New Zealand Buttons

As antlers are shed each year after the breeding season, it makes sense to use them to make buttons. The outer white layer is hardened bone whilst the inner brown section is known as cancellous bone, which has an open framework with large spaces in it. The cut off tips can be used as buttons too.

Deer were released into the New Zealand landscape for sport from 1861 until 1926. Some were brought from Australia; others directly from the UK. Red deer were the most successful introduction, although wapiti, fallow, sika, sambar,  Rusa  and white-tail are found in the wild as well. Unfortunately, the deer grazed on farm land and caused erosion in forests. Despite culling, they remain a problem.

The Sydney Morning Herald, 13th August 1862 page 8.

Leader (Melbourne), 23rd October 1886 page 16.

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