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This button is quite small at under 2 cm in diameter.

It is made from Papier Mache and has an inlaid shell flower pattern.  A metal loop shank is fitted into the back.

If you have withdrawal symptoms, I will now give you an overdose.  I have missed out a few days.  Life gets hectic when you are retired and getting old doesn’t it?

I hope that you are enjoying my new website; the old one has now been put to rest.  It is all a learning curve and good for the old brain.  I enjoy it anyway and to me it is like having a chat to someone.  So go for it!!

We have had weeks of extremely hot days for nearly 3 weeks and I was so sick of being indoors trying to keep cool.  Last Wednesday it was cooler so on the spur of the moment I decided to go for a drive.  I went to Kyabram and met a friend for a coffee and then to the local Salvos Opp Shop.  I was looking in a small box of buttons when one of the volunteers came over.  She said that she had a few tins of buttons out the back and that I could go through them.  I had told her that I was a collector.  Well I had great fun and got quite a few black and clear glass buttons as well as some old plastics and perspex so I was pretty pleased.  I am sure that many of them had not been used. They cost $5 the lot.  I reckon there was at least $30 worth.  Just to be cooler and to have a good find made my day. So here they are.

In 2010 I bought a jar of buttons at a local opp shop.  In it I found this string of buttons.  It was quite tangled so I pulled it apart and carefully placed them as I undid them so I could restring them in exactly the same manner.

I guess some young child had played with Grandma’s button tin and maybe on a rainy day had fun threading them.  If they could only speak they could tell me who, when and where they were done.  Anyway I have them now with a label on them to explain their story; just a little memory of Social  History.

This is a lovely button having a silver metal decorative border with a claw set cameo type lady’s head in the centre.

I am guessing that this button may be from the 1920’s – 30’s however I am not sure.   I am also not sure but think the cameo is white glass which has been painted.  Nevertheless I find it very appealing.

These buttons all have a paisley design in the centre and are made of various materials.

No. 1 has a black border with paisley in blue shades.

No. 2 has a greyish border and the paisley has greens and pinks with gold added.

No. 3 has a gold border and paisley also in blues.

They are really pretty in their own way.  Paisley material was all the fashion back in the 1960’s or 70’s or thereabouts.  Paisley patterned shawls were very popular in  Scotland in the late 1840’s and 50’s.  Paisley design has been in vogue many times over the years.

Buttons depicting heads can be very interesting.

This group of buttons are all so different.  There is one lady wearing a hat which I think may not be as old as the others.  One has a border of cut steels.  Another one has a very fancy head dress which must be native to some country of which I do not know.  These buttons are all under 1  1/2 cm.

What a lovely contrast of colours in this button making it quite stunning.

Orange and purple are good complimentary colours and the yellow outer ( I think it is Celluloid!)  is a great foil.  I think the centre may be painted brass. It  has a japanned back.  I really like it.

Mainly imported from Italy, Germany and Switzerland, these buttons were all purchased new in 2011 at The Button Shop in Malvern.

I had great fun choosing buttons from the hundreds in boxes displayed along a wall.  They are all very good quality buttons.

This is only a small sample of what I bought.   Some more another time!

I bought these new buttons at an old market in Bangkok, Thailand in March,  2014.

They are mainly synthetic I think, having diamentes incorporated into their design.  Two are made from black braid.

Whether they are actually made in Thailand, I am not sure but as they are glitzy they may well be.