From around 1936 until it was declared insolvent in May 1939, Reginald Charles Norris and John Henry Spiers traded as Norris and Spiers, “manufacturers of buttons, buckles and casein products” from a factory in City Road, and then from Mary Street, Surry Hills, Sydney.
Published in Construction (Sydney), 5th October 1938.
Courtesy of Museum Victoria.
Sydney Morning Herald, 8th June 1939. The sale from the closing of the business included stock, materials, plant, fixtures, dies, etc.
Reginald Charles Norris applied for registration of designs for buttons, dress accessories and for brooches from 1941 to 1949. In 1946-7 his company, ‘Rex C. Norris Pty. Ltd.’ was described as a ‘fancy jewellery warehouse’.
The Sydney Morning Herald, 30th August 1947.
In 1950 (under the name Rex Charles Norris) he applied for registration of designs for buttons and fancy buttons (the name Rex is a diminutive version of Reginald). According to the Rex Agencies web page, “Rex Buttons” began in Victoria in 1950. Over the decades they grew to be the “second largest button and buckle maker in Australia” (presumably behind Beutron).
Who was Rex C. Norris?
Reginald (Rex) Nathan Charles Wylie Norris was born in 1903 in Castlemaine, Victoria. In 1925 he is listed in the electoral rolls as living in Prahran employed as a labourer. In 1928 he and his wife Jeanie, are living in Toorak, and he is now a railway employee. By 1930 he has moved to Randwick East, Sydney, and is listed as working as a ‘speciality artist’. In 1936 he is listed as a manufacturer, and by 1943 a company director. On the passenger list of the ship ‘Strathnaver’ in 1951 leaving London bound for Sydney are listed Reginald Charles, DOB 19 July 1903, Importer, and his wife Jeanie and daughter Diana. He is last listed in the electoral rolls as a merchant in 1963. So how did a labourer and railway employee come to be a designer, company director and importer?
Rex C. Norris Pty. Ltd. became Rex-Norris Trading Pty.Ltd., then Rex Agencies (Australia), then Selit-Rex Australia, run by Jeffrey Charles Bird. Mr Bird died in 2012.
Jack and Jill buttons were a line of novelty buttons distributed and/or produced by Rex C. Norris Pty. Ltd. These green koalas are owned by Robyn Caddy of the Victorian Button Collectors Club. The koalas below are in my collection, bought from another Robyn (Button Broker).
The three Rex koalas I’ve mounted on a reproduction card.
Brown and blue Rex koalas from Carol’s collection.
These ducks have been produced for years under various brand names.
Examiner,16th Jan 1953.
The Age, 8th July 1953.
These are all glass buttons with metal embellishment.
Metal buttons imported by the box by Rex.
These 2 rows are from Carol’s collection. Thanks again for sharing!
