Month: January 2026

Here are two Mother of Pearl sew through buttons. They each have four holes and carved decoration. I am sure it was a fiddly job doing the carving and guess people got good at it after practice. As the saying goes ” Practice makes perfect ” and these look very well done. The different types of shell of course have different colours although they may be quite subtle.

These three buttons are metalized plastic of which I have hundreds of different ones. These ones are a little older than many I have. Some people think they are metal buttons but they are imitation. This type of button is still available in the shops today.

Here are some more Button Covers of which I do not have full sets. To me they are rather clumsy and not at all pretty. The green one looks like a lollie. I wonder how many people actually used them or if they were just a passing fad. What do you think?

Here are two more sets of Button Covers but on their original cards. As you can see I paid $4 for each card at the Opp Shop. I have asked them not to write on the front with texter colour but they forget. I see the original price was $16.95 . One lot are pearl like centres and the other coloured glass like. I think they may come from around the 1980s.

Here is a set of Cameo button covers made from plastic. How real do they look! You can see by the backs how they open up and slide behind the existing button and just snap shut. How clever is that and you have rejuvenated a garment.

I am not really a lover of bling but these buttons were in a small private collection which I bought a few years ago. There are quite a lot more and Isobel bought them when she was in China in 2013. These ones of course are modern.

Here is a group of modern leather buttons with stitching as the trim. The brown one just has imitation stitching so is not so effective to me. What would you wear these buttons on; a coat? They are rather clumsy I think.

I have had this button for a long time. Now when I look at the photo I wonder if it is plaster and not ceramic. I guess if I took it of it’s card and scratched the back with a needle I could tell if it is plaster. Never mind, I will leave it be. It is quite a nice colour but a lot of the gold has rubbed off which shows it has been used.

I got these five buttons at a local Opp Shop a couple of years ago for $1 the lot. They were in a little plastic bag in a jar and were very dirty so I wasn’t sure what they were. I was thrilled to get them and they cleaned up quite nicely. They are silver showing an Oriental lady playing a stringed instrument which is gold and has an enamelled panel featuring a bird. They were certainly a very good buy and it was my lucky day.

Here is one of my glass paperweight buttons which is basically white and shows a modern style butterfly and flower. It is quite colourful and has a metal loop shank embedded in the back.