Page 26 - January1948

24 NATIONAL BUTTON BULLETIN
The following is taken from the Nes' and Cornplete Dictionary of Arts
and Sciences by G. Gregory D.D. (1819).
Shell buttons are those which consist of a back, geuerally made of bone,
lvithout any shank, but corded with ('at!lrtt. and covered in front lvith a thin
plate of metal struck lrith a die. The backs aie cut out with a brace, the bit
of which is a circular saw, and the four holes through which the catgut
passes are drilled by four drills moving parallel to each other, and acting
at once. They are then corded by t'hilth'en, s'lro tie the c:rtg'ut on the inside;
tho ca,vity is filled rvith melted r'<'sin, and the metal shell a,pplied' $'a,rm.
The button is then pressed between two centres in a lathe, which are forced
together by a weight acting on a lever, and the edge of the shell turlred
down during its revolution with a stnall burnisher.
L. S. A,
HISTORI("AL I'RUN(AI BUT'IONS

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IVOOD AII'D BONE BACIiED BUTTONS
(Photoaraph l)y courtesy of Iurs. Lluck)
Mrs. Helen Buck, of New Jersey is the ploud owner of the French ln-
signia 18th century buttons pictured here. Recently, she obtained from
France, a board measuring l|rk" by \37k" covered with soft red velvet'
On the top of the board is a strip of red leather lettered in gold, to read:
"1A Anclen Rdgime 17 . .-1789."