Month: April 2025

I love this button as it is in a worn old way and can imagine how it looked when new. I think it is fairly old and the fabric with the pink flower is faded and worn. It is set in brass with white painted leaf like shapes which make it interesting. If only it could talk! It measures a little over 2 cm.

Both of these Celluloid buttons are a tinted shade of grey and have brass embellishments. One has a sort of rope pattern with a brass square embossed with a flower in the centre. The other one has nine tiny brass squares with star like patterns. They measure a little under 3 cm.

Here are three Buffed Celluloid buttons depicting leaves and flowers. The flower ones are identical designs just in different colours. The pattern is incised into the button, rubbed over with paint and then buffed back to leave the colour only in the indentations. They are quite a nice size at a little over 2 1/2 cm and have a self shank.

Here are three Porcelain buttons made by Birchcroft of England which I bought in 2017. The photos are not very good but the buttons themselves are sort of blurry. I think they are transfer printed and they are backmarked. They measure a little over 2 1/2 cm.

These white metal buttons are reproduction buttons which I purchased in 2010. On the left is one from 1900-1910, the middle one 1860-1899 and the right one 1941. They were made in Italy and I wonder if the original moulds were used. They were produced under the La Mode brand. There was quite a series of them produced at the time and I saw them advertised in a craft magazine and it took some time to track them down. I eventually got them in a craft shop in Bendigo and was so pleased to find them.

These two plastic buttons are rather simple in their design of a yacht but are quite striking. The colour combination is dramatic with a maroon yacht on a red button and a navy yacht on a blue button. The straight white lines certainly add to the drama. Would they maybe be used on a cotton sunfrock. They are sew through type buttons.

This is an old plastic button with a cut out area leaving two tulip flowers and leaves. It is quite unusual. I do not know what type of plastic it is; maybe Bakelite. It is a sew through type and measures a little over 3 1/2 cm. I wonder how old it is.

Here are two lacy glass buttons from my collection. To get them with the paint on the back in really good order they are very expensive so these have some wear on them. I have read in a button book where years ago some collectors scraped all the paint off the back of these buttons. That seems criminal to me. I have seen some really pretty ones in books.

Here is another group of new buttons bought recently. The two checkered ones are fabric with eyelet sew through holes. The black glass one has some gold lustre dots. The cat is a gold metal realistic with black trim and the yacht is a resin button. I keep my new buttons in a small wooden set of drawers separate from old buttons. I am thinking that the black glass button is from some older stock but maybe I am wrong.

Here are four buttons purchased new at the Sewing Centre a couple of weeks ago. The top three gold ones are metalized plastic and the bottom one is a mustard plastic with a silver embellishment. Sometimes the gold ones resemble black glass with gold lustre.