Sara H

In Memoriam: Marilyn Jost

March 23, 2019 Sara H

Marilyn was responsible for myself and many others in joining the Jersey Shore Button Club. As a result we are able to participate in this wonderful hobby. She was always generous with her time, information, and racious hospitality. As president for 26 years, she was a friend and mentor to all of us. She will be greatly missed by all of us.

Jackie Moreno and the Jersey Shore Button Club.

Marilyn Jo Jost, 79, passed away on April 18, 2018 due to complications of Parkinson’s disease.. She and Howard, her husband of 51 years, raised their two sons in Manasquan.

Marilyn was born in Odon, Indiana and was a graduate of Union Hospital of Nursing in Terre Haute, IN and the University of Evansville in Evansville, IN. She began her career as a nurse and later worked for many years as an antiques dealer at the Point Pleasant Emporium.

She and Howard, her husband of 51 years, raised their two sons in Manasquan. She was a devoted & loving wife, mother, friend, gardener and volunteer. Marilyn was a faithful member of Manasquan United Methodist Church and also volunteered many years at the VNA Thrift Shop in Manasquan. She loved gardening and belonged to the Sea Lavender Garden Club. She also enjoyed collecting antiques, vintage jewelry & buttons and was a member of the Jersey Shore Button Club. She will be dearly missed

Marilyn was predeceased by her sister, Joyce. She is survived by her loving husband of 51 years, Howard Jost; and her two sons, Daniel Jost and his wife Shannon of Seattle, WA and David Jost of Wall Twp. . For more information or to post a tribute, please visit www.neary-quinnfuneralhome.com.

In Memoriam

In Memoriam: Lillian J. Buirkle

March 23, 2019March 23, 2019 Sara H

15 buirkle obit photo Lillian J. Buirkle, 82, passed away on December 29, 2018, at her home in Lavallette, New Jersey. She was the daughter of Gus and Ann Buirkle. As owner of one of the first auto dealerships Park Ridge, NJ, Gus helped found, and assisted, the first ambulance squad in her home town, with generations going back from Jersey City to the Virginia colony of 1610. Lillian continued her father’s civic responsibility by volunteering as an EMT at Lavallette Volunteer First Aid Squad. During her decade plus time of service, she became a life member in the community that she and generations of family members have spent in this small community on the bay.

After Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA., Lillian became a scientific pioneer as a senior scientist who helped develop major breakthroughs for a large pharmaceutical corporation over a career begun in the ‘60s.While having a large family and successful career that spanned decades, she also found time to be editor of the Michigan State Button Society bulletin from 1997 to 2002. She competed in local, state and national button societies covering much of the eastern U.S. “Every button that is new to me is exciting,” she said. “My favorite buttons are those from the 18^th-century and earlier, especially those made of fabric, since they are so fragile.”

She wrote about fabric buttons and presented a program on them for NJSBS. Among her other publications are, with Marjorie Fraser, a booklet on the Marie Snouffer China buttons, now in its second edition. For the National Button Society bulletin, she authored several articles on political buttons, including those on Presidents William Harrison and Theodore Roosevelt.

In New Jersey, we remember that – with dignity, helpfulness, and efficiency, she was past president of the New Jersey State Button Society, and she was also editor of the NJSBS bulletin and webmaster. As president she recruited NJSBS members to help the Cranbury Historical and Preservation Society evaluate its button collection. In 2017, even when she was very ill, she pitched in to help produce and edit the fall NJSBS bulletin. She was a loyal member of Jersey Shore and Central Jersey Buttoniers.

She is survived by her husband and lifelong partner of over 37 years, Joseph Palinsky; her three children; Erik K. Dhuy, Christine A. Greenough and Ronald J. Dhuy Jr., she also leaves 8 grandchildren and 4 great grandchildren with two more on the way. The family requested donations in her name to the Lavallette Volunteer First Aid Squad. Several button competitions are name in her honor.

Collecting

Realistics Through the Years: A Fun Collectible for Children and Adults

November 8, 2018July 13, 2020 Sara H

Excerpt from “Realistics Through the Years: A Fun Collectible for Children and Adults”
By Jane Albanowski
Program for New Jersey State Button Society
September 8, 2018

…. In the 1940s, B. Blumenthal & Company sold Deluxe, realistic Celluloid buttons designed by Marian Weeber of New York City. Made for the dress trade, these buttons appealed to Moms in hard times. They displayed baskets of fruit, crates of fruits and vegetables, fruits cut in half, realistic vegetables, flowers and birds, as well as her now-famous plates of food.

M. W. “Freddie” Speights, editor of the National Button Bulletin, wrote in October 1987: When Marion Weeber’s buttons were sold, “Few button collectors purchased them as they were more expensive than most modern buttons. Early collectors were too engrossed in the accumulation of antique buttons to pay much attention to moderns.

“In the intervening 40 years, these buttons have become very collectible. Although many of the Weeber buttons have survived these 40 years,” he added, “(they) were made of a plastic which because of the chemical content are crystallizing and disintegrating.

Celluloid Hats (Note: rounded self shank. I believe the spool is Celluloid, although it may be bakelite. It is described as “Deluxe,” indicating it was designed by Marion Weeber).

–The next partially-synthetic plastic to appear in the marketplace was Casein, based on a milk protein. Casein had long been used in paints and adhesives, and was first developed as a molding compound by two German chemists, who patented it in 1899 under the trade name Galalith. It was made using milk curd. Once the impurities were removed, it was washed, dehydrated under pressure, ground and dried, then combined with formaldehyde, says NBS Plastics Classification Committee.

Pix 4: Misc. shapes.

Casein was a natural thermoplastic. When cured with formaldehyde, it became a thermo-set, meaning the final product was not reversible upon reheating. It was inexpensive to produce, produced in the form of rods, tubes and sheets. However, it had a tendency to warp, shrink, and was not heat resistant, according to the NBS Plastics Classification Committee. Uncured scraps could be melted and reused, since the casein was still in a thermoplastic state. Individual Casein buttons could be cured in a formaldehyde bath in a matter of days, while it took several weeks to cure a casein sheet.

Pix 6. Stars.
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Pix 7. Objects. (Note: the light green dog and acorn are Casein buttons, while the dark green key and red button are probably Bakelite. Casein and Bakelite can sometimes be difficult to distinguish).