People Profiles

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Button Bytes Light Profiles:   EMILY HOFFMANN, of Atlanta, Georgia

     Emily is one of our newest juniors, and since it might be poor form to reveal some of our ages, Emily’s isn’t listed here. But she’s an enthusiastic youngster, willing to plunge in to the Button Bytes fray and ask questions about her passion which began about two years ago, when she started collecting buttons because her best friend did.

     Pearls have become her favorite buttons, because of "the intricately carved pearl buttons you can get and because I like the way it reflects the light," she said. She hopes some day to find "a goldfish pearl button with a cat on it in low relief."

     Until then, however, her favorite is "an absolutely beautiful carved Tahiti pearl. It has an interesting backing of the natural shell and it has a really great garland of leaves engraved in it."

     She’s already learning to keep her eyes open to find more buttons to add to her collection, which is "more than a huge tin’s worth," she said. "I found a few handmade, metal, German (I think they were anyway) buttons for less than ten cents each in a small store that sold jewelry," she said. The buttons were used as display items in the back of the cabinet, and she doesn’t know what they are worth, but to her, they are priceless.

Button Bytes Light Profiles:   MARY J. WHITAKER of LAKE CHARLES, LOUISIANA

     An avid sewing fan, Mary J. started buying buttons for use in sewing projects. But as she added to her stash of buttons, and found a variety in antique shops, she realized she had started a collection. Her first finds were mostly old glass.

     But at one point, she traded her artistic know-how to a friend, to earn a button -- her first metal picture button -- in payment. Like most cat lovers, she fell in love with the Cat and the Mirror button that her friend had purchased for $25 at an antique shop. About a year ago, she learned a similar button brought more than $400 at auction.

This is Mary J.'s Cat in the Mirror.

     She’s been collecting pearls, and small metal picture buttons with ships, cherubs, birds, and floral motifs in addition to glass. "I don't collect bakelite, celluloid, and very expensive 18th century ones...because I cannot afford them," she said. "I just prefer the natural materials."

     She’s also trying to put together a card of glass heart buttons. But she’s also doing her best to add a variety of buttons to her collection, which she hasn’t yet counted. "One can never have too many buttons," Mary J. said.

     She’s teaching her daughter Lorie a bit about buttons, and Lorie’s already figured out that she wants Mom’s Cat and the Mirror button! And in addition to looking for buttons, Mary J. is busy with sewing, faux finish painting, and looking after the family’s muscovie ducks and the outdoor animals that love her pond and waterfall. And she’s dreaming of retiring with her buttons and engineer husband to Tortola British Virgin Islands.

Mary J.'s sewing projects often incorporate buttons.

     "It has special meaning for me," Sharon explains. "Almost all the men in my family for many generations have served in the military. I was the first female in our family to serve in the military, and the first officer. Guess it come natural that I like that button."

     But she has several other buttons that mean a great deal to her, she says, and more than anything, she prizes the history in the tiny treasures. "I would love to see this rewarding and fulfilling hobby/avocation/vocation be preserved for future generations in addition to the preservation of these marvelous works of art, invention, and ingenuity," she explains.

     "My definition of a true collector is someone who not only accumulates something, but cares about it's origin and history. So I would have to say that I have only been a TRUE collector for about two years."

     As she has learned more about buttons, she has searched for buttons "which display the care and craftsmanship it took to create...because I treasure and admire well-crafted things and believe that they should be preserved for future generations to treasure and admire, and of course, buttons with a history attached to them (whether it be of true historical significance, family history, or any other interesting event or happening which can be attached to the button).

     Bakelite has also become a favorite of Sharon’s. "Bakelite was a leader in early plastics and I believe that it had an important impact on our society and our country."

This is one of Sharon's bakelite buttons.

     The daughter of a minister, she’s also begun to collect buttons with religious scenes.

     While she is happy for every new button find, she is particularly proud of some buttons that were given to her by a childhood friend that remembered Sharon collecting buttons when she was young. She asked if Sharon still collected buttons, and of course, Sharon said yes.

     The friend left the room and "returned with a box about the size of a shoebox...it contained...a couple of real gold buttons and some English silver ones too," she said. "Needless to say, I was trying not to let my hands shake too much when she handed me the box and said, ‘Here, take these, I have no use for them.’ "

     Sharon and her husband share a passion for history, buttons and flyfishing, as well as a deep love for their three cats.