Montana became a territory in 1864 and was subsequently admitted to the union as a state in 1889. Early Montana politics was dominated by the war between the Copper Kings, two of the richest and most powerful men in America. Both were loyal democrats but their ongoing struggle to...
Collecting Presidential Campaign Buttons
The bulk of my collection is my general presidential pinback collection. Political buttons as we know them were first used in the 1896 election between William Mckinley and William Jennings Bryan. I collect pins from the 1896 to the 1960 Presidential elections with an emphasis on those produced...
Montana Presidential Items
Parties and individual vendors have produced and distributed items supporting the campaigns of presidential contenders since the early 19th century. These items have included ribbons, badges, pins, bandannas, posters, pamphlets, stickers and three dimensional items such as statuettes and dishes. The majority of these items are “national” with no...
Campaign Button “Restoration”: cleaning, polishing and repair
Restoration of collectibles is controversial to say the least. In the sports card field there have been some very high profile examples with fraud accusations and litigation; most related to freshening the edges but some have even challenged cleaning without disclosure. Fortunately our hobby hasn’t reached that level of...
Territorial Items
Montana became a territory when the geographic obstructions associated with the rugged Rocky Mountains made the larger Idaho Territory unworkable. Its early history is marked by an influx of men to the gold fields of Bannack, Virginia City and ultimately Helena. Northerners with strong ties to the Union and...
Thoughts on Regional Scarcity of Political Campaign Material; “fish where the fish are”
Benny Brandvold MD Before eBay, collecting in “the wild” meant what you found depended on what was originally distributed in the area or was transplanted as families relocated. No one understands regional campaign item scarcity more than a locals collector; imagine trying to put together a Massachusetts locals collection...
The Market Made Simple
Lately, there has been quite a bit of grousing and consternation on social media about the state of the market and the overall health of our hobby. There seems to be concern about a perceived decline in prices in general and an almost as strong a concern or contempt...
Campaign for the State Capital
When delegates to the State Constitutional Convention met in 1889 they elected not to address some of the more polarizing issues, most notably divvying up the spoils of statehood such as the location of the permanent capital, state college, agricultural college, normal school, state penitentiary and mental hospital. Most...
Local and State Campaign Items
Items produced for campaigns for local and statewide elections are referred to by collectors as “Locals”. In general, they tend to be considerably less expensive then presidential items of similar rarity. “Locals” collectors tend to narrow their focus by specializing in certain states, regions, eras or offices. Demand for...
Collecting Third Party Items
Early in the history of our republic, political parties were fluid and often short lived. Since the Civil War, we have had two very stable political parties though they have switched philosophies as to the balance of the power of the federal government versus state’s rights. Throughout our history...