Civilian shirt buttons

[Vuhginyuh]

Re: Civilian shirt buttons

It appears that all of the buttons in this thread are 4 hole. Does anyone have an example with 2 hole buttons?

These are all glass. The four hole card is backmarked in retangular stamp PARIS 60

[Vuhginyuh]

Re: Civilian shirt buttons

Here is an abstract from a ca. 1850 house-site in Southern Maryland.

986 BUTTONS FOUND...

After glass buttons, the next most common type was mother-of-pearl/shell, followed by bone, iron, copper, rubber, composite, tin, pewter, ceramic, and brass...eleven of the rubber buttons had the words "Novelty Rubber Company/Goodyear Pat. 1851" on their reverse... many of the buttons had decorations of various types, including glass buttons with homestead scenes, geometric patterns, metallic buttons with gilt lettering, embossing, shell designs, and floral motifs.

[Canton Zouave]

Re: Civilian shirt buttons

Ok,

Here are some of the samples that I have for some period buttons. These include:

• Shell
• China "Pie Crusts"
• Assorted China
• Glass
• Bone

I also added a hard rubber button.
These are just a small sampling of various buttons. I hope some of the details show from the pics. If I wanted to go off and start cutting up buttons, which I dont, I woulld have liked to shown a profile of some of these buttons. I have seen, with the exception of one or two, many of these button types on various mid-19th century shirts.

In addition, here is a link...that was once posted on the old forum...that shows various types of calico buttons.
http://home.pon.net/behrbaum/

[Vuhginyuh]

Re: Civilian shirt buttons

To the casual observer this would be a mundane topic…but this is the true beauty of this site. A simple thing like a little shirt button garners this much attention…but in fact it is the little things that count.

Brian, good question.

[Canton Zouave]

Re: Civilian shirt buttons

Garrison,

I took the time to re-read the post you did about glass and porcelain.

Some of the buttons that I have had the misfortune to destroy, demonstrated two characteristsic inside. I was just wondering if this would be similar to your reference on the buttons or just a matter of the quality of materials.

These buttons on occassion have shown a very shiny and sharp edge when broken. Other buttons, when broken, have a slight "gritty" or rough feel to the internal structure. Initially, I compared this to the difference when one would compare the broken edge of a piece of glass to that of a broken china dish. I may have errantly applied the analogy to buttons. The couple of true glass buttons that I have ID'd in my collection are actually kind of crude in their manufacture. One of them is in my thunbnails in the last post.

You post on this will aid my future efforts in the ID of buttons. Thank You.

[Vuhginyuh]

Re: Civilian shirt buttons

Garrison,

I took the time to re-read the post you did about glass and porcelain.

Some of the buttons that I have had the misfortune to destroy, demonstrated two characteristsic inside. I was just wondering if this would be similar to your reference on the buttons or just a matter of the quality of materials.

These buttons on occassion have shown a very shiny and sharp edge when broken. Other buttons, when broken, have a slight "gritty" or rough feel to the internal structure. Initially, I compared this to the difference when one would compare the broken edge of a piece of glass to that of a broken china dish. I may have errantly applied the analogy to buttons. The couple of true glass buttons that I have ID'd in my collection are actually kind of crude in their manufacture. One of them is in my thunbnails in the last post.

You post on this will aid my future efforts in the ID of buttons. Thank You.

You are correct, the gritty feel is the ceramic ''fabric''. A very fine porcelain button will have a more glass-like cross section becaue the silicates are much finer that a stoneware ceramic. Porcelian is initially fired at a much higher temperature than any other ceramic of the era. It is also fired for a longer period of time with a longer cooling period. The fine clay with a high, long firing gives porcelaine its glass-like qualities.

However, if broken, any ceramic will display a flat or matt look to the cross-section compared to smooth, sharp, shiny glass you also mentioned.

Decorated buttons were glazed or painted after the initial firing and then fired again, as per the characteristics of the decoration, to set them. Any metal or organic material was added after all of the heating was over.

Calling glass porcelain is quite acceptable in my opinion. I cannot tell the difference in some whole artifacts.

As to the quality of the glass, I think some of the glass buttons are early pressed examples, if not all of them. I would imagine they were inexpensive.

[Canton Zouave]

Re: Civilian shirt buttons

The Devil is in the details...besides this is fun to do. The main reason I do this is looking and researching and finding the minute details. Somthing as simple as a button, or the addition of finish nails to housewives, or the minutest details of of buttonholes is what makes this all worth while for me.

Never mind that fact that the more we through out there, especially in research and photos, the more information we will have out our fingertips.

[SparksBird]

Re: Civilian shirt buttons

Going back to the original question that was posted, I will have to chime in with one thing. Of all of the original shirts that we have in our museum collection and that I have looked at, I am yet to see a wooden button on one. It actually makes me wonder how common they actually were. Even common work shirts have mother of pearl or china buttons on them. So, with all of the choices of buttons that Todd has listed, how would wood fit in?

Rick Musselman
Buckeye Mess
GHTI

[Vuhginyuh]

Re: Civilian shirt buttons

Rick,

This pertains to small shirt cuff or placket buttons only...

The only wood buttons I have seen from the field were from burial excavations and from shrouds. They were the single material artifact from the interior of the burials. These buttons survived because they were in contact with the copper tacks used to mark the coffin. When the burials collapsed the tacks fell across the sternum of the remains. The acidic qualities of the copper corrosion actually preserved the wood it was in contact with. (We found more single bone buttons than any type closure, with heavy copper straight-pins being the second most common and wood being the smallest sample.)

Three wood buttons were discovered in a surface survey of Oakdale Cemetery's (Wilmington NC) yellow fever plots, '63-'64. The wood type of the buttons is unknown and are not associated with the above mentioned burials and re-interments. It was surprising to find these wood artifacts at the surface.

Because of the nature of such organic items we do not have evidence of widespread use of wood. We do not deal with intact textiles and garments as museum collections/collectors do.

So, in short, I do not know the frequency of small wood buttons on wearable garments of the period in question.

[Jefferson Guards]

Re: Civilian shirt buttons

I finally found a Sanitary Commission Bulletin from May 1864 that contains a pattern for drawers and they call for black bone buttons. There is also a shirt pattern associated with this bulletin, but it was not included in the CMH article so I cannot comment on whether they call for bone buttons on the shirt as well. Does anyone have this May 1864 bulletin and what kind of buttons are called for on the shirt?

[Canton Zouave]

Re: Civilian shirt buttons

To add to what Rick had to say;

I haven't seen any shirt with wood buttons, and when I posted some pics of the buttons that I do have...I did not add any wood buttons because I dont have a single period wood button. Any shirt sized reproduction wood buttons that I have are not period documented. They merely set in the bottom of my tool box waiting for some use in the future.

Perhaps we should examine a Hypothesis on how a 5/16 or 3/8 inch sized button would be made in the various mediums. This may give us an idea of why we dont see shirt sized wooden buttons. Which would have been easier and cheaper to make? Anyone that may have such information feel free to post it here. The ease of construction or lack there of, may be the issue, but this is purely conjecture at this time.

One thing that is noted about shirts of the period is that the manufacture of the shirt was cheaper, than the cloth itself. This is best demonstrated in the period pattern guides that show us how to get the most amount of shirts out a section of fabric. Evidence of this is the fact that you will see shirts that will have one sleeve made from one piece of fabric and another sleeve made out of two or three pieces. The cost of fabric necessitated the frugal use of it through the construction of the shirt. Browns briefly discussed this in his work as well.

Now, with that said, depending on further study, we may find that the types of buttons used will also be relevant to the overall cost of such items.

Just the beginning of an educated thought...and and I never thought this flat foot would ever have an educated thought. :D

[Vuhginyuh]

Re: Civilian shirt buttons

I checked with some more of our respected vendors and they agree that wood was rare. Actually,none of them had ever seen wood buttons on a period shirt.

Here is shot of another 19th century card. All glass or ceramic (Porcelain).

[Canton Zouave]

Re: Civilian shirt buttons

Garrison,

Excellent shot for the button card. Such a sample aids in eliminating any questions about button types for the period.

Thanks,

[Vuhginyuh]

Re: Civilian shirt buttons

I checked with some more of our respected vendors and they agree that wood was rare. Actually,none of them had ever seen wood buttons on a period shirt.

Here is shot of another 19th century card. All glass or ceramic (Porcelain).

Here are some loose translations for the card. From my Down-East North Carolina French…

Patent…
Lentille… lens
Blanes…
Rouge Plein …
Noirs… black
Biseau… bevel
Perles… bead
Cuvette… basin
Bourrelets… pads
2 trous … 2 hole
Minerals… mineral, to mimic stone I guess...
Band de Coul …
Imprimes… print
Fil Coul… wire (?)

The 2 hole, numbers 14, 16, 18 ,20, 22, 24, 26, 28 are; well, channel or deep channel buttons.