Two Thousand Dollars for Mice!

$2137.00.  That’s how much one button lover just paid on Ebay for an antique horn button entitled “The Mice in Council,” after an Aesop Fable.  It is very rare and in good condition always brings in the big bucks!  The detail is incredible!

This is the seller’s description of the button:

“Superb Large (1 and 3/4 inches diameter) Antique picture button dating from the 19th century...Made of pressed Horn.....depicts a curious tableaux of Mice sitting at a table underneath a tree in which a cat is hiding,all within a landscape of mountains,buildings and a crescent moon.....excellent condition..”

Here is the back of the button:

Many people have asked me what the most expensive button I own is or that I have seen.  While this may qualify as my answer to that question, I have always told the asker that worth is very different from value.  My most prized buttons in my collection are worth about 10cent each to anyone but me, but they are one of the items I would go back into a burning building for!  Here they are:

Most of you already know about these:  they are from my Nanny’s robe and when I see them, I see her.  I hope you will never look at buttons as utilitarian items after this!