I don't think those are pearls bruh

Mr Jeffrey Harharwood had a splendid button collection. He was especially fond of mother of pearl.

I guess I should have said “mother-of-pearl” Oops!

Interesting nonetheless. I have wondered at least once what common people had for buttons on clothing for several millenia before plastic was around. I suppose wood and plants such as gourds would have been used also depending on where you lived.

As an aside, in the guitar world, higher-end guitars use mother of pearl for inlays and fret markers etc. Cheaper, mass-produced guitars use a synthetic version commonly referred to as MOTS - mother of toilet seat lol.

Haha nice!

I’ve actually built a few guitars with mother of pearl inlay dots and one with a “logo” of my initials. Had to cut it, was interesting. It never occurred to me this is where it comes from!

Mollusks!

I have seen shells like that along the Mississippi River, and my Dad once told me that a button factory once existed in our town.

Semi-random response: I grew up in a river town in Southern Ontario Canada. My wee town had the largest textile mill in the British Empire in WW2 era. My grandfather was some kind of manager there. My mother was a wee school girl then. My mum had to walk across the bridge every day to get to school. Wondering what color the river might be on any given day was what my mum remembered and told me.

I mean it's all nacre. The difference is really just where it forms.