Whenever I visit a thrift store, antique shop, or other secondhand marketplace, I always (always!) search every (every!) nook and cranny for pinback buttons. I love them so much. In the early years of the pandemic, I found the best buttons at Monticello. There was a vendor who had a suitcase and glass display case full of vintage ones, and I would spend as long as it took to sift through every single button each time I visited.
I officially began my collection for about $10 in September 2021 with a few buttons, all carefully selected from the suitcase pictured above.
My collection is mostly thrifted, slowish-growing, and still relatively small—only (“only”) 49 buttons. This is partly because, to date, I’ve bought only buttons that I find in person (I’m a tactile shopper) and the vendor who sold the best buttons—and had the largest offering—is no longer selling (sad!). It’s also partly because I venture out specifically with the intent to find new buttons only once or twice a year. As much as I enjoy long and expensive walks through any varietal of secondhand marketplace, they’re social and sensory overload for my brain (and are not in this economy compatible with my bank account), so I don’t visit often.
Yes, being both a tactile shopper and easily overwhelmed by shopping is a frustrating combination. Such is my autistic life. And anyway, visiting such marketplaces for such a specific purpose so infrequently works out fine because the selection of buttons at any one place doesn’t change often.
The newest additions to my collection, all thrifted locally this past week from Antique Alley, Artifact, Magpie, Memory Den, Monticello, Telephone Vintage, and Tip Top Vintage:
During The Great Pinback Button Blitz of 2026 last week, which nearly doubled my collection overnight (well, over two nights), I also visited Hollywood Vintage, House of Vintage, and Really Good Stuff, all without luck this time. So it goes. The thrill of the hunt is a big part of the draw for me, even as the sensory and social experiences of shopping are absolutely not.
Also in my collection are two buttons I didn’t thrift. I acquired them before I began intentionally collecting them: a “KEEP ABORTION LEGAL” button that I received at a rally/protest I attended at the Supreme Court in 2019, and a souvenir button from the “Spirited Republic: Alcohol in America” exhibition at the National Archives Museum in 2016 (I miss DC so bad!!!).
Another reason I love pinback buttons: they make fun magnets. Years before I began collecting vintage ones, I began buying new ones specifically to turn into magnets. All you need is a pair of pliers to remove the wire fastening mechanism, strong glue, and small magnets. I use this glue and these magnets. The magnets are pretty strong, each holding several (literally seven) sheets of (8.5″ x 11″) paper without slippage or slow sliding.
Other magnets in the above photo that I could find links for:
- ASK ME ABOUT MY BAD HABITS & RED FLAGS
- Anxiety Club
- I DID MY TAXES – no longer available as a button, still available as a single sticker and in this sticker pack
- girl, let me get up on DEM BUTTCHEEKS (also a sticker and a greeting card)
- NEW BOOT GOOFIN’!
- bumble bees – there are many places that sell these, google “pewter bumble bee magnets” and take your pick
- mini ducks
The “i’m autistic please leave me alone” sticker was a freebie included in an order from this shop.
For now, my vintage buttons live in a thrifted bowl on one of my bookshelves. I’d like to eventually display them on a hanging pin organizer—something like this, or this—that I make myself. Until then, I leave you with these fun stamps commemorating the pinback button, the pinback button museum (so fun), and the only button I’ve come across that I really wanted to buy and, sadly, wasn’t for sale.
For the curious, buttons I have in my collection that are also in the Busy Beaver Button Museum’s collection:
- WIN
- GET AHEAD WITH JERSEYS
- THE HIDING PLACE
- DOES IT TICKLE?
- THANK YOU FOR NOT PICKING YOUR NOSE
- DELEGATE
