Page 49 - May1954

Nlay,1954 NATIONAL BUTTON BULLETIN 239,

buckles or slides are tumbled in a series of barrels containins various.
ingredients. The final operation is cutting the slot and thii is clone
by a wheel.
Buttons ar,e macle by first cutting the size clesired with a cutting
q'heel. The pattern is then put on, the holcs drillecl, arrcl lustred as
mentionecl above.
Casein Plastic'
Casein plastics, as thc name tells lrs, are those derived florn rniik.
Tr'1' burning a little milli ancl 1'ou rlill fincl tliat the odor is that of burn-
ing hair, or horn. Everr l'hen convertecl into plastic, it carr |c bprneil at
a moc'lelately lorv tenrpelir.ture ancl still gives off the burnt-hair smell.
Thus the hot needle test can be usecl to clistinguish casein plastic from the
othel important group of thermo-plastics, the cellulose clerivatives, some
of r'liich give olf the carnphor smell. linfortunately this test b1- itself,
tloes not distiirguish cascin plastics from genuine horn; both smell alike.
'lhe buttons have i,l lialcl bliliiance tlltl a colol rangc corripletelv un-
obtainable in horn.
\\rhile on the subjc.ct of casein, tve believe the William Shakespeat'e
button illustratecl on p. 49 in our January- issue, to have a casein body
rather than horir. as stated then.
L.S.A.

MODERN SETS RECOGNIZED FOR THE 1954 SHOW
Many collectors of modern buttons are specializing in sets. This
has created some confusion, for neither the collectors nor the ghow judges.
are in agreement as to the cornposition of the various sets. The rules state
that "A set is a series of buttons of the same material and make up de-
picting designs of related subject matter. The individual buttons rnay vary
in size and color but must be a group that the original designer intended
to be used together." Does this hold true in the moderns? Many of the
small goofies were sold originally as a set of six on a card for a dime. This
was not ahvays true, tor some original cards had four, five or eight items,
or perhaps cards purchased in different stores or parts of the country
would contain different items. The deiuxe realistics, such as the weeber
items, were often sold singly but rvere definitely intended as a set of
related items.
There may be some misunderstanding as to rvhat buttons can be used
together as a set and so I have asked a clarification from Mrs. Myrtle
Kuypers on several points in the following list. Here are the rulings:
1. I'Iaterials. A11 buttons in a set must be made of the same material.
Under the description of some of the following sets there may be several
materials listed. Each is listed under a letter, such as a, b, c, and so forth,
and each such listing is considered as a separate set.
2. Size. Items in sets rnay r-ary considerably in size, such as the
bali and the bat in Baseball Equii)ment. On the other hand a complete
set many be found in several sizes and in such cases the items in the set
must be of the same size. A good example is Breakfast plates which is
a small size of Dinner Plates.
3. Color. The color of items in a set may be the same in some
instances or ma-v differ in others. Where buttons are found in a number
of colors, a set should have those of a single color.
4. Trim. Often times complete sets can be found with trim and again
the same set without trim. Do not mix the two.