My great-great-great grandmother's button collection

[AlexD]

I am wondering if anyone on the forum knows anything about antique buttons, or can help value these pieces. This collection was my great-great-great grandmother's, who loved buttons, that was handed down through generations until finally handed down to my mother a few years back. There's serial thousand of them, ranging from gemstone to war related. My mother said she'd never get rid of them, but has decided they might be better off with some type of collector who can appreciate them more. My mom's not that collector [&:] The buttons are all sowed to pieces of felt and are organized by style. I was looking through them tonight and took a some pictures, looking for advice on what they might be worth or how rare they are.


This was the case they use to be in. My grandfather's 1920's wooden chest. Slightly damaged... Took them out of the chest today. Weighed so much in total with all the buttons, didn't want anything to break.

There are now two 50 gallon tubs filled with rolls of sowed buttons.

Got some pictures of the odd-looking ones...

And for our Sheikh friend... [sm=lol.gif]

This one had a bow tied around it.

And finally, right when I was getting ready to put them back for the night, I found the war ones.

Even some Freemason/Government type buttons. One of these in every shape, style, and color!

If anyone knows any value, I'll be glad to send more pictures. These are only %00.1 of them. Only took these for now [8|]

 

[bostaurus]

Those are amazing. I love old buttons. The military ones should be easy to get estimates as there are a lot of military button collectors out there, especially US buttons. The railroad ones are also very collectible.
The clothes buttons vary greatly depending on subject, age and material.

 

[cowseatmaize]

There are now two 50 gallon tubs filled with rolls of sowed buttons.

100 gallons of buttons on the wall....[]
Sorry, nice collection but I know nothing about them.

 

[coreya]

some of those buttons could be worth big bucks so be careful when getting estimates, suggest you search out a button show (yes there are shows for everything![]) and get several appraisals. That's a beautiful collection!

 

[Dugout]

You have an amazing touch of history there. Treasure it!

 

[bostaurus]

This site may give so some idea of prices for the military buttons..

http://www.civilwarbuttons.com/uscentrlist.htm

 

[GuntherHess]

you need to see the backmarks to date the military ones.

 

[epackage]

A nice amount of cash sitting there, button forum time...

 

[UncleBruce]

You better hang on to those for the sake of legacy. The time spent accumulating these would have been enormous. Beautiful thanks for sharing.

 

[GuntherHess]

I'll trade you a sterling silver 1500 ct royal white zircon necklace with matching plastihide case for it...