Got Buttons?

I haven't previously mentioned another of my favorite hobbies, collecting antique buttons. I started this fresh out of highschool. I used to shop in the second hand and antique shops because in the 80's you wore vintage. It was "cool" to be different. This from the girl who wore those silly Madonna gloves at her graduation. Oh I'll save that pic for SPT. So anyway, I don't know how it started, it just did. I used to hit paydirt at yardsales pre ebay. Huge cookie tins of grandmom's vintage buttons for about $2.00. I still collect, just not as religiously as I once did. I come to find out many years after I started that the german translation of my last name is "buttons". Kooky right? So ebay is a great place to find large lots of buttons, but they tend to get pricey, due to lots of bidders. I have parted with some of them. Two years ago for Christmas I made my sister a photo collage. I bought one of the unfinished large wood frames from Michaels. I painted it gold an glued beautiful off white "seashell" buttons. I call them seashell because they look like buttons made from shells. It's a beautiful frame. I also parted with some on a felted bag I made. I sold it at the last craft fair. I thought I was going to cry. But the woman said she would treasure the bag and buttons. Those were floral silver metal buttons. Metal buttons in good shape are sometimes hard to come by due to rusting. This second set of buttons still on the cardboard have a price tag on the back from Gimbels for 5 cents. Gimbels? Are they still in business? Wasn't that Macy's competitor in Miracle on 34th Street? It's like holding a piece of history in your hand. Some of them are still attatched to pieces of cloth. Nice.