist' and the more I know and learn about them, the stronger I have to be! That doesn't mean I can't keep learning. For the purpose of my handmade button pieces & etsy shop, I'm trying hard to confine myself to reclaimed buttons, not collectibles.. Wish me luck! I have met some true devotees and have admired their collections with awe..

Oh Buttons . . how I love thee !!! I find it so hard to resist a beautiful antique button. I love adding them to my work. When people had to dress in Victorian Mourning they gave it a bit of glam with fantastic buttons. Love them . love them !!

Not a collector of any sort, but I have seen some amazing buttons; they can be miniature artworks so I can appreciate the fact that people collect them. And I do hope that it is a friendly inclination, as the author says, because being aggresive about button collecting would make no sense.

Love those buttons! Only problem is deciding whether to use them or admire in a jar! (Also so easy to collect-don't take up much room!)

Barb is right: buttons do take up space-and I've got jars of 'em to prove it!

Love buttons! Call me helpless....I just can't get my fill of them :)

I love buttons also. I remember browsing into my grandma's collection a sewing my favorites on a piece of fabric, that how I learn handsewing.

One side note.... I would love to mention as a button jewelry designer: Shanks are important to the value of a button!. A button is worthless to a button collector if the shank has been removed and a button collector will likely be unwilling to purchase a piece (jewelry) if the shank has been cut off. They certainly would not be willing to wear it in front of their button friends. It's like anything else: break the collectible, the collectible is worthless. Many antique button collectors lament the buttons that were sacrificed and drilled/deshanked/glued for the sake of a piece of jewelry. I speak from experience as both a collector and a designer. Antique buttons with their shanks cut off are worth nothing more than the brass they are made from. I think I speak for many and offer this for consideration :)

I LOVE my buttons, and I always think long and hard about using them in my jewelry. Nice to know so many others appreciate them.

My grandmother "Muzzie" had a button tin. Going through it was a favorite rainy-day activity.

So beautiful,love them very much!

Great article. I as well inherited a large button collection from a dear friend who collected for years. I'm able to make so many beautiful things with the collection. Love buttons - little works of art!

What a great story! Buttons are definitely for more then just your shirt! :)

you can never have too many buttons in your life and I have a weakness for vintage buttons...I have jars and jars of them. Some of my earliest memories are of my Mum letting me tip out her jars of buttons and now my two year old daughter is doing the same with my collection!

Little windows into different eras

Oh my - I had no idea! Fascinating.

Great article, love buttons!!

Wow, I know I love buttons, and I love collecting them, but I never knew you could enter them into competitions. This post may have inspired me to start a new hobby!

I think it's something everyone can relate to . . . a love for buttons. They are amazing indicators of past fashion and availability of materials, and their natural size and shape lends to longevity. How many times have you found a buttons buried in the dirt? They're practically indestructible!

I grew up with a mom & Nonny with button boxes. I loved it when I was asked to go through the boxes to pick out buttons for a special outfit being made. Loved sifting them through my hands & looking at all of them. I am always on the outlook for buttons. A few years ago, I got on a green kick, & sorted out all the green buttons. I mounted them all in neat rows in a shadow frame box. I was amazed at so many of them. Great topic to talk about! Thanks!

I really LOVE those black horse buttons!

Great article. I remember seeing glass jars filled with buttons at my grandmothers house! <3

Love this articles!

What a fascinating post! While I cannot say I'm a button connoisseur, some of them are so intricate and beautiful!

Thanks for sharing! I too have a love for vintage buttons. There is just something about them that is so enticing. I love to make jewelry out of buttons particularly vintage cut glass and celluloid buttons. It's so much fun and there are so many gorgeous designs out there. It's fun to search to find unique ones.

I ♥ this article! I had never heard of button competitions before today, but I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only button fanatic out there! (^__^)

Even though I am an Etsy seller who makes jewelry and mosaics from vintage buttons, I am relatively new to vintage button mania. This article opened my eyes and as one of the featured stores in "Related Items," this article has opened everyone else's eyes about my shop! Thank you so much for this fantastic feature.

I love hearing how many of you button fanatics got your start with your mother's or grandmother's button boxes and tins. In the past, when clothes were beyond repair, people cut the buttons off for re-use and I imagine that's how many of those button boxes got their start. I wrote one of my all-time favorite button stories years ago about "The Button Lady" of Mechanicsville, Iowa. She started collecting buttons in 1908 and sewed them onto a wide-wale corduroy shift. I've got a photo of her on my blog, if you're interested: http://bit.ly/x1WPdk. It turns out that Kareen and Barb knew about her collection and said that part of it might still be in the Mechanicsville library, but that most of it was sold at auction. Thanks for all your comments!

I have 3 generations of button collectors on my mother's side. Therefore, our house over runeth with buttons! I have just started making button bobby pins with some of our vintage buttons! I figured that I would rather have someone wear them and enjoy them then having them sit in metal containers all over our house! Check out or store for some cool vintage button bobby pins if you are a button lover! I am listing more right now! Use coupon code "FREESHIP" if you find a pair you would like to wear!

I love buttons! But I didn't know that there was a competition involving button collections! That's so neat! Thanks for sharing :)

This is awesome!!! I love buttons ;) Great article!!

Buttons have quite the history!

I'm also one of those button addicts! Nice to know I'm not alone! I think I inherited this love from my grandmother and mother, and two aunts, and ... one of the great pleasures in life!

I'm a Civil War (American) button collector - I have a collection of unique buttons worth over $1000. All my buttons have one common factor, though I have both North and South: all of them have come from excavated sites (battlfileds, encampments), which makes it that more special to me.

Very interesting! ~KK~

Awesome info.. Can't wait to check out the suggested in the article Cheers

My name is Allie & I'm addicted to button collecting. So good to know I'm not alone. Thank you for using my button photo in the article!

Yay buttons! They are such a special thing - I often hesitate to put the 'special ones' on garments (especially if they're vintage!).. its a selfish thing but I love to just look at them and wonder where they came from.

The amazing detail on antique buttons is what sparked my interest in making jewelry with them. They really are like miniature pieces of art. http://www.etsy.com/shop/AlliesAdornments

How Darling!

My grandmother in Turkey was a seamstress who had an amazing button collection. I used to sort thru them as a child. Unfortunately a robber broke in and stole the bag full of AMAZING buttons along with other modest family treasures.

I will post the buttons I just have found tomorrow morning. Just the time needed to shoot the pics and prepare the sets

Fascinating! I love the different display settings. Thanks for posting this!

Buttons are such precious objects, once you collect one, you can't stop! heehee

Interesting! Thanks for sharing!

How interesting. I love buttons and have some that were cut from mussell shells in the Ohio River. There was once a button factory in our town in the early 1900's.

The graceful beauty of a button ahhhhhh.........My own collection is HUGE!! loved reading this.

I love this article! I collect buttons casually, and had no idea that there were competitions! Thank you for the fabulous read.

Also, for some reason I've come across buttons and chatelaines/brooches with a Little Red Riding Hood theme over the years -- Initially to sell, although I've never been able to part with with any of it, and so I'm always hunting to add to it.

viva gli amanti pulsante del mondo ~ long live the button lovers of the world

This is so awesome! I didn't know any of that!!! While working with buttons more and more often, I'm starting to become a button addict myself...

This button story received a great response, so many of us share this interest and addiction. Thanks for displaying our horse buttons here.

Nice post. Love the buttons !

Wow, I had no idea there were button competitions. I have a bunch of old buttons my grandparents gave me from their garage. I spent a very long time organizing them all by color and washing them off, they are sitting on my craft desk right now! Although they are not as unique as the ones pictures here, and I do not know much about them, I am still fascinated by them. Buttons today are not nearly as unique. It is also interesting to know that a button collection can be worth as much as a car! There's something for everyone.

Great post! I love buttons!

I looooooove Interesting post!!

LOVE BUTTONS!! Love this post! Glad for the resource so I can learn more about their history!

Love me some buttons! Great article!

It has always interested me that button collectors value individual buttons that fit into categories. Collectors of other vintage items usually value the item in the original packaging. But button collectors do not seem to value buttons on original cards at all. Some of those cards are works of art in their own right, in my opinion. I've never heard button collectors discussing collecting buttons on their original cards. I wonder why that is.

Such a fun post! My etsy shop in fact began in part due to my love for old, antique and vintage metal and glass buttons. I love them because they bring to mind the fashion of another time, when details like buttons really were important and completely changed a garment's look. The generic plastic buttons on most clothing today are not nearly as interesting I find, and are no longer an important deign detail of the garment. And so, I love funding antique and vintage buttons and giving them new life as accessories on my etsy! A bit of the past, for our everyday.

Thanks for a great post. I love buttons.

I so love buttons! its a pleasant surprise to see an orphan button, i keep then in ajar and go through them, just looking at the intricate design, even the rust adds some charm to an old button.

thanks!! for the post

My daughter and I have always enjoyed going through the old tins and boxes we've found among family trunks and boxes, filled with exquisite colors and shapes of the buttons, wondering who used the needles, buttons and beads and where they wore the finished products. Interesting article, thank you

I love buttons too- especially black glass vintage. I always loved looking through my moms huge jar of random buttons, looking for the perfect accent to a newly made piece of clothing.

I love collecting buttons too! Amazing how her buttons equaled the value of her car in her will!

I LOVE vintage buttons, but had no idea collectors got so competitive! What is it about buttons that is so.....more-ish?! You can't just keep one or two, it has to be jars worth! Great post.

Buttons are the reason I started my shop :)

I love buttons! Great post! Thank you!

Wow, so interesting! Really fun history!

Thanks lots for featuring my antique buttons

If you love buttons, don't miss the California State Button Show in San Mateo, May 17-20, 2012. Here's the link: http://www.cabuttonsociety.org/2012-button-show

Hi - Wow - I'm so glad to see all the wonderful and positive comments about buttons. I wonder if any of you have thought about joining a button club? How about the National Button Society? If you're interested go to the NBS web site: www.nationalbuttonsociety.org and click on the membership link. If you have any questions, feel free to send me an email. My name is Susan Porter and my email is: snoozin8(at)cox(dot)net Susan Porter ;-) NBS Secretary

I love using Vintage buttons in ALL of my creations! The Bakelite ones are my favorites! Thank you for your wonderful article!

I totally agree that buttons are addictive! I can never pass up the opportunity to buy some that I can share with others. There are NO bad buttons. :) Thanks for the great article.

Fantastic article. I have my grandmother's collection from the 20's and 30's. Some days I just sit and run my fingers through the tin and try to imagine what their life was like - whether held together a sweater, shirt or just a beautiful embellishment. So many possibilities to give them their second life.

I too have many buttons in my house (my mother has jars of them.. I don't know why...)...but I've never been into them until now! Great pictures too!

Three years ago We had a large collection of buttons donated to our church thrift shop. Most of the women working in the shop were in their 60's and 70's and thought it was a waste of time to deal with them.(we all have our own button boxes) I put all of the buttons in a clean goldfish bowl, placed it by the cash register, and added a sign saying "10 cents each or 12 for one dollar". The button were gone in three weeks! (~.~) Ellen

Fun! About a year ago I held a button swap with some of my blog readers. I paired people up, they exchanged buttons, and then everyone showed photos on their blogs of what they created with the buttons.

There seem to be as many reasons to collect buttons as there are button collectors. Competitions are a good way to focus the mind and force you to really identify the material, period, style etc. They used to be saved and recycled into the next garment by thrifty ancestors so old buttons all have a story to tell, even if we will know the whole story. But just imagine! And old buttons often have such rich detail so, even if a bit worn and shabby, they retain their charm and can transform your current project. Buttons can be a bit addictive, but the joy of finding just the right one makes it all worthwhile. So, ... keep collecting! And thank you for the blog.

so Very cute buttons,My grandma has a lot of buttons, I used to play them.

I adore I buttons! I had my own growing collection and then last year was give a large box by an Aunt which inspired me to create some of the items listed in my shop. Then on visiting our local charity shop I spotted a tin in the counter with thousands in. I was so happy to see them and the shop assistant was very pleased to part with the entire tin saying that nobody wanted buttons. She was happy to be rid of them and I was very happy I to pay for them. Needless to say my button collection is very large! Happy collecting xx

I love buttons and creating with them. They have such a simple beauty!

I miss my button collection. I once had 12 apple boxes full, these boxes are the ones you see at the grocery stores. I had strings, dolls, cards big and small and yes, literally hundreds of thousands. I knew nothing. I remember in 1990 I wrote to a woman in the monthly button club book and no one would tell me the values, it appeared to be a secret elite society. Finally one day I took a trip across state lines to get to a show. I was amazed but excited, no one there had anything on my collection that was greater or more beautiful. When I got home I gently removed my 18th century mother of pearl collection and picked all the "REBUS" buttons off the card, determined to find the meaning of the French writings on them. I was more than hooked, I was in heaven. There wasn't a jar from Washington state to Missouri that I didn't buy. I ended up with about 4 more boxes in a year and finally began to cool down. Long story short...to the lady in California who bought them from me, I wish I had them back, now I only have a few that linger and lay in my boxes and tins, the stories they told are now being told to someone else. I did vow to help anyone who asked about their buttons, I was surprised at how cunning and sadly how greedy some button collectors could be to get their hands on one more button. Sad but true. Things have changed in the last 20 years and I barely remember the names of most of the buttons. I'm grateful for the Big Button Book which was the bible on buttons then, I imagine it still is. Good luck all you collectors and don't sell your buttons until you know what you have. It's nice to share of course. It isn't nice to cheat naive collectors who only want to take part in the hunt! As I always said, it's all in the hunt, never the dollar.

A most wonderful subject!!! Yay for buttons and thanks for writing this.

I have some vintage button boards if anyone is interested.

How Fantastic! Thanks for sharing your story its so informative and inspiring! Love love love buttons, especially bakealite and the pierced buttons like the kitty lizard on the wall etc. I wish I knew things by heart like you do in indentifying and dating etc. its so fasinating. I started collected a little stash and keep finding more and more treasures, I call them my NEW favorites. Thanks for sharing it makes ones heart sing!

Love the article and love, love buttons. Can't get enough of them and I am always amazed at what works of art they are. I never get tired of treasure hunting for buttons. motleycouture