Page 36 - March 2025

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34 The NaTioNal ButtonBulleTiN March 2025
true Victorian jet buttons, but these Glass buttons with metallic silver or
are rare. Recently Siberian jet has been gold painted backs were once called
supplied for Bali artisans to carve into “mirror backs” as well . Now they fit
jewelry and buttons with the finished under Blue Book 7-5 .3
items available to button collectors.
“Mirror back” has been used to de-
scribe several different button classes
over the years. Prior to the mid-1970s
metal buttons with reflective silver and
gold-tone metal liners were referred to
as “mirror backs”. When I began col-
lecting in the 1990s this was how many
of my club members still identified
these metal buttons. The liner’s reflec-
tion shone from the button’s background, and through the pierced and stamped
filigree of the button’s top. Jane Ford Adams found this designation confusing
with similarly named glass buttons and brought forward the term “twinkles”. The
word “twinkles” stuck, and they now have their own class in metals, Cl. 10-13.5,
referring to their shiny, twinkling properties.
Transparent glass buttons with gold and silver metallic painted backs have
also been incorrectly referred to as “mirror backs” for their reflective feature.
Some are self-shank buttons, while others have a cemented glass shank. Though
mirror-like, they do not have the “looking glass” properties of true mirror back
buttons. Classification places these glass buttons under Cl. 7-5.3, metallic (paint-
ed) backs. So, what is a “mirror back” glass button? They have a clear or colored
“looking glass” cemented to a metal back. The metal back does not show from
the top. The button gives the effect of looking into a mirror, reflecting the image
in front of it. The Blue Book classes this mechanical make-up as Cl. 7-6.3.3 under
section Clear and Colored Glass, Metal back.
Our button vocabulary may leave non-collectors scratching their heads to figure
out what the heck the button conversation is all about. When button enthusiasts
say, “I put a spider on a pearl”, “I have china saucers”, “there is a milk glass in the

Twinkles are no longer referred to as “Mirror Backs” They
have their own metal designation in classification .