Vintage Buttons 1

I have decided to start documenting some of the lovely buttons in my enormous button collection.  Purchased through estate sales, ebay, thrift store and antique mall ramblings, I can't turn down an interesting button.

My sister also looks for buttons for me, and since she is a die-hard estate-saler, she can find some real treasures.  I love seeing button collections in their natural state - glass jars, cookie tins, shoe boxes.  The buttons are often accompanied by old belt buckles, snaps, and for some reason, masonic pins.  Maybe I will have to take a picture of them at some point!

The "woven" brass buttons are really beautiful, with delicate details.  If you look closely you can see fine lines where one rectangle crosses over or under another.  I have six of them, so I hope they will be used together.

The once-clear plastic button (now aged to an IPA color) brings Pennsylvania Dutch hex signs to mind.  It is a singleton, and may end up as a decoration on an accessory rather than an actual closure for something.

Do you have a button collection, or do you remember playing with a button collection when you were a child?