Mother-of-pearl is the hard, silvery ... and the circular pieces, such as those for buttons, with the annular or crown-saw, fixed upon a lathe-mandrel. The pieces are next ground flat upon ...

Mother-of-pearl, the iridescent coating inside oyster shells, once formed the foundation of a thriving button industry in the U.S. What is now the United States became famous for two products.

The Pearl Button Girl is Annie Murray's 30th Birmingham based story. It is also the first in a new series beginning in 1851, in Victorian Birmingham, entitled CHILDREN OF BIRMINGHAM and centering on ...