10-14-2015 08:42 PM
10-14-2015 08:43 PM
They smell when you rub them
10-15-2015 12:04 PM
10-15-2015 02:57 PM
Tried to post a second photo with backs - wasn't able to. Gonna try again.
10-15-2015 10:16 PM
I believe your buttons are a type of plastic- they appear to have some crazing in them which diminishes their value. They probably would have been from the 40s or 50s- educated guess.
10-17-2015 12:58 PM
I am new to buttons, I have no idea. I wish I could help you.
10-18-2015 06:05 AM
Thanks for your reply.. Yes, everything suggests they are casein; hot needle test, carving, etc. But I had not seen any of this coloring and hand carved, although I guess there are such - so my hope for a confirmation on that by those more knowledgeable than me.
10-18-2015 06:15 AM
I wish you could too Buttons can be a fascinating hobby, but can be frustrating too. Sorting buttons was about the only thing I could do for hours and not get bored to death.
Collectors seem to be very competitive. I had joined a few groups and the National Button Society in hopes of learning more about my new hobby. But there was so much bickering, etc. I left and sort of lost interest. I sure hope you have a different experience and continue to enjoy your hobby.
10-18-2015 08:48 AM
Sorry to hear you had such a bad experience! I belong to the National Button Society and have known a lot of local button collectors and find the majority of them more than willing to help and share information with other like minded collectors! I show would be collectors different types of buttons and how to care for them whenever asked 🙂
10-18-2015 09:46 AM
Not really a bad experience - just not as pleasant as I expeccted. A lot of rudeness. Maybe I shoulld try again.
Do you think my buttons might be casein?
10-18-2015 08:24 PM
10-20-2015 10:40 AM
The card logo I would date it to the late 40s early 50s, but these companies may keep the same logo for decades. The button style is more early 1950s.
There was a lot of experimentation in the 1940s and 50s with what we would today call 'plastic'. Many different formulas and techniques. What I am saying is: Lucite or Bakelite are pretty much specific recipes, like Pot Roast or Spaghetti Sauce, where as "Plastic" covers a whole range of different combinations of polymers, like saying "cake" without defining the kind of cake. there are millions. The makers of these plastics rarely had a trade name and may only provide a name in their patent application, like "poly-handrocyldric formula with Cloride-saturate properties"; to the manufactures of buttons they sold the formula as "a new kind of plastic" or maybe "Self Coloring Plastic". Often the differences in these polymers was very slight. Many of the raw materials were created by one company, like Dow, the manufacturers experimenting with the raw material. "Plastic" is probably the best term, unless you want to do 40 years of research with a team of 12 to define every slight variation of plastic made at the time.
Personally I group the various types as:
Hard plastic, like your button
Squirt-gun Plastic, a brittle plastic usually transparent
Vinyl, slightly flexible, sometimes becomes a little brittle with age.
Asphalt plastic, an imitation bakelite, like rubber it becomes crumbly or brittle with age, usually in a dense opaque color.
Again, these are catagories, not specific recipes.