posted on August 22, 2001 12:28:05 PM
I've been looking through a tin of old buttons. There are quite a few of these white ones, but I have no idea what they are made out of. It isn't plastic, and it doesn't seem to be shell either. Anyone here know about buttons?
posted on August 22, 2001 12:38:50 PM
Shell, horn and wood are the traditional materials. And glass.
Some of those look like shell.
The ones with the matrix could be horn or plastic.
This is the sewer speaking, not the collector, they look about as old as my Great Grandmother's stash she left my mom.
Some of those look like fake mother of pearl that was so popular for a long time.
My guess is that some could be a modern plastic type like polystyrene and some could be celluloid. I know that celluloid was used for decades in many different industries. It does not always look like fake mother of pearl. It came in just about every color imaginable. Some celluloid was ivory colored and even had fake grain to make it resemble ivory. The trade name for that was "Ivoroid" (old dresser sets come to mind).
Again, just a guess. I'm not a plastics authority.
And of course, some could be natural materials as Capriole says. It's hard to tell from a photo.
[ edited by loosecannon on Aug 22, 2001 12:50 PM ]
posted on August 22, 2001 01:22:06 PM
Hmmm, do I have to be old to sell old buttons? Now there's a story for you. Old sellers of new items, Young sellers of old items, old sellers of old items...
posted on August 22, 2001 01:32:16 PM
No, my comment (pun) was in reference to a recent thread in the Roundtable where someone said seniors hung out on EO. I bit my tongue and said nothing.
However, after next week, I'll be classified as an old seller of old items, when I hit the big 5-0. Ouch!
posted on August 22, 2001 07:58:55 PM
Hi. It can be hard to tell from a picture. I collect buttons. My daughter thinks my teeth will fall out because I am always taping butons on my front tooth.
Glass, Shell sound different than plastic. Touch is another good indicator.
The yellow 4 hole hole on the bottom of the picture looks like bone (only if the color is the same on both sides) otherwise I would say it is a shell.
Most of the others appear to be shell except for the ones with the insert in the center. Or, I just looked again, is that thread in the center of the three buttons where you can not see any holes? If so then I think they are shell.
There are many color of shell buttons and depending on how much water the buttons have seen they can get dried out and not be as shiny as a mint condition shell.
