One of my favorite things about living in the high desert of Northern Nevada was that when I needed a break, I could go outside, walk around, and look for stuff.
I discovered that with practice I was able to spot small things that did not belong, like say buttons. While searching for buttons, I also had to keep my eye out for larger things that did belong, like rattlesnakes. But that’s another post.
There is a Civil War era fort in the area, Fort Winfield Scott, and I’ve found things dating to the Civil War, like round bullets, but my favorite finds are the illusive desert button. (I really wanted to find a cavalry coat button, but that particular find eluded me.)
This is part of my collection of desert buttons, which I have found walking the area shown in the photograph. How these buttons got to where I found them under sagebrush and along dried up streams is a mystery. They are old. Some from the 1800s and early 1900s. They were scattered over a large area (a couple of square miles) so I don’t think they were the result of clothing rotting in a single “dump”.
Mother of pearl and shell were favorite button materials of the day, and most of the buttons I’ve found are made of that material. Here are three buttons with a “fisheye” around the holes, and the fisheye is obviously hand carved.
These shell buttons are probably manufactured.
This button looks manufactured until you turn it over and see that the shank is hand carved and not very even.
Here are two wood buttons I found, with the thread still attached.
This is a rivet from a pair of Levi’s. I also found the fly buttons, but have put them in a safe place that I can’t remember. Heh.
And these are my newest buttons, age-wise. They are made of glass and didn’t fare as well as the shell buttons did.
One of the things I miss most about the desert is walking and looking and letting my mind drift. Now that I’m in Montana, I venture outside and look at my flowers and watch the cows, but it’s not the same as walking the desert, because there’s no surprises in my own backyard. I miss finding cool stuff when least expected.
Do you collect anything? What do you do when you need a quick break from the day?