Page 30 - November-December1965

NATIONAL BIITTON BIILLETIN Nov.-Dec., 1965
of these buttons were on view in the exhibition case including the very rare Ofii-
cer's woodback of the Massachus€tk VIII Regiment, having a skull and cross-
bones as a peri of the device-r.epresenting the "bloody eighth" of Massachusetts.
At the meeting of the Collectors of Uniform Buttons on Friday afternoon,
T'homas W. Owens, Jr., added his section to this grand parade when he presented
his talk on the UNIFORM BIIITONS OF NEW ENGLAND. Kodachrome slides
were used to show on the screen all Che military buttons of each of the six States.
Ttrese buttons were al,so on view on the Show floor in the Educational Exhibit
entered by the New Jer:sey State Button Society, in their tribute to the New Eng-
land States, sponsors of the 1965 National Button Show. With the image of all
these nne buttons fresh in their mind's eyes, the collectors started an ea,rnest
searclr for ttre specimens missing in their collections.
Ttris Show tras been an unusually appropriate "OLD IrOME WEgt<" for the
ma,ny historical uniform buttons gathered here in New England for this gala
reunion and grand parade, for ttris is truly the land of bheir birth. Would tha.t I
could bring you tJre stories that earh one of these buttons could relat€!
(Exhibits by courtesy of Mrs. Charles Dilk, Mrs. Elsie Lefavour, Thomas \tr.
Owens, Jr., Mrs. Nellie P. Van Buskirk and the writer.)

SEVENTEENTII CENTURY THREAD BUTTONS
In 1631 ChaJles Moreau, fastrionable tailor to the court of Louis XIII, item-
ized the materials which went into the making of a, flne suit. The doublet of silver
cloth took 60 buttons of gold and silver thread; the brown worsted breeches had
&{ buttons down the side seams.
Another tailor's bill from fiJty years later shows an even greater number of
buttons on a man's suit. T'lre dove colored silk coat needed 9Yz dozren gold a.nd
silk buttons; the waistcoat and breectres required 4trt dozen of smaller size.

-J.F.A.

IMPtrRTANT BUTTtrNSi FRtrM ITALY
MABY E, IJ.OYD
During the Second World Wa,r a detachment of Army Engineers, fu: which my
late son was an ofiicer, was stationed at a location about twenty miles from Rome.
Their pur?ose was to build an airport for the use of American planes.

While excavating they uncovered the ruins of an ancient city, a,nd exposed a
number of interesting arbifacts. My son, who was a collector of rare coins, medals
and other small articles of historical import, readily recogniz,ed the rarity of the
discovery.
During previous visits to Rome he had become acquainted with an elderly
gentleman, an antiquarian, who wa"s either the head, or a member of tJle Organi-
zation for the Preservation of Italian Antiquities. The flnd was imrnrediately re-
ported to this man. IIe was greatly interested and anxious to visit tJne scene.
Strange as it may seem there was no tra"nsportation whatever available to Italian
ciyilians at that time, a,nd he was not able physically to make t'he trip on foot.
My son took the gentlemarr to the site of the excavation and he was delighfud with
what he saw. Later, upon furttrer investigation, he declared that the flnd was t'he
most important one that had taken place in Italy in a half oentury. Among the
axtifacts s'as a nu,rble statute of a woman. This he was a,rxious to take into
Rome, feaxing something might happen to it if left there. It was wrapped in a
bla.nket, placed in the car, and taken into Rome.