Page 31 - February1999

February 1999 NATI0NAI BI.ITTON BULI ET]N 29

years from the gentlemen that Jane Johnson bought her buttons from so we knew
buttons were definitely around. We found a new small shop and stopped to ask if
they had buttons. You should have seen our mouths drop when they told us they
had 1500 kilos of buttons. We made arrangements to go back in the evening to
look at them. It was March, with snow on the ground, we found it very cold even
with our layers of long underwear. After poking around in a cold, dark, mold
infested cellar we realized that we could never sort through the buttons. I ended
up negotiating with two gypsy gentlemen in Czech as they smoked like
smokestacks, played the guitar and sang. The next morning they had
reconsidered the weight they had given me and the amount had grown to 3300
kilos. We scurried to have 120 wooden crates built in two days and gave them a
deposit with promises to retum in two months. By the time we returned, the
gross weight of buttons had grown to 7 metric tons and more boxes had been
built for us. It was now May and the buttons wouldn't arrive until one week
before National! There are definitely treasures in the 7 tons but there are also
bushels of very common ordinary buttons plus lots of dirt and paper! But finding
things wrapped in I 906 and 1926 paper makes it all worthwhile!
"Business dealings in the Czech Republic are not only business, but also
social. Now that we know our business partners well it always takes 3 to 4
meetings to accomplish what we might accomplish here in the states in one 3
hour meeting. They are interested in our thoughts on the economy, Clinton,
business in general and we in turn
ask them similar questions about
.q
srsdm!*i 4r*n!d 6!tr^v' trr' r,@P doing business in their country. One
edr,glt|Mw&! must be patient and be willing to
osv&oduri work within their system if one
CERTI FICATE wants to accomplish anything.
' ce agi#t b I Originally everything had to be paid
i. 2ta-)t-tEt I for up front when we ordered. Being
@*\: fairly trusting we did business
& \.t d-&
ffi* #*g*ffiddrmm without a contract. In most cases it
ff* has worked out great. I would
caution people though that there are
F#d#_*&rehs*3$ many unscmpulous people who will
* rdUdta.4l!11ilr@Ft'r* r'6 r.&
r*Eriiilrg* 'hd
iles*tFrflF.Fr** tell you what you want to hear,
,tuerr'*td&q.&#d#
tttu&ad'g-iddt&b@' promise you many things and think
&&_{ad*d/h-.br-'k d F
@d.btrrGtdb*Fd
@d.bFtgE c
' {.ffiFr.'.&.L that because you are half way
rrlgF,gdr *.*l*e&32u around the world that you will never
oaltl.ljl9
--owp
L1ffih 6ll ,ry know that they are not keeping their
agreements. This too has happened
. ..i
.? 9*- to us, but we have learned of the
Wk double dealings and have ceased
doing business with the people
involved."
(See color pages for examPles
Ce r Li icare o f /luth e ntic i tr4 of Kathv's buttons).
I