Month: July 2023

This glass paperweight button is in orange, cream and green shades. It is just smudges of colour with no real design to it. The back is all green with a brass loop shank. It measures a little over 2 cm.

These two buttons are modern and have a geometric design in black and white enamel. They are of white metal and have a loop shank. They certainly differ from the enamel buttons of the early 1900s and that shows the variations in fashion of the times. They have a backmark ORI and measure a little under 1 1/2cm so are not very big but are of good quality.

These fabric buttons by The Classic Touch were made in Denmark. The delicate floral fabric has been laminated with a tough resilient resin before forming it into buttons. They are quite effective with their high gloss. They measure a little over 2 cm and have a tin back and metal loop shank.

This button was given to me by a lady from South Africa. They had not long moved out to Australia so she must have bought it in South Africa. It is quite intriguing as the front is flat and has a sort of floral pattern on it. The back has vertical undulating lines radiating out from the bottom. It is just a simple sew through plastic button but I quite like it.

These two buttons were painted by Edith and Alan Brooks from England in the 1960s. They are the only Brook’s buttons that I have and are getting harder to come by and more expensive. The painting is very well done and in a simplistic design. At 1 1/2 cm they are reasonably small. Back in the day a set of Brook’s buttons was done each for Prince Charles and Princess Anne. The subject matter was many and varied.

These buttons are part of a Commercial Polyester set made for Blumenthal Company in 1996. They are backmarked B/L 96. They depict the rhymes Little Miss Muffet, Jack be Nimble, Humpty Dumpty and Hey Diddle Diddle. They are realistic and very colourful. They would not be functional but make a good addition to a Button Collection.

Button collecting is a fun hobby and I especially get a thrill to find really old buttons of various materials and designs. However it is still nice to collect not so old plastic buttons. They are still tactile and I keep them colour coded in jars. Here are some such buttons and they are still part of the history of fashion so have their place in a collection.

I think this button is pewter. It was made by Battersea Ltd. in 1978 as is marked on the back. The detail is very fine and well done. It is the only button of this type that I have. A lot of these pictorial buttons were quite large. It was made in the USA.

Here is a modern enamel button with a geometric design. It is very colourful and eye catching. It has been gilded making it very bright and shiny. It measures 2 cm. I think it could be from the 1970s.

This is one of my favourite buttons being a Scrimshaw Ivory button featuring a Geisha girl with a sunshade. It is very delicately done in black with just a touch of colour which is very effective. At just under 3 1/2 cm it is a nice size.