Buttons, buttons, I have the buttons

I am from a long line of collectors. My dad will be 83 next month. He has ALOT of collections. He began collecting when he was eight years old because his teacher asked for each of them to find something they liked and wanted more of. Being a child of the depression era, they didn't have money to just go buy things and toss after a few days. He found some keys that were not being used for anything. And today he has hundreds of thousands keys, several thousand padlocks, thirty or more safes, rocks, anything that is Winchester, pencils, railroad items, salesmens samples and buttons. The winter weather here in Iowa has been terrible. He has a five gallon glass bottle and thought he would go through some of the buttons and fill the bottle. The mission has been completed. I have no earthly idea how many are in the bottle. So, now I have jars and coffee cans full of buttons that were extra. To say the least, I have been looking for projects using them. They range from teeny tiny to about two inches in diameter, all shapes and sizes, different colors, some are for military uniforms and some are just very interesting. I am thankful that he has had something to keep his mind and fingers busy. I don't know which collection he will work on next. But, I know which one I will be working on!