Page 8 - January1960

NATIONAL BUTTON BIILLETIN January, 1960
JEWELED WAISTCOAT BUTTONS
A very late fashion note says that fancy plaid waistcoats with jeweled buttons
costing $50 a set, green sack-coats and New Market overcoats, will be seen in chic
streets ttris yea,r.-Art In Buttons, 1906.

PHOTOGRAPH BY COURTESY OF GR,ACE TOALSON
(1) woorlen moltl; (2) lead base with brass matrix; (3) castins as it comes from
the mold; (4) design on face of button, actual size; (5) side view of button
showing ilrilled hole in shank.
BUTTtrN MtrLD MAKES WEDEE EiHANK
A wooden button mold slightly difierent in construction and making a diflerent
kind of button has recently been acquired by Mrs. Glen Toalson of Missouri.
It consists of a matrix stamp€d from light-weight brass which fits perfectly
into a square matrix-hoider of heavy metal. This holder flts into the base of a
hardwood frame which is made of two blocks that peg together; both are slotted
to receive the matrix-holder and grooved bo provide a pouring hole.
The button produced is one and one-sixteenth inch in diameter. Its elaborate
design has a medallion center, a leaf border and a beaded edge. The remarkable
feature, however, is the shank, for it is a wedge. :lhe wedge is formed in the
pouring hole which goes straight down to the center of the button-back with no
loop. Thus the button is left with a "stem" that can be rounded off and drilled as
a wedge shank should be.
A.&A.