SubscribeVintage buttons
When I used to sew, I’d snip buttons from old clothes to use later on a new garment. These were the cheap buttons that I’d buy from a fabric shop (there aren’t too many of those around anymore) at six to a card.
You’ll find some of those inexpensive buttons at auction – but you’ll also find a lot more. At a recent auction of sewing items, a box full of unused – or what we call “new old” - small white buttons was sold. They went for about $35 for what looked like about 500 buttons on cards.
I’ve been at other auctions where vintage buttons have gone for much much more. So much that I didn’t even bother to engage in the bidding. The bidders were likely collectors or had clients who were collectors.
Collecting vintage and antique buttons is a favorite hobby of many people, and the National Button Society is the place to go for information. Just take a look at some of the buttons that come up at auction and you’ll understand why. They’re as exquisite as a piece of expensive jewelry.
The Peach State Button Club in Georgia – whose site is linked off the society’s website - offers some very interesting buttons and their classifications based on age, use, size, material and design. Serious collectors – unlike people like me who just love the artistry of buttons – compete for awards based on these classifications. Take a look at the buttons on the Peach State site, and you’ll never again think of buttons as just something to keep your shirt fastened.
Below is a lovely tort0ise shell button I picked up at an auction. It doesn’t come close to the pedigree of the ones on the Peach State site. The one below is among the best of a lot, which can sometimes contain up to 500 or buttons.
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I started going to auctions to fuel my love for African American art – but at a bargain. I love the old masters: Lois Mailou Jones, Jacob Lawrence, Hughie Lee-Smith. I wanted to find their works and discover other veteran artists whose works may have been hiding in an attic or basement, and forgotten.
