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 seen before come into the hobby every year which is quite exciting. No one knows everything that was produced and survived for that matter. Most often these are paper items or regionally manufactured ribbons which can be made in small runs, require no special equipment and were often not widely distributed. “Unique” buttons are a different story. Until the recent “Badge a Minute” pinbacks, button manufacture was done in print shops with specialized equipment often in large production numbers. This makes the appearance of unknown buttons from the 1896-1964 quite unusual, but for the diligent collector not an unheard of event. Almost every serious collector who has been at it for a while has a number of items unlisted in the major guides, the Hake series and Bristow Button Book. They may even have examples that they know of no other examples in other collections. A collector in Minneapolis found an unknown Cox and Roosevelt pin distributed in Alabama for the 1920 election. He was able to buy it at a tag sale for less than $20 and sold it for six figures. Below are some of my “unique” or possibly only very rare pins with less than one or two other examples known. If you have one of these please let me know.
At least one other Smith is known; the others are the only examples that I am aware. A 1 1/4″ version of the “Bull Moose” is known by a single specimen
I am aware of another “Stand by the President” but none of the others
There is at least one other example of the Hoover on the left; I know of no other examples of the rest
There are a few of Debs in the hobby and I have been told there are repins of this item as well. As far as I know the others are unique
I know of at least one other “Busy Bee” but I know of no other examples of the others
The Parker’s are likely salesman samples. A Teddy Roosevelt version of the pin on the right is known but not the Parker. One other example is known for the other two.
1″ by Pacific Coast Stamp Works in Seattle
The buttons pictured above are celluloid pins. This type of pin is made by covering the paper print with a celluloid coating which is held in place by a metal ring called a collet. Buttons of this type can be made by smaller print shops in small production runs.
Below is a lithograph pin where the printing is directly on the metal–these are usually made in very large runs so an only example of this type of pin is almost unheard of.
This is the Hake book example
If you have any interesting items to sell or have appraised feel free to call or text photos to (406)217-2017