Button Show: Tally Ho! The Hunt is On!

The New Jersey State Button Society (NJSBS) Fall 2024 Button Show and Competition “Tally Ho! The Hunt is On” will feature a presentation about the history of Hunt Club buttons by Johnson Frazier, longtime collector and button dealer.

First used in the late 18th century on scarlet jackets, which resembled the red coats worn by British soldiers of the period, Frazier describes Hunt Club buttons as “top quality in design, materials used in construction, as well as the maker’s technique.”

In order to have the privilege of wearing buttons of a particular hunt, one would have to be an approved member of the hunt for some time and invited by the master of the hunt to wear them. Hunts were formed by well-to-do, upper class land owners and often had their name or county in which the hunt took place on their buttons. Royals took pleasure in “riding the hunt” on their beautiful horses, chasing their dogs in hopes of a fox or other targeted animals.
Examples of Hunt Club buttons from Johnson Frazier’s personal collection will be on display at the show located at Union Fire Company at 1396 River Road in Titusville, NJ from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Attendees can also view NJSBS member’s button competition trays, and shop hundreds of antique, vintage and modern buttons for sale.
Founded in 1941, when a nationwide interest in button collecting was surging, the NJSBS helps its members to study, collect, and enjoy garment buttons from the present and centuries past. The Fall Show and Competition is free and open to the general public, and offers chances to win at the raffle table and door prizes. For more information call (201) 988-5199 or email ButtonsInNewJersey@gmail.com

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