Sketching uniform buttons

Abstract

In this article, Denis Darmanin tells about his passion for uniform buttons. From a young age, he started collecting them, especially those from the British uniforms. In 1986, he started sketching in actual size the buttons of the Maltese uniforms : the entire known army, police, prisons, customs and other local departments that wore buttons with a particular device or badge of their branch or department. Denis Darmanin joined the British Button Society, the Military Historical Society and, later, the International Uniform-buttons Collectors Club. Unfortunately, years ago, his collection had to be drastically reduced from thousands to just around 100 pieces, as it was becoming time consuming. But his hobby of sketching uniform buttons never died.