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...
General Presidential Pinbacks
The most extensive aspect of my collection is my general presidential collection. I collect pinbacks from the 1896 to the 1960 elections. The scope of this topic is too broad for this forum. In fact, several books detail this aspect of our hobby and I would refer readers to these sources: Hake’s “Political Button Books volumes I-III”, Warda’s “100 Years of Political Campaign Collectibles” and Bristow’s “Illustrated Political Button Book”. Below are photos of two of my frames for your enjoyment.
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...
“Unique” and Near “Unique” Presidential campaign pins
In hobbies like stamp and coin collecting “never before seen items” virtually never come into their respective hobbies. They are invariably print or strike errors and are “priceless” ie. above the pocket book of all but the wealthy. In political collecting, items from earlier elections that have never been...
“Beat ’em to a Frazzle” A New Teddy Roosevelt Pin Comes to the Hobby
A remote Eastern Washington auction house posted a number of political button lots to eBay’s live auction site. One of the lots contained a 1 3/4″ Theodore Roosevelt pin I had not seen before. The photograph posted did not allow a zoom option and glare precluded discerning its text....