Pearly kings and queens are some guys what sew buttons on their clothes. My friend Ifny, who's grandfather was a Rag and Bone man, turned me on to these fine, crafty individuals.

Here's a collection of links to "garbage" and "street" culture, from the olden times. I'll let Ifny tell it, cause she has such a way with words:

turns out the bones in question were for making glue. mmm glue.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Rag_and_bone_man

which led me to the karang guni

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Karang_guni

(reminds me of japanese junk buyers "rajiokaseto, shee-dee, terebi"
blasting out of little tonka toy trucks in the am)

and the costermongers came up

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Costermonger

and the pearly kings & queens

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearly_Kings_and_Queens

and i ended up with (this pic) misty eyeds.

W00t!