Fashion Buttons

These glass buttons from Czechoslovakia were probably sold in Coles stores, as there are cards of buttons just like these except for being labeled Embassy Buttons. They were marked as from Western Germany and from Czechoslovakia.

Around 1950, goods from ‘West’ or ‘Western’ Germany stated to be exported, as the advertising below shows. Glass items from Czechoslovakia started to trickle in from 1946 onwards, although there was a campaign against “communist” goods in 1950.

The Age (Melbourne), 26th June 1950 p.9

Advertisements for glass button, and clothes featuring them were common from 1950-1954, but became rarer after that. The increased adoption of new washing machines, and the development of plastic alternatives, decreased the market for glass buttons. One of my new cards arrived with a broken button (which I removed) which shows the draw back to these items.

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