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A hearty ‘Thanks’ to everyone that visited my display of hunt buttons at The Festival of Hunting; with an especial vote of gratitude to Peter and Helen, whom hosted my son and me so well and introduced me to a lot of people, as well as putting on their usual great show on the Baily’s stand itself.
Most of the collection was under perspex, allowing an easy view for visitors, whilst some was in folders so I could enjoy a lot of direct ‘customer contact’, talking people through the buttons.
Of course, I was using my real name, and people were interested to find out why I use a pen-name on here, so the history of my collection was a frequent topic.
I don’t claim to have the best collection. I know of others just as good and some better, but I was warmed by the reception it received. Most of the ‘serious’ collectors will have the same basic A-Z list (say Aber Valley to Zetland for the sake of it) and it’s the small number of individual rarities that each of us has, the marks out each collection, and some of my ‘one-offs’ were of great interest.
As the day warmed up (and the rain held off!) the stand saw a lot of visitors from different countries -East and West. Conversations ranged widely, with information and historical knowledge flowing in both directions. I am lucky to own buttons from existing packs that go back a long way and have not been seen before by current hunt staff, so they were interested in those; and I was delighted to hear tales and background information about a number of my buttons. I met a lot of new people, saw some of my personal friends whom are fellow collectors as well as hunting folk, and old faces from ‘home’ in Wales, and from The Cotswold Hunt. A frequent topic was the poor quality of today’s modern buttons in comparison to the old ones, especially the Victorian and earlier struck or solid silver examples.
I was asked on a number occasions about sourcing old buttons, and was able to point people in the direction of a couple of contacts of mine that sell old buttons, or a company that can re-create them.
I was keen to learn about packs that have recently amalgamated, or in some cases sadly folded. Both events will have an effect on the collection, where a new button has been produced that I don’t have, or where one has to be consigned to ‘historical’ status. As my sign said “Every day is a school day.”
I sincerely hope that my display was welcomed and appreciated – I had a great day. To all those that promised to send me a button, those that spent time chatting with me and Alexander, and those that took out the time in a busy day to look through the results of fifty-three years (so far) of my hobby, Thanks again.
‘Firebrand’
