I've loved buttons in jars since I was a child. No doubt that times were simpler then, but I remember visiting my Aunt Stella - a wonderful woman. She sent me home with a jar of buttons and it was as if she had given me a sack of gold. The colors and textures fascinated me.
Jars of buttons are a little time capsule of a woman's family life. We all had much less clothing than we do now and when something finally wore out, the buttons were carefully removed and saved in a jar. The clothing was recycled into quilts, of course, or other garments, but those buttons remained.
When I got to estate sales I always buy them. Don't know what I'll do with them, but I buy them.