Unusual Buttons

I like to sew.  I am the only person in my generation of my family that likes to sew.  The result of this is that when another family member passes on or quits sewing I get a load of sewing stuff.  I'm sure that others of you experience this.  You get a large load of stuff that is easily over 5 years old, half of which must be tossed because of it's age.  But you can find some marvelous things in those abandoned items.

One of the most unusual items I've found to date came from my great grandmother's button trove.  Apparently, at some point in time, one of the ways to make cloth buttons for an outfit was to enclose two coins in a circle of fabric that matched your project.  I haven't done this because I find the buttons to be too heavy for realistic use.  But there were five such buttons in my great grandmother's button tin. 

For years I've just left them in there as a novelty.  But today I was cleaning the tin out and decided that I should toss the fabric encasing the buttons.  The fabric was starting to shred from age.  And in doing so I found a wonderful treasure - from my great grandmother to me.  The buttons were made with 8 silver nickels.  Those are now set aside to be a "treasure" for my future children, if I am gifted with any. 

The picture is awful.  I just couldn't get a clear one.  But this is a wonderful surprise for me.