During the 1860’s a Victorian fad was born that involved collecting a long string of buttons. A woman would begin her button string with a needle and one large button, referred to as a “touch Button”(1), then the smaller glass and colorful buttons that were added were generally given to her by family members, friends, another woman or a suitor (2). The buttons were supposed to be gifts, not bought and it was said that once the woman acquired 1000 buttons for her string she would be doomed to forever being a “spinster.” The stories about this folklore obviously vary since I have a book, Victoria From Heart and Hand that says that the man who gave the woman her 1,000th buttons was the man she would marry. I believe that the stories surrounding this vary so drastically most likely due to being passed along and changed according to where one lived, etc….The string of buttons was traditionally left out in an open area of the house, so that when visitors came by one could discuss the buttons origins, and stories related to that particular family member who gave the young lady the button, and to encourage friends and suitors to bring more buttons. Other items such as tiny baskets made from fruit pits could be added to the strings, or small charms and amulets. I have attached a photo of a couple of peach pits my grandfather made for me in case you have never seen a carved fruit pit basket. Mine is the tiny one that is dark from years of me wearing it. The fad of the button string continued until about 1900.
I wonder if this is the origin of the saying “stringing a person along.” I mean if they didn’t bring enough buttons and have the right intentions a lady would end up with only a string, or a string that didn’t add up to a beau with long term intentions. It seems there are very few strings that remain today with a thousand buttons. Generally family members have taken them apart to save some of the buttons.
These Valentine’s images are from Flickr. They lead back to their source if you click on them. Flickr is so much fun to browse through.
Well I hope you all have a nice Valentines’ Day. If you are single, like me it is a good excuse to do something nice for yourself. I think I might go to brunch this weekend at some point.
(1) http://www.aboutdecorativestyle.com/articles/victorian_charm_strings.htm
(2) http://www.aboutdecorativestyle.com/articles/victorian_charm_strings.htm
All material written by: © Marilyn Lavender, 2015. “All Rights Reserved.”
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