Page 15 - September1951

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September, 195L NATIONAL BUTTON BULLETIN 285

By the same token, those who get more pleasure out of developing a
project than out of hitting the high spots (or, to put the idea in button-talk,
those who would rather build a well-worked-out than a razzre-d.azzle collec-
tion) find Goodyears a perfect proving glound. Of course there are well-
publicized highlights with snob as .et'ell as genuile appeal among the Good-
and of course the serious collector tries to get them. But they are.
'eals, far from it. The final measule of value is ob-.
not the whole show
selved more accurately in general achievement than in scattered peaks.
- Not a few people are drawn to Goodyears on sentimental grounds, know-
ing them to be wholly and uniquely Amelican. Reading selmons in stones,.
as it were, these admirers see the unassuming honesty and the solid dignity
of their time anti place reflected in the buttons.
Thus we see that Goodyeals have at least four very strong pulls: they
are a true type, they have a genuine background, they can be considered as
a closed series, they ale as American as can be.
But the ploof of the pudding is in the eating, so let's look at what a
Goodyear fan can set before us.
It would be hard to find a mole enthusiastic fan for this type than Mrs.
Ljly Lebus, who began hel serious pursuit a litile more than tw:o years ago.
Mrs. Lebus is t'ying to make a complete collection. she wants not only
every patteln, but every size of every pattern. she pays attertion to th'e
most minute variations and of coulse she checks backs as carefully as fronts.
Her collection, as she visions it, will someday be like a company museum in
comprehension and concentration.
Recently I asked Mrs. Lebus how many Goodyears she owned and she
hazarded the guess that she had about two thousand including duplicates.
"But," she hastened to add, "many of the duplicates are preserved on origi-
nal cards which I keep intact." Her most interesting original card, she
went on to say, is one in the French language. This card, offering .,Boutons
Caoutchouc, Fabrique N. R. Cie.", proves that the Novelty Rubber Company
made a bid for rvide distribution. The buttons on the card make no conces-
sion to the French, but say, as always, "N. R. Co."
When asked, "How many patterns?" Mrs. Lebus reported owning four
hundred and trilenty and having seen an appreciable number of others which
she aspires to own. "And hovr many sizes?" we asked. "AU the way from
a single size to as rnany as six for a few common patterns." The inevitable
question, "Are new patterns getting hard to find?" brought the answer,
"Harder, but not impossible."
And what about back rnar'ks? Like patterns, there are many, many
diffelent ones. Trying to keep a list of all of them is a forrnidable under-
taking. In passing, it might be noted that enbossed lettering is character-
istic of Novelty Rubber Company output and incised lettering typical of the
India Rubber Company, though both styles can be found for the latter. It
is also notewofthy that all of the pin-shanks known belong to the N. R. Co.,
v'hile all the self-shanks origiuated at the I. R. C. Co. The rarest back-
nralks ale the 1849-51 patents (p.287, no.5) and the most remarkable
single example is one in which the numerals got transposed giving the date
1581 (p.28?, no.6). In another typographical slip part of the letters
in N. R. Co. are turned upside down.
Since hunting for pt'eviously unknown types is one of the minor plea-
sures of collecting which may result jn a major discovery, here are some
challenges: Ale there N. R. Co. backs with incised lettering? or I. R. C. Co.
buttons with metal shanks?
And here are other targets to shoot at. Mrs. Lebus says that the Iargest
Goodyears she knows about measure 1 7a inches and that they were all made
by the I. R. C. Co. The largest ane she has with a metal shank measures
I 3/16 inches. Her smallest Goodyears are 9/32 of an inch and she says,
"I have NEVER seen a button of this size with any back-mark at all." Have
you? As for the distribution of sizes, Mrs. Lebus tinds it greatest among
solid top, metal shank buttons. She has these in fourteen sizes.