Page 11 - July1998

July 1998 NIJINCNA"T BI.T]ITC}.{ BILIIIETIN 153

Motiwala household
began making buttons,
and continued doing so
for about ten years. The
buttons they made
especially for collectors
were of kinds never seen
before, and probably
will never be
duplicated."
At the Spring Show
of the Missouri State
Button Society in late
April, a dealer of
collectibles and buttons
fron-r St. Louis, Beth
Finkle, showed us a
recently acquired
collection she had
purchased. A dedicated
collector of realistics,
she said she had to have
the collection just to get
the hand carved ivory The drav'ings d the head buttons on Motitt'ulu's.t'|\'sv'
realistics she saw. When we saw her buttons. we shared her excitement
because there were two cards of Motiwala caftoon and head buttons and the
original flyers sent out by Motiwala showing drawings of these buttons.
Although we had shown a few of his ivory realistics on page 180 of the
October 1990 Bulletin. this collection was a real bonanza. It included 25 of the
36 cartoon characters - a very significant find. She also had 24 ofthe 30 head
buttons pictured. We were so excited that we felt cornpelled to share pictures
of Beth's discovery with our members. In addition, she had acquired some
great enamel buttons including the set of six saints shown in the previous
article and a wonderful set of six Esquire Girl buttons.
The next day, Bruce Beck, who always brings something for us to