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Show Friday. March THE HERALD. Provo. Utah. 25. 1983 - Page Today Button, Button, Who's Got the Button She's Got Every Button Imaginable, Plus a Few More 44 By APR YL COX Herald Staff Writer Angie Goates displays a greater variety of buttons than any Utah Valley fabric store. But don't ask her to replace your missing shirt buttons because most of her collection was manufactured in the 19th or early 20th century and she won't part with a single item. In just one year Goates amassed an estimated 25,000 buttons that cover one wall and sections of others in her Lehi home, and fill a chest. cabinet and an The majority are not sets. "The idea is to get as big a variety as you can and collect just one button of each kind. Old or new, I like them. But I don't like the new plastic buttons." "It's the color and variety I like. As a child I liked my grandmother's old jewelry and buttons. "I can't wait till I get these buttons off this card to clean them," she says, handling tarnished antique photo buttons. Utah button dealers are slim, she says, so she sends to the East for catalogs. She attends auctions and flea markets and belongs to the Wasatch Button Club, a Salt Lake group of about 10 members. "Button collecting is quite popular in some areas. It can be costly but I won't let it. It was relatively inexpensive after I started." Depending on its age, composition and condition, a button could cost a few cents or a few hundred dollars. Metal and glass buttons are City-base- d and Marion Lester, Goates finds and classifies her assemblage. By reading seven books, she expanded her knowledge of history and science. She talks about the arbitrary year (1918) selected to divide old and new buttons and of the golden age of buttons (between 1840 and 1860) when manufacturers tried to outdo each other in quality and design. "Wallpaper" designs, tiny patterns, were one result of this competition. She points to a button best described as a rounded pyramid and briefly describes how an antler is boiled, soaked in a chemical and pressed into a mold to take that shape. Button materials include ivory, corozo nut, vegetable ivory, horn all-ov- er "11 A Go V: , ; ft ivi. , lW9 t .. . Itt--- 1 F1 SI'll n " Hand-paint- ! We're Moving B ScaDe We'd rather sell it, than move it. Our new address will be 176 W. Center, Provo, after May 1st. Just a few stores west from our present location. 21 SK satsumas were originally made for clothing. ed Counted 'V'fftHtt Cross-stitc- h Counted Fabric Cross-stitc- h Accessories & supplies Precutorbytheyard 10 0 20 Off Phil ShurtleH Photos Buttons "wallpaper" one room and decorate others. Many wait in drawers for framing. Cherubs and cupids adorn framed buttons in her living room across d h refrom two plicas of George and Martha Washd ington. The Japanese ceramic buttons called satsumas, were originally made for clothing. The quality decreased in the 20th century, she says, when they were produced mainly for tourist trade. Small, inexpensive calico china buttons to match calico prints in the 1850s hang in the hall. Walking into her room "wallpapered" with buttons, one is overwhelmed by the busy assortment of colors, shapes, sizes and designs that have been pressed, engraved, d or jeweled. IVi-inc- hand-painte- hand-painte- hand-painte- Her biggest buttons are and hoofs, tortoise shell, wood, valuable to a collector, she says. Eventually, collectors specialize, pearl shell, celluloid, metals, gems, Goates says. She intends to collect blood, milk, slate, potatoes, rubber, black glass and celluloids. leather, cloth and porcelain. So Celluloid buttons were produced says the book. In her working drawers are box in the late 1800s to the 1920s before plastics, she says. Most of her after box of segregated buttons celluloids are from France, Eng- waiting to be cleaned and mounted. One compartment holds sea life land and Germany. buttons, another contains roses. In Her list of favorites starts with a top drawer are crocheted and glass and celluloids but doesn't end fabric buttons. there. She points to other first Would she recognize a duplicate choices paisleys, picture buttons, of one of her 25,000 buttons if she oriental subjects, pearl, a button saw one? that looks like moire taffeta... "On a common black glass or Through the "Bible" of buttons, a pearl, no. But on a picture or huge book entitled "The Big Book subject button, yes, I'd know." of Buttons" by Elizabeth Hughes Amazing. 2 Oak Frames Pillow Forms Her antique enamels are mostly from France. The colors are fired one at a time. 10 Selected 30 Off BRIDAL FAIR o off 0 Off Many other item en sale. Sale good thru April 30th. Limited to stock on hand. Orem Institute of Religion R'ARCH 26 7:00 Cost: p.m. p.m.-9:0- 0 $1.00 ea. SPONSORS: Bullock & Losee Candelight Wedding Services Brides Eternal Royal Formal Wear Universal Travel 120 W. Center, Provo 373-51Open: i Mon.-Sa- t. 10 93 am to 6 pm v inches in diameter; the smallest are slightly larger than V inch. Black and red glass with gold flopaisley designs, hand-paintrals, metal-rimme- d pearl and shell, and fired enamels are arranged in ed spiral, spoke and other orderly patterns on stiff cards. Ask for buttons made from antlers or hoofs and she picks up four cards from the bottom row of her wall showcase. Were coins ever used to inspire button designs? She answers by producing buttons not only patterned after coins, but made from coins. Whether black glass, shell, enamel, china or metal, the requested buttons are plucked from a drawer or pointed to on the wall. Goates categorizes buttons by composition, color or theme. Theme cards include dogs, bells, horsheshoes and buckles, leaves, inanimate objects, games, florals, miniature paper weights, portraits and birds. Though some of the unusual buttons do not look like clothing closures, Goates insists that "Ninety-eigpercent of these are made for clothing. A few are just for collect-in- oPx o()oo d o m n Last Year's w5 Theme cards include this collection of dog buttons. o g. Hurry in for best selection GARDEN SET ACTION PACKS For Fivo exciting sots to choose from. Cycle Racing Team, Firostar I, Doop Sea Diver, Land Spood Races and Alpha Rocon Though she does not own any "very rare or very costly" buttons, she does have several beautiful opals and agates. Gentle swirls, feathered patterns that appear to be some form of sea life embedded in the center, and formations resembling landscapes are captured in green, orange, ys WHOLESALE PRICES!! garden, beach and sandbox play. sot includes watering can, rake, trowel, 2 pots and container. ht T 3 semi-precio- white and brown stones. Each color in the brass rims of her enamel cloisonnes is filled in and fired one at a time, she says. She ' guesses the intricate floral designs were made in France. One hole at the top and two at the bottom characterize whistles. The stitching to attach the button to a garment is not seen because of the single hole, she says. "Goofies" is what she names the novelty shapes of fruits, vegetables, squirrels, elephants and dice. Goates began her hobby when she bought the collection of an Oregon woman who gathered buttons since she was seven. But her interest started 10 years ago when she received a box of buttons that belonged to her mother-in-laShe obtained old button bulletins and wrote to dealers inquiring about available items. A response from two dealers in California, and their subsequent visit to show their wares, convinced her to begin accumulating. "When I saw all their beautiful buttons I decided this was my thfeg. FANTASTIC BARGAINS! HUGE SELECTION! Good Selection Of Sizes ! I PLAY FABRY CAR 6 CAMPER XsSiszz, j?CijL jy mmmiMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmtmmiB$ HIKING SET backyard oxpodition. Includes 10 rugged fifil UfifeHLJ'? Ja A? J Reg. 2000 9" ISfltfjQDUE KITCHHiSlT n MANY ITEMS BELOW COST We Carry fie Vggfer S Sp B-- 45 Pinty Dwm. J AMf RICA'S FAVORITt CHILDREN'S University Mall, SHOES 224-394- 6 SINCt 1904 FULL LINE FACTORY DIRECT 623 South State Orcm 225-33- 92 (NuttoSctraPark) mm 19 |