Button, Button ~ A Victorian Button Charm String
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I love estate sales! It is so much fun to poke around never knowing what one might find! This particular sale was indeed a treasure hunt. Two sewing machine in one of the bedrooms caught my eye. The first one was a machine from the 1950's. All of the drawers chock full to the brim. Tidbits of this and that most with little value except sentimentally. As I moved to the older Singer sewing machine, opening the first drawer I knew I had struck a small gold mine. Deep in the drawer an assortment of sewing implements rose to the surface. Along with these few treasures a nice assortment of Victorian buttons. However, it was the next drawer that casted up its find. In all its beauty, I lifted from the drawer a marvelous Victorian button charm string. As I quickly looked it over I knew a few of the buttons were certainly of some value. Others were more common but nevertheless the string was quite long and full. That in itself I felt sure would increase its value.
After I returned home I viewed my prize more carefully. Counting the buttons they numbered over 200. The touch button, as the first one on a string is called, is quite nice. A brass button featuring a building in the center and measuring 1-5/8" in diameter. The back of the button has decorative incising.
Button charm strings were a Victorian past time with young ladies. Not only would a young woman seek buttons for her string but family members and friends would also give buttons to her. Perhaps buttons that had sentimental meaning would also be included. It is said when a lady would fill her charm string with 1000 buttons her prince charming would appear. It does sound romantic, doesn't it.
4 comments:
I would love to see the pictures of this antique button charm !
I am so sorry of the loss of photo of this button charm string. I do hope you will visit soon again to view the charm string.
I have a Victorian charm string as well that I purchased intact from a thrift store. My string is 10 feet long and has just over 500 buttons. The buttons on my string were strung from smallest to largest and are mostly glass and brass. There are about a dozen large picture buttons. I covered a 16 x 20 piece of pegboard with fabric and anchored the string every 4 inches with floral wire and ran it back through the hole. Then I ran each strand of wire through the holes of a small button and twisted the wires together. It was a pleasure seeing your charm string and learning more about their history.
Thanks for sharing that nice story!
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