MOTHER OF PEARL Vintage Buttons Carded German, Mother of, Buffed Buttons, Mother of the Pearl, Mother of, Mother-of-the- Pearl, hotsell Natural

Amazing tri-fold, vintage/antique card of buttons. Self-shank. In olden hotsell days the customer could remove a section for purchase. German packaging.


A word on vintage mother-of-pearl buttons:
MOP is a broad term referring to shells that have the beautiful luster inside called nacre. Specifically MOP referrers to pearl oysters, the queen of all shells, renowned for is pure white pearls and nacre. Yet many shells make nacre: abalone, blue mussel , troche etc., all spectacular just not white.
My collection is sourced, cleaned, sorted and curated to beautiful groupings. See other listings. I can't always tell which shell is used as the buttons can be etched, carved, engraved, tinted, dyed, colored etc.

A word on vintage button dates. 1850 - 1960
1837 - 1901 Victorian period
1850 - shell buttons come into fashion and mass production after centuries
1870 - first plastic enters - celluloid, can resemble other materials
1899 - 1940 Mississippi mussels button industry - Arkansas River
1900 - 1910 Edwardian period
1907 - Bakelite appears
1914 1918 WW1 - demand changes
1930 - enter the zipper
1930 and 40s - enter 3 dimensional shape plastic buttons (animals etc.)
1939 - 1945 WW2 - demand changes
1960 - plastic has replaced shell buttons on mass produced garments