~Collectible Buttons For Sale ~ ~ Vintage and Antique ~

Hello, and thanks for looking at my vintage collectible button shopping site. I hope you find something you can't live without. Week by week there will be more buttons on some of the pages as I'm downsizing my collection.

If you see a button or two you might be interested in, you may contact me by email at buttons@minot.com. Also, if you're looking for a particular type of collectible vintage and/or antique button, don't hesitate to email me; I might be able to help.

U.S. Shipping starts at $1.25 for one button; no "handling" charge; insurance extra and recommended on large orders. If you're ordering, please indicate the page(s) to which you're referring and indicate button number and price.

Please read on for information on collectible buttons, past and present, along with pictures of buttons mounted on cards according to the National Button Society's competition rules for awards.

Brief history of Collectible Buttons

Interestingly, it appears that the origin of buttons is rather obscure because of the lack of historical, written documentation. Buttons of a sort were used in Egypt at least 4,000 year ago and it's been learned that Chinese Mandarins used buttons to identify their castes and status around 2,000. The earliest documentation of buttons were ornamental, found in a grave of a Bulgarian princess about 600 BC. It has been noted that loose flowing garments worn by the ancient Egyptians, Chinese and others were secured by clasps, buckles, sashes, etc.

Many of the buttons collectors seek are those having been used as decoration on garments worn by royalty. Additionally, people of status wore beautiful buttons as trim. There have been buttons found which tell a story of travels, each button having been hand wrought by an artist, depicting various scenes.

Button Collecting,
Up Close and Personal

The National Button Society, an organization for collectors, formed in 1938. The NBS consists of members from all over the world, many of whom are dealers who come to the National Button Society Annual Show each year, open to the public, which will be held this year in Manchester, NH. Details can be found at the National Button Society WEB SITEwhere you can learn how to join as well as find links to state societies.

Show and Tell

Collecting buttons became one of my passions in 1990, and perhaps you'd like to see some of the finds I've made; I call these buttons SHOW and TELL, but NOT to SELL. These buttons will give you an idea of how members of the National Button Society display our collectibles.

The bright colors of bakelite buttons caught my fancy early on, as well as did Pictorial collectible buttons of various materials and subject matter.

Eventually Iconcentrated on buttons depicting heads of men, women and children; but that concentration didn't last long. I soon found it difficult to concentrate on one particular topic, and learned that I couldn't buy and collect every type of button. hobby. My mom collected elephant "knick-knacks", so I bought a few elephant buttons for her. Soon I couldn't help myself, so I began collecting elephant BUTTONS for myself.

Another thing I learned while persuing the hobby of button collecting is that glass and celluloid are probably the most plentiful of antique and vintage buttons. Like most who have found this wonderful hobby I try to sell and/or trade duplicate buttons as well as some I've decided to not collect. Once you visit the Wild site mentioned above, you'll see some I've decided to sell or trade; many of us button collectors sell some buttons to buy more.

Classifying Collectible Buttons

Moonglow buttons have been very popular in the collecting world. Many different colors, surface treatment and shapes as well as some pictorials can be found. I'm not sure how the term "moonglow" came to be, but there is a way to determine the difference between an "ordinary" glass button and a moonglow button. There is a discernable, though in many instances thin, layer of clear glass over the top of the button. By holding the button by the shank and shining a pen-lite against the edge of the top, you can see the thin layer of clear glass.

It's difficult to explain here where I'm trying to give an idea of how we display and/or compete; once you attend a button show, you'll see GORGEOUS, buttons of all materials and topics, properly mounted for both competition and preservation. This example shows black glass moonglows which have their own category as opposed to moonglows of all other colors. The base of these buttons is black, the tops may be almost any color and/or combination thereof.

Studio Buttons

Artists of varied media have found that button collectors admire their work and have pleased us enormously by sharing their talent in the form of gorgeous hand-crafted buttons. These buttons are strictly for "show and tell" as I would never consider selling them. However, these artists do sell their art to anyone interested.

In addition to the studio buttons above, paperweight buttons have also found their way into my collection, many of which are made currently by glass artists.