>If I remember correctly, Steve Hinks did his Master's thesis on >buttons at William and Mary, sometime in the late 1980s. It should >be in the library there. I think Stan South's research group >published it as a monograph a few years ago. Sorry I don't have >the reference handy at the moment, but if you can find it, I think >it'll go a long way to answering many of your questions. > It is Volume XXXII in the VOLUMES IN HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY series, available from Stan South at SCIAA (http://www.cla.sc.edu/sciaa/hapubs.html). Chris Clement