Buttons!

The other day I was introduced to the world of button collecting by my friend Sue, who brought over some trays of her buttons for "show and tell." (When she accidentally left them in my "museum," I teased, "I'm already on eBay and they're selling like hotcakes!") But while she was here, I was intrigued to learn about button societies and the prizes they award. For instance, the Buckeye State Button Society, who declared dozens of winners in their 2010 competition in categories based on button size, type, and subject. Pictured above are the prize-winning entries in "22-R/N Div. IX, Cl 17-6, 25 Any; Reptiles Specialized to 12 Snakes and 12 Turtles and one free choice from those": Christy Mecey (1st Place), Sally Gibson (2nd Place), and Ruth Smith (3rd Place). The specialized collections appeal to my acquisitive nature, appreciation of history, sense of design, need to label and display, etc.

Less discriminating is self-proclaimed Button King Dalton Stevens, whose button collecting career began when insomnia led him to sew 16,333 buttons on a suit. Finding satisfaction in that, he followed it up with button-encrusted shoes, guitar, banjo, Chevette, hearse, casket - which he got trapped in, by the way, piano, and toilet, all of which can be seen at his museum.

While the Button King and the members of button societies may seem like monomaniacs, let me close with an anecdote my paternal grandmother told me long ago. A woman in her neighborhood was losing her sanity. Her friends and family became certain she had rounded the bend when they came to check on her one day. She was in the process of sewing a button to each of her fingertips...