Button, Buttons and More Buttons
- drjanmartin
- 5 hours ago
- 2 min read
Do you have a button box? We do, but ours might be a bit bigger than yours...
Even so, we are always delighted when other people's button boxes come our way. They are often tins, but sometimes they are wooden, cardboard, papier-mâché or even Bakelite. Often they come to us following a death - generally people are not parted from their button tins when they are alive!
I spend a great deal of time going through the collections that arrive. First, I sort and remove any sets that I can find - even just two the same can be useful. I then look to see whether I can put any together as curated collections of different buttons, but with something in common. Once grouped. these sets get stitched onto cards and priced up before making their way onto our shelves. The remaining buttons are sorted into colours or types (we keep leather, fabric, glass and mother of pearl buttons separate) and stored in our many tins that are kept in our 80-litre button box.
When anyone calls into the shop needing a button to replace a lost one, there's a good chance that we'll be able to find one in our many, many tins. People regularly come straight from the charity shop to us to find a button to fill in for a missing one, or to buy a full set for a second hand find that has disappointing buttons.
When I refer to sets, I should note that there are two very distinct camps in the button loving community - those who need a matching set, with every button EXACTLY the same, and those who embrace variety and love a garment with no two buttons the same. We cater for both and do not judge when it comes to our vintage buttons for sale.
After the sorting, we often end up with a lovely empty box or tin. I find it harder to part with these than the buttons, but if we can't find a use for them, we do sell them too.
I never thought that, as a child, sorting through my mum's button box would be the foundation for an important business skill.
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