Though the image seems very famliar, I cannot place the button in BBB. The scene is basically the same as that on my two Monleón buttons. The button itself is of one-piece construction, with a metal eyelet welded onto the back.

Might this be someone's conception of the story of the two monks from Bidpai? In any case, there is a large stein or pitcher to the right of the right monk, who clearly holds a drinking vessel. As I study this button more closely, I am not convinced that the two men must be monks. If I keep this button in the collection, I will at least know where to find it when I learn that it really is a fable button!

The Big Book of Buttons (Elizabeth Hughes and Marion Lester, Second printing: 1991, Plate 152, #4). The depth of this button makes the rubbed high points of its scene stand out in lovely fashion from the dark background on the Joyce's Jems exemplar, while the Wiedeman is much brighter throughout. A real prize!

BBB Plate 154 # 2. For the editors there the identification of the fable is not certain. I am not sure that the brass on my button is tinted, as theirs is. Steel back and wire shank. This is a dramatic button, as the crane has a creature in his mouth, with lush vegetation in the background.

This is a pressed, one-piece silvered brass button in excellent condition. The illustration adapts Doré's illustration of La Fontaine's V 3 ("Le petit Poisson et le Pêcheur") well to the circular form, changing some things around the man, who is clearly in the posture and attitude that Doré had given him. BBB Plate 153 #12. I continue to be amazed at what people have made out of fables!