eBay

RARE Antique Button Collection

56 Buttons from the 1800s
Some Callico China - French / Japanese?

ca 1850s

For offer, a nice old button lot. Fresh from an estate in Upstate New York. Never offered on the market until now. Vintage, Old, antique, Original - NOT a Reproduction - Guaranteed !! These came from a very old lady who collected buttons. I do not know much about buttons and had a button person look at these. They told me they were Japanese, from the 1850s. I don't know much about them. In good to very good condition. Please see photos for details. If you collect sewing history, 19th century Asian culture, etc., this is one you will not see again soon. A nice piece for your paper / ephemera collection. Buyer pays shipping. Combine shipping on multiple bid wins!

In modern clothing and fashion design, a button is a small fastener, now most commonly made of plastic, but also frequently of metal, wood or seashell, which secures two pieces of fabric together. In archaeology, a button can be a significant artifact. In the applied arts and in craft, a button can be an example of folk art, studio craft, or even a miniature work of art.

Buttons are most often attached to articles of clothing but can also be used on containers such as wallets and bags. However, buttons may be sewn onto garments and similar items exclusively for purposes of ornamentation. Buttons serving as fasteners work by slipping through a fabric or thread loop, or by sliding through a buttonhole. Other types of fastenings include zippers, Velcro and magnets.

Buttons and button-like objects used as ornaments or seals rather than fasteners have been discovered in the Indus Valley Civilization during its Kot Yaman phase (c. 2800–2600 BCE)[1] as well as Bronze Age sites in China (c. 2000–1500 BCE), and Ancient Rome.

Buttons made from seashell were used in the Indus Valley Civilization for ornamental purposes by 2000 BCE.[2] Some buttons were carved into geometric shapes and had holes pierced into them so that they could be attached to clothing with thread.[2] Ian McNeil (1990) holds that: "The button, in fact, was originally used more as an ornament than as a fastening, the earliest known being found at Mohenjo-daro in the Indus Valley. It is made of a curved shell and about 5000 years old."[3]

Functional buttons with buttonholes for fastening or closing clothes appeared first in Germany in the 13th century.[4] They soon became widespread with the rise of snug-fitting garments in 13th- and 14th-century Europe.

Buttons as containers Edit

Since at least the seventeenth century, when box-like metal buttons were constructed especially for the purpose,[5] buttons have been one of the items in which drug smugglers have attempted to hide and transport illegal substances. At least one modern smuggler has tried to use this method.[6]

Also making use of the storage possibilities of metal buttons, during the World Wars, British and U.S. military locket buttons were made, containing miniature working compasses.[7]

Materials and manufacture Edit

See also: List of raw materials used in button-making

Because buttons have been manufactured from almost every possible material, both natural and synthetic, and combinations of both, the history of the material composition of buttons reflects the timeline of materials technology.

Buttons can be individually crafted by artisans, craftspeople or artists from raw materials or found objects (for example fossils), or a combination of both. Alternatively, they can be the product of low-tech cottage industry or can be mass-produced in high-tech factories. Buttons made by artists are art objects, known to button collectors as "studio buttons" (or simply "studios", from studio craft).[8]

Nowadays, hard plastic, seashell, metals, and wood are the most common materials used in button-making; the others tending to be used only in premium or antique apparel, or found in collections.

Over 60% of the world's button supply comes from Qiaotou, Yongjia County, China.[9][10]

Decoration and coating techniques Edit

Historically, fashions in buttons have also reflected trends in applied aesthetics and the applied visual arts, with buttonmakers using techniques from jewellery making, ceramics, sculpture, painting, printmaking, metalworking, weaving and others. The following are just a few of the construction and decoration techniques that have been used in button-making:

Arita porcelain

Cloisonné

Daguerreotype[11]

Electroplating

Embroidery[12]

Filigree[13]

Intaglio[14]

Lacquerware

Lithography[15]

Metallizing

Metal openwork[16]

Opus interassile

Passementerie[17]

Portrait miniatures

Satsuma ware

Vitreous enamel

Styles of attachment Edit

Three plastic sew-through buttons (left) and one shank, fabric-covered button (right)

Different examples of shirt studs

Plastic studs for bedclothes

Shank buttons have a hollow protrusion on the back through which thread is sewn to attach the button.[18] Button shanks may be made from a separate piece of the same or a different substance as the button itself, and added to the back of the button, or be carved or moulded directly onto the back of the button, in which latter case the button is referred to by collectors as having a 'self-shank'.

Flat or sew-through buttons have holes through which thread is sewn to attach the button.[19] Flat buttons may be attached by sewing machine rather than by hand, and may be used with heavy fabrics by working a thread shank to extend the height of the button above the fabric.

Stud buttons (also push-through buttons or just studs) are composed from an actual button, connected to a second, button-like element by a narrow metal or plastic bar - pushed through two opposing holes within what is meant to be kept together, the actual button and its counterpart press it together, keeping it joined. Popular examples of such buttons are shirt studs and cufflinks.

Snap fasteners (also pressure buttons or press studs) are metal (usually brass) round discs pinched through the fabric. They are often found on clothing, in particular on denim pieces such as pants and jackets. They are more securely fastened to the material. As they rely on a metal rivet attached securely to the fabric, pressure buttons are difficult to remove without compromising the fabric's integrity. They are made of two couples: the male stud couple and the female stud couple. Each couple has one front (or top) and rear (or bottom) side (the fabric goes in the middle).

Fabric buttons Edit

Covered buttons are fabric-covered forms with a separate back piece that secures the fabric over the knob.

Mandarin buttons or frogs are knobs made of intricately knotted strings. Mandarin buttons are a key element in Mandarin dress (Qi Pao and cheongsam in Chinese), where they are closed with loops. Pairs of mandarin buttons worn as cuff links are called silk knots.

Worked or cloth buttons are created by embroidering or crocheting tight stitches (usually with linen thread) over a knob or ring called a form. Dorset buttons, handmade from the 17th century to 1750, are of this type.

Button sizes Edit

The size of the button depends on its use. Shirt buttons are generally small, and spaced close together, whereas coat buttons are larger and spaced further apart. Buttons are commonly measured in lignes (also called lines and abbreviated L), with 40 lignes equal to 1 inch. For example, some standard sizes of buttons are 16 lignes (10.16 mm, standard button of men's shirts) and 32 lignes (20.32 mm, typical button on suit jackets).

The American National Button Society (NBS)[20] has its own button sizing system which divides button sizes into 'small', 'medium' and 'large'.

Buttons in museums and galleries Edit

Some museums and art galleries hold culturally, historically, politically, and/or artistically significant buttons in their collections. The Victoria & Albert Museum has many buttons,[21] particularly in its jewellery collection, as does the Smithsonian Institution.[22][23][24][25]

Hammond Turner & Sons, a button-making company in Birmingham, hosts an online museum with an image gallery and historical button-related articles,[26] including an 1852 article on button-making by Charles Dickens.[27] In the USA, large button collections are on public display at the Waterbury Button Museum] of Waterbury, Connecticut,[28] the Keep Homestead Museum of Monson, Massachusetts,[29] which also hosts an extensive button archive,[30] and in Gurnee, Illinois at The Button Room.[31]

Button collecting may refer to the collecting of various types of buttons. This article refers to the collecting of clothing buttons.

Button collecting varies widely. In its most informal manifestation, a button collection may simply be the household button container, where buttons are stored for future use on clothing or for crafts. At the other end of the spectrum is the competitive collector, mainly found in the United States. The National Button Society [1] serves as a forum for collectors to build information about the history of buttons and for annual collector competitions. Regional, State and local button clubs meet regularly as well. In between these two extremes exist casual button collectors, who accumulate buttons for sheer enjoyment and relaxation, as well as for their functional valueButton collecting may refer to the collecting of various types of buttons. This article refers to the collecting of clothing buttons.