Button collectors share certain fasten-ation

No mere mother-of-pearl discs are good enough for these collectors.

Instead, they seek small circles of metal, wood, porcelain, glass, bone. The prettier and more elaborate, the better.

You see, buttons are for more than holding up our pants and keeping our shirt fronts closed. For Marian Schenkenberger of Coeur d’Alene and fellow collectors, buttons are a source of joy and pride.

“I think it’s kind of the artistry, the beauty of a lot of them,” Schenkenberger said.

This weekend, the public will get to experience the beauty and artistry that holds collectors enthralled when the 32nd annual Idaho State Button Show comes to the Best Western Inn Coeur d’Alene. The show is sponsored by the Idaho State Button Society and its North Idaho chapter, the Historical Button Club.

Simone Kincaid will be there. The Coeur d’Alene woman guesses she has as many as 20,000 buttons in her collection.

“I started when I was in college. I needed to replace buttons on antique clothing I was collecting and reselling,” she said. “My mother was an antiques dealer. The bug was sort of in my system. Of course, I would go and borrow Mom’s buttons permanently.”

Button club members will gather on Thursday and Friday for sessions and competition. On Saturday, the doors will open and the public can check out displays featuring thousands of buttons ranging in vintage from the 18th century to contemporary. Dealers also will be on hand with buttons to sell.

There will be awards given in 26 different categories, including pearl and shell, and gemstones, and special awards for certain types of plastic buttons, Kincaid said. There also will be clear color glass categories, one for rubber buttons – which date from the 1850s and were manufactured by companies such as Goodyear – and another for molded glass buttons.

“There’s one award just for triangles,” Kincaid said. “And one for hearts.”