Bluebonnet Button Club attracts collectors from all over Texas

By Emily Hilley-Sierzchula

It’s a niche hobby, but collecting unique buttons from historic times into the modern day is fascinating to some folks with an eye for beauty and appreciation of history. The eleven members of the Bluebonnet Button Club are hosting a regional meeting of aficionados and button dealers Saturday, Sept. 27.

“It’s a time for button friends to get together and buy buttons, trade and talk,” said Janet Graves, club member and event organizer from Marble Falls. Button collectors have both a state and nationwide organization, along with an official blue book of values.

Graves said at one time there were two statewide button shows but that became too expensive. “Button collectors missed their fall get-together, so we decided to have this workshop,” she explained. There will be at least 17 tables of button and button-book sellers. Dealers from the biggest cities in Texas (including Austin, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio) will be traveling to the workshop.

Graves has amassed an unknown number of buttons, ranging from black and colored glass, ceramic, celluloid (a kind of plastic), and metal. “I don’t know how many buttons I have in my collection, but my husband would say, ‘bazillions,’” she said with a smile. 

For the full story, see Friday's Highlander.

The button workshop will be Sat., Sept. 27, at the First United Methodist Church, 1101 Bluebonnet Drive, Marble Falls, from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Admission is free.