How to engage the slide show:
click on the first image on the left of the gallery below, then select the arrow at the bottom left of the enlarged image. Or you can manually go to the next slide by hovering your cursor on the middle right side then clicking the arrow that appears. Hover your cursor on the middle left side then click the arrow that appears to go backwards. Close the slide show or manual show by clicking the X button on the lower right of the image. (The image of each button is followed by an image of that button's back or reverse side.)
Acknowledgments, References and information for this category are at the bottom of this page.
Button Country
An Educational Resource for Button Collectors - originally created by Paul Rice
Section 23-3 : Back Types Assorted
* To download and print pdfs of the back types worksheets click these links: with button pictures, without button pictures.
Some descriptions of these buttons may be cut off. Full descriptions can be seen in the slide show mode.
These pages illustrate visual examples of back types including shanks and other means of attachment. Each example represents one of the back types listed in the NBS Blue Book and the glossary table. The glossary table was compiled from a review of all the references listed under reference below and these relevant invoked references (1995 National Button Bulletin, 1967 Classification of Black Glass Buttons, 2003 Pearl and Shell Buttons Classification, 2002 Classification of Clear and Colored Glass Buttons, 2005 Celluloid Buttons, and the NBS Synthetic Polymers Handbook (undated).
The examples are grouped first into their unique classification number. The numbers in parenthesis, IE: (#15), identify the specific glossary definition being illustrated in the glossary table. Click this link to view and download the glossary table.
To see Other Back Types that do not have the unique class numbers of 23-3.1 to 23-3.5 click this link.
Acknowledgments: Thanks to Lou Yeargain, Barbara Barrans, Gwen Niemisto, Gloria Badger, Pat Koehler, Kevin Kinne, and Judy Stopke who assisted in the development of this educational resource. These collaborators provided reviews, comments or other support including images or buttons for the examples shown. A special thanks to Joan Lindsay & Joy Journeay for their expert editing skills!
References:
(1) Worksheet compiled by Jeanne H. Talbert - date unknown
(2) Dorothy Foster Brown - Button Parade (pages 264 - 267) - 1968, Lightner Publishing Corporation
(3) Ruth Watson – Just Buttons (pages 589-597) - July, 1972.
(4) National Button Society Blue Book - Official NBS Classification and Competition Guidelines
(5) Button Basics - Jane Ford Adams - National Button Bulletin, May 1995 (Reprint of 1959 Adams article)
(6) A Complete Classification - Clear and Colored Glass Buttons, Jane Ford Adams - National Button Society
(7) Warren K. Tice - Dating Buttons, 2003, Warren K. Tice, Publisher
(8) Guidelines for Collecting China Buttons - National Button Society - 1994
(9) Classification of Black Glass Button - National Button Society - 1967
(10) Its All About Celluloid Buttons - Monica Walker
(11) National Button Society Section 9-A Synthetic Polymers Handbook (Howells, MacFarlane, Deal, Smith) - No Date
(12) Sally C. Luscomb - The Collector's Encyclopedia of Buttons, 6th edition - 2006, Schiffer Publishing Ltd.