BUTTON, BUTTON, SHE'S GOT THE BUTTON

"A blue-eyed, chubby little girl

Whose curly hair is brown

Went visiting her grandmother

Who lived across the town.

Her grandma said, 'Why, Nancy dear,

I'm glad you're here today,

For Ritchie just came over, too;

Now both of you can play.

You cousins come on up the stairs,

We'll to the attic climb;

And you may see a button string

Which years ago was mine.

I strung these when a little girl,

It gave me hours of fun.

We'll take it back downstairs with us

And look at every one.'"

-- From "The Button String" by Thelma Shull

Sometimes unassuming, sometimes astonishing, buttons have been both taken for granted and admired as mini works of art for centuries. The beauty of antique buttons first captured Kimberly Bowers' attention a few years back, but it was an interest inspired at a younger age. As a little girl she loved buttons and rocks. As for buttons, she said, they simply intrigue.

"I appreciate them, I appreciate the craftsmanship in it, much like someone might appreciate a well-built piece of furniture or someone else might appreciate a beautiful horse," she said.

Antique dealer Vicki Abernathy of Jackson said it is easy to think of buttons in purely utilitarian terms, but, "when you start looking then you realize how unique they are."

Apparently, more than a few people are looking. Abernathy said buttons are the first things to go at auctions.

Bowers has noticed the same trend. "You used to could buy these old buttons very cheaply," she said, but those days are changing. "Buttons even from the '60s or '70s are hard to come by."

Bowers collects buttons purely for her own enjoyment and she even makes porcelain and stoneware buttons, applying them to clothing she designs.

While Bowers doesn't belong to a button organization, many button lovers do. Button collectors across the country have formed networks of all sizes. Many show and trade their buttons.

Joan Lauterwasser, an antiques and collectibles dealer from St. Louis County, likewise, has witnessed growing appreciation of buttons from people with varying interests.

"Buttons have always been very collectible," she said. "But there's a resurgence in interest in buttons which is proven by three or four new books on the market to be used as references with price guides."

Though just which button may catch someone's eye is predictable primarily in its unpredictability, people by and large are interested in good, nice buttons, Lauterwasser said.

And the people scouting for buttons aren't all collectors. Among those interested are crafters. Buttons are showing up in jewelry, on handcrafted dolls, just about everywhere, including as decorations on Christmas Trees, Lauterwasser explained.

-- Interest in buttons is surely as old as the invention itself. However, people these days view clothing as much more disposable than did people of yesteryear, said professional seamstress Ruth Sauerbrunn of Cape Girardeau. She surmises that disposability may be a reason why buttons by and large don't enjoy the importance on fashions that they once did. "It used to be the buttons on a person's outfit would tell what rank they were," she said.

Buttons, indeed, were once held in higher regard by many more people than they are now, others agree. "Buttons used to be saved. They were a precious commodity because they were expensive and it was a luxury to have them on your garment," said Geraldine Croxton, owner of Croxton Antique Mall in Cape Girardeau.

Thelma Shull, author of "The Button String," wrote that buttons were first used in the 13th or 14th centuries. They've been fashioned from many different materials since then, she writes, including ivory, vegetable ivory, horn, hoof, pearl shell, glass, porcelain, rubber, celluloid, wood, potatoes, tin, pewter, marble, jade and pearls, just to name a few.

-- The styles are as varying as the materials. "There are as many different kinds of buttons as there are the people that have the imagination to dream them up," Bowers said. From Picture buttons to Paper Weight buttons, from Pearl to Jet buttons, the possibilities know no boundaries.

Victorian buttons are among the most highly prized and vigorously sought. Bowers is partial to the late-Victorian brass or metal styles that feature pictures or scenes. "One of my favorites is Cupid climbing over a wall," she said.

But the interest in such period pieces is hardly new. They were popular even in their own day. "Victorian girls collected buttons on strings," explained Pat Brison, a vintage linens and antiques collector from Cape Girardeau.

The old hobby of compiling "charm strings," she believes could bring joy to youngsters today. She encourages the collection of buttons, regardless of button age or monetary value. Buttons from relatives, from friends, from memorable jaunts, Brison said, could be worth so much on a personal level. Plus, buttons could be used to teach color and even math concepts.

"It's a simple thing I think children would probably enjoy if given the opportunity," Brison said.

Croxton, likewise, puts great stock in caring about something from the past.

"It opens up a world of knowledge, it enlivens one's imagination, it gives you a glimpse of the past and your history," she said.

"I find a lot of people need education on different collectibles. They're not knowledgeable about it," Croxton said.

Brison agrees. "The more you know about anything, the more you appreciate it."

... For both of them have started now

A button string, their own,

They'll add each day one button more

Until they both are grown.

The button plays a leading role

On clothing of mankind.

And there is much to learn from it

If you've an open mind."

-- From "The Button String."