Here in the good ole USA it's National Button Day—not the most well-known holiday, but Happy November 16th and kiss a button ASAP! This blog makes it pretty obvious that I like to collect Bakelite buttons, but it amazes me what other types of buttons are out there, many of which go back hundreds of years. Collections of buttons range from all kinds of interesting makes & materials: ivory, wood, bone, celluloid, silver, shell, glass, porcelain, abalone, horn, leather, casein, lucite, tortoise, galalith, brass and mother-of-pearl (to name a few). Mark my words, there are probably buttons out there made of rhinoceros teeth. If I didn't collect Bakelite buttons, I might be interested in amassing an assortment of enamel buttons from the Art Nouveau era, which are truly beautiful. At any rate, today's post spotlights five little Bakelite buttons. The smallest is the dark green gear, measuring just under half-an-inch across. Bakelite is my favorite, but there are gazillions of antique buttons in the world. Souvenirs of eras and class systems and the historical trends of mankind going back to the Stone Age, buttons are cultural tokens and expressive relics of the human race. Even at their most mass-produced level, buttons are signs of life. With all of that said, feel free to admire a button at your earliest convenience. Thank you.
-Sherbert McGee
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