Vintage Mother-of-Pearl Buttons — Card of 36 A beautiful original card of 36, 13mm, vintage mother-of-pearl buttons, still stitched onto their old silver foil-covered display card. Each small button has been cut from natural shell, giving it a wonderfully soft pearly lustre with subtle flashes of pink, green and blue as it catches the light. The buttons have a simple recessed centre and four holes — a classic, practical design originally intended for shirts, blouses, children’s clothing and fine household sewing. One of the pleasures of old mother-of-pearl buttons is that no two are quite identical. There are tiny variations in colour, thickness and surface which reveal their natural shell origin and distinguish them from later plastic imitations. The buttons remain hand-threaded onto the card, making this particularly appealing as an intact piece of vintage haberdashery. They could, of course, be removed and used for sewing, but the complete card is lovely enough to keep just as it is. A lovely little piece of old haberdashery — equally appealing for the button collector or for adding genuine vintage details to a special sewing project.