All buttoned up

MGMA Connexion, Sep 2005 by Pope, Christina

Mary Pat Whaley, FACMPE, MGMA Board member, Greensboro, N.C.

Once upon a time, before buttons were something to punch on a cell phone, they filled cigar boxes in grandmothers' sewing baskets and updated outfits when new clothes were beyond one's means.

Today, buttons have become collectors' items. Mary Pat Whaley followed her mother's tradition and began collecting buttons five years ago, captivated by doodads that transport her to another time.

Art deco and geometric glass buttons made in the 1920s are a current favorite, as are metal Victorian picture buttons from the late 1880s. They convey quaint stories, such as the French fable of the stork and the fox, in which each invites the other to dinner and in turn serves the meal in vessels from which the other cannot eat.

At the auctions and flea markets she scours, Whaley also keeps an eye out for "charm strings" from the Victorian era. Starting with a large button to anchor the end, a girl would collect and string 999 buttons from her friends, waiting for the 1,000th from the man she would marry.

Whaley's guide is the "BBB" - The Big Book of Buttons - a catalog costing hundreds of dollars with hundreds of pages of all notable buttons, as well as pricing guidelines.

"Most button collectors go through an evolution," Whaley says, noting her progression from rhinestones to more austere materials. "It's overwhelming if all you've ever seen is plain pearl shirt buttons."

Whaley also creates button jewelry and studio buttons. "Studio buttons are made by artists just for collectors," Whaley says. "They are not made to be worn on clothing and pushed through a buttonhole, so the artist has more creative latitude."

Whaley studied art in college and makes her studio buttons with stones, enamel and precious-metal clay, which becomes fine silver when fired in a kiln.

One type of studio button made of Lucite - the clear plastic used in World War II and for jewelry afterward - has a special place in the collector's heart. "This was the popular material during my growing-up years," Whaley says. Artists carved scenes on the back of these Lucite buttons, creating the illusion of pictures captured inside.

Thousands of buttons populate Whaley's home, most inhabiting an armoire just for them. "I have sort of a button problem," she says with a chuckle.

Recently, she placed first and second at state-level button collector competitions. Collectors strive to meet complex classification systems, such as compiling a tray of 25 celluloid buttons with metal embellishments. The worst thing that can happen, Whaley confides, is to get "measled," that is, to have a judge disqualify your entry by putting a sticker on one of your buttons.

"You really need to know your stuff well enough so you don't enter the wrong type [of button]," Whaley says. Of course, she never has.

By Christina Pope

about the author

Christina Pope, MGMA senior writer, cpope@mgma.com