People Profiles

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Button Bytes Light Profiles:   VERONIC WEXLER, of Santa Clara, CA

     Veronic (aka "Ronnie" aka "Our fearless BB Leader") got started as many button collectors did: She bought a lot of buttons about two years ago, with the intention of reselling them, but she wasn’t able to actually part with them. So, they formed the genisis of her collection, which has grown to about 10,000. And in an effort to learn more about buttons, she started what has become "Button Bytes," an online chat group of and for button collectors.

     While there are a few Gay 90’s she’s willing to trade her kids for "especially on a bad day!" she’s really a been doing her best to add more and different pearl buttons to her collection, as well as celluloid perforate stick ups, and Victorian celluloids. Her favoites subjects on buttons are flowers, birds, art nouveau pierced brass with cut steels, 'twins' or two of a subject on one button. A particular favorite button is "a deluxe insect button made out of brass that is shown in the TIAS museum. I loathe bugs, but this button just 'does it' for me, partly because of the workmanship, and aesthetic sense it conveys," Ronnie said.

     That first large batch of buttons was also Ronnie’s best buy. "The owner had called the antique shop I rent space in and left a message that she had a collection for sale and wanted $1,000 for it. The message came in the day after my principal competitor in button buying worked so she didn't see it. I kind of quailed at the idea of spending $1,000 on just about anything that wasn't a house, but I figured I'd call the woman.

     "When I went to her house and saw the collection - 40 cards of deluxe buttons, another 20 or so of other buttons, a dozen books, 100 or so copies of the Just Buttons bulletins, wire, blank cards, a couple of bags full of buttons she hadn't sorted - I couldn't write the check fast enough," she said.

     "I collect despite a completely disinterested husband and older son!" Ronnie said. But she has managed to interest her younger son, 7-year-old Tony. He "likes beautiful things and likes snuggling up while I drool over my cards!"

Button Bytes Light Profiles:   ROBIN C. LARNER of Rochester, New York

     While Robin’s 9-to-5 job involves legal issues and computer systems, she spends a lot of time playing with buttons, and other small collectibles. She’s very fond of pearls, and finds lovely carved buttons, many set in paste or surrounded by facetted steels. But she is one of the few truly selective collectors, with a real eye for waistcoat jewels, or weskits.

     Her favorite is "a small mosaic weskit with the Stars and Stripes set in goldstone," she said, but she is still looking for one button. "I am still looking for a clear spiral cane twist weskit--with the green twist and white latticinio! Elusive little guys..."

     Robin first got involved with buttons in 1992, when "an antique dealer offered me her collection at a price I couldn't refuse. I never actually collected buttons. I just acquire them, love them for a while, and try to place them with the right people."

     She sells at a few shops, and also on eBay, one of the internet’s many auction sites. She warns that buying buttons can require a real commitment of time and money!

     "Buy the best quality you can afford; choose quality over quantity; and when you can buy quality in quantity, get a loan if you have to, but buy when the opportunity arises," she said.

     She’s not the only one in her family who loves buttons, so she has to be careful with her buttons, she said. "I have a fat pink cat that eats diminutives that fall on the floor!"