TSBS Show

Texas State Button Society Museum Display

MINIATURE ART

17th Century to Present Day Buttons

Excellent examples of organized button collecting were elegantly displayed at a recent exhibit in the Doss Heritage and Culture Center in Weatherford, Texas. The collection was coordinated by the Fort Worth Button Club and included items from members of the Texas Button Society, representing a long time line of over four hundred years in history, in fashion, and in art.

Buttons as art featured beautiful examples in ivory, Satsuma, cloisonné, silver, painting on ivory, jade and glass paper weights - illustrating that most art forms have been created in miniature as buttons. Many of the metal pictures buttons are direct inspirations from artists of the late eighteen hundreds as well as sculpture, theatre and operas.

A wonderful example of a young ladies' collection from the mid-eighteen hundreds in the form of a "charm string ", nine hundred and ninety-nine buttons, was an interesting bit of folk art.

The earliest buttons representing vivid periods in history were the showy silver Austro-Hungarian examples from the 17th century, an excellent display depicting the French Revolution and well documented buttons from the American Civil War. These were all worn by men.

Buttons as fashion were graphically shown on an original Edwardian dress with celluloid buttons - as decoration not fasteners. And a real show stopper was a card of twenty extraordinary "Victorian Jewels" from ladies' luxurious fabric and fur capes and coats in the late eighteen hundreds.

A beautifully arranged display case of sewing items from the past one hundred and fifty years was also included, showing the tools of the seamstress.

The exhibit should inspire everyone to explore their own button caches and share the hobby.

Submitted by Sadie Jackman, President of the Texas State Button Society