Buttons that look like plastic, but when washed turn rubbery??!!

[cowboy76]

So, I get about 4 nice old Golden Era button down shirts from a vintage deal friend of mine in Ohio. I wash all of them, and the light yellow comes out of the one that has been affected by it, the others were great, no yellowing!

However, the one shirt, my wife tells me, "hey, look at this! This one button fell apart in my hand when I pressed it, but the rest, they're all pliable and rubbery,...what is this??" I've never seen buttons do this or heard of it before?? When the shirt dried, they became nice and hard again,....I tried to actually break on on the shirt since I was thinking they'd be coming off to be replaced by NOS buttons,...the sucker wouldnt break!

Anyone have any idea on this?? I thought it pretty interesting and curious.

 

[Kitty_Sheridan]

Oh, I know what you mean. I have some on my WW2 nurses kit. Sanforized rubber. Usually perish after a while but quite easy to find if you rummage in old haberdashery boxes.
K

 

[cowboy76]

Really?? Wow,....so someone does know of these? Yeah they're really wild,...never saw anything like them!