Who are the button collectors here?

[Duer 157099]

I had to be in a different part of town yesterday so visited a thrift store that I rarely go to, and found another new one (new to me). It was almost too much to take in, lol.

Anyway, at one of them they had a box of old carded (and some loose) buttons, and they all looked interesting to me, but that doesn't mean anything since I have no idea what's collectable in buttonville. The only thing I could think of was to judge by the price, that the lower the price, the older they must be. Didn't see any made in China, so they can't be too recent. I know bakelite-anything is collectable, but easy way to tell if something is bakelite without destroying it?

Any clues? I know there are whole websites devoted to this topic, but I just don't have time for another distraction, so only if someone here already knows some tips - otherwise I'll just forget I ever saw that box... box? what box?

[grasswire]

1. supposedly...

...if you rub your thumb on bakelite to get a little friction and then sniff it, you will smell something like cordite. That's the field test.

[Duer 157099]

4. I've read that, I'll try it

I read somewhere, maybe an ebay thread about this, how you can *taste* the difference, and someone aptly noted that it's probably best not to try that at estate sales, lol (or anywhere for that matter)

[Whoa_Nelly]

2. Some sites that could send you off into becoming an antique button collector

As always, there's so much to know, and when you learn more, you find out you still need to know more :P


http://www.antiquebuttoncollecting.com/

http://www.iwantbuttons.com/

http://s.webring.com/hub?ring=buttoncollect

http://www.cbweiser.com/

[Duer 157099]

5. eeek! no, no, stop me.. before I click... no...

hah, one link already indicates I've been there...

[Whoa_Nelly]

7. The cbweiser link is HUGH!!!1!

really quite extensive, with lots of examples.

hahahahha You are (button) hooked!



(and i've bookmarked this thread :woohoo: more things to find! :bounce: )

[Duer 157099]

8. omg, that's a horrible site

(for the easily distracted, that is)

Hooked, lol... not yet... but there's still time...

This all started because of some missing buttons on some shirts I have that I no longer can wear until I fix, and I went to the sewing store place (JoAnns or Beverlys or whoever) and was astonished that I could NOT find the buttons there to match my missing ones, and I rmembered that while growing up, my mom always had a huge tin of buttons and I felt I should also have such a tin, so when I see buttons at thrift stores, I'll pick them up for my tin (only so I have variety when I need to fix a missing button). Only this time they were all carded and so had words that I could use for searching.. and the snowball continues down the hill...

[Stinky The Clown]

3. I can't help you with how to tell if it is bakelite ..... I can almost always just tell by looking.

I can't tell you what I'm seeing. But I'm pretty close to unerring about it.

[Duer 157099]

6. Well I picked up some 409 yesterday

when I get the chance, I'll go around testing everything and see how well I can predict