Nifty find out of a home. A pair of matching antique carved shell or mother-of-pearl buttons, square in shape measuring 13/16 inches in length/width (this can be a hair more or less due to the irregularities of hand carved buttons) and about 1/16 inch in depth (this varies slightly within the same button due to hand cutting and differing depths to the shell itself). We are not button experts, but from the style and material we know these are old buttons that are at least vintage and more likely antique buttons dating from the late 1800s to early 1900s. These were found along with many other shell or mother-of-pearl buttons supporting their age. We think these likely would have been worn on a sweater, shirt or dress.

These buttons have a nice carved line décor, what we would call a large double line cross hatch design, with cats eye (catseye) carvings around the two center button sewing holes. These have a very shimmery top surface, having more shine/sheen than we often see, with an expected all-over pearly white coloring that is a touch darker or a touch yellower than many other mother-of-pearl buttons (but no where near the darker abalone type coloring). The topsides are all smoothly sanded surfaces with the design carved into it, and sanded lower in a concave oval catseye fashion with the lowest part where the 2 sewing holes are made. The backsides are also sanded smoothly, although on one the natural variations in the shell keeps this from being totally smooth in two areas, having some raised ridges as made. On the backsides, to a varying degree with the 2 buttons, you can also see lines or line cracks or line ridges in the shells as one would expect in shells and as made, some of which you can feel with a fingernail. In most cases these lines do not appear on the topsides (please see comments about condition below). You can see in the images the large areas of brown on the backsides from the outer surfaces of the shell, with some deeper/bigger chipping around the central sewing holes also on the backsides.

We've provided 8 images to try and show from differing angles, each button separately, with differing backgrounds, with a quarter for size comparison, and both with and without the camera lighting. While the camera lighting makes it sometimes easier to see details, the light reflection causes the buttons to look "whiter" than they do in person and can "bland out" some details, too. Yet, shooting without the camera light makes the shell buttons look much yellower or darker than they do in person but can make it easier at times to see detail.

Very nice overall look but each of these buttons does have a tight line crack that you can see on both the topside and bottom side. The line crack is about 5/16 inch long on one button and about 3/16 inch long on the other, both at an angle or slanted. You can see these on some of the images. Please use the zoom feature to examine closely. While the two center sewing holes are totally separate on one button, you can see in the images that they have begun to "join together" on the other button, with some chipping across the area between the two holes. We don't know if this is how this button was made or whether this happened over time/storage/wear use. Some of the outer edges of these buttons are not totally square or even or flat, with some rounding in some of the corners, but we think all this is as made. One button has a tiny chip on the backside along the outer edge. There may be some other minor age/use/storage wear we are missing, and some minor differences in the carving and minor hand-made imperfections as happens with hand carved items, but these are clearly meant to be similar, largely identical and would impress on display.

An interesting find which would be a great addition to any button collection or could be used by a clever person in designing their own clothes.

We have other buttons listed for sale. Should you be interested in more than one, please contact us prior to inputting the order. The system has been set up to calculate shipping for each individual listing and will not provide you with the savings you would get by shipping more than one listing in the same package. We would be pleased to provide that for you.