I shop the Goodwill and Salvation Army shops. I found a box of buttons for $20. Now I am not talking a shoe box, but a large apple box. The kind grocery stores get apples in! The buttons were packaged in zip lock bags and we counted a couple bags, by multiplying we figured there are about 750,000 buttons. Now I am the go to person for buttons in our guild. grin.
I was told an elderly lady had passed away and her kids just told Salvation Army they could have it all. They cleaned up her apartment and were selling everything. They were told she had collected buttons for over 75 years and they had all been on cards etc. but they just tore them off and put them in bags. How I wish I had all those old button cards too.