Of Plates, Buttons and Woodpeckers

I was at the estate sale of a rabid plate collector this morning.  Her closets were filled with those collectible painted plates that were all the rage in the '80's and '90's.  In another room, I found a bag full of pin-back buttons that didn't really appeal to me and in fact it took me a minute to figure out what they were.  They were from a collector's plate convention in South Bend, Indiana in the early '80's and promote some of the manufacturers and depict some of the plates available that year.  I know, exciting stuff, but stick with me for a moment.

Button, Button, Who's Got the Button?

When I would visit my grandparents when I was little, eventually the thrill of the visit and the conversations of the adults would begin to bore me and I would head to my Great Aunt's room upstairs.  My Great Aunt Susan, whom everyone called "Tudy" had passed several months before I was born, so I never knew her, but I had a connection with her through the buttons she kept stored in the drawers of her old treadle sewing machine.  I would sort the buttons by color, shape, and size.  I'd count them, string them with a needle and thread or use them in games I'd make up.  The entertainment was endless.  Button saving seems to have died along with saving butter tubs.

When I saw these at a garage sale marked at $4, those memories came back and I bought them.

Some of the buttons are still on their original cards from the store, marked as low as 25 cents.  Many were made in Japan:

One oddity I found was this little face.  Not a button, but still ended up in the pile:

My youngest son and daughter played with them for about an hour, but then lost their interest.  I guess buttons have a hard time competing with television, video games and computers.