Vegetable Ivory Buttons, ca. 1840 Bracelet

Note: the end button with the plaid design is one of the sweet stars in this bracelet. The colors are also especially lovely, matching the colors of the fabric dyes that were used at that time. Vegetable ivory is a renewable Rain Forest material from a palm tree nut called tagua or corozo. Before plastic became common in button production, about 20% of all buttons made in the US were made of vegetable ivory because of its hard and dens properties.