Hello all! I'm new to Ebay Groups period, I'm fairly new to selling, and I'm still learning how to tell what buttons are of what material, though I think I'm getting the gist of it... toddler stage maybe?
My fascination with buttons began early. I basically grew up with my grandmother, who was born in the '20's. Since we are from a small rural community of farmers, the area was already economically depressed before the depression. With that in mind, you can imagine the collections of various things like buttons, buckles, eyeglass screws (or pretty much anything) that have accumulated over time between her and her mother. I remember her reusing buttons and cutting them off clothes before putting them in the cloth bin for patches, doll clothes, crafts, pillows ...you name it!
I can recall sitting on the floor or at the table with old tobacco tins and cigar boxes full of old buttons and separating them according to color and size. I have one tin now (I had all five tins, but my father got rid of a lot of my stuff he thought was junk when I was away to college, and took it to the salvation army). The last time I went through them as a kid, I separated my favorite groupings in one tin, then my next favorite in another, and so on. My least favorite collection is the one I still have, in a tall vintage Edgeworth tobacco tin. I've went through most of them, and they seem to be mostly bone and mother of pearl, a few are even carved. There's also some that I'm not positive what they are, and this is my question: What's the difference between glass, porcelin, china, or similar materials? I research my products first, but I am having trouble finding picture references that don't want me to buy a book, and when I type many of these into the product search I realize there are a lot of misrepresented buttons. The same buttons in one ad will say black glass, and eithor the same or a very similar buttons ad will say they are china!
Also, I have some that are wood, I think. How do you tell the difference? I have some black silk thread covered with designs, and many older plastics. I read about the 409 test and others, but I'm not sure what a bakelight looks like ...I have yet to really research those...
**By the way, as I've researched, I've learned that many of the buttons I had were embossed metals with pictoral scenes, etched steel (those were my favorite), glass-type with rhinestones, enameled, etc... My other grandmother also gave me her mother and grandmother's collections, which were added in. My grandmother and her parents came to America from Czechoslavakia during WWII. WHAT A BUMMER!!! The more I research the more I really wish I had my buttons!! How do I post the pictures on here?
