Many
people find old buttons attractive, and decorative old cards of buttons
like these are fun to collect and display. But have you ever
wondered where they actually come from and who made them.?
In fact this card of
'Snowdrop' buttons was made in Birmingham, England. It was produced by a
company called Buttons Ltd. It can be identified by the crossed sword
trade mark which is only used by this particular company.
In the early
years of the 20th century the company who made these buttons was the leading
button manufacturer in the world. The company was created in 1908 when several smaller
firms amalgamated.
The town of
Birmingham is located right in the centre of England. It's location
meant it was able to take advantage of the many developments of the
industrial revolution and build up a strong manufacturing base. Even
to this day the city is famous for its jewellery manufacturing business.
But in the middle of the
19th century it was a leading centre for button manufacture. Before the
invention of machines buttons were hand-made by
skilled workers. As the industrial revolution took over and people
congregated together to work in factories, certain parts of the manufacturing
process became automated. They used simple presses to make the buttons,
which were then finished by hand.
