Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Collectors Archive: Rare Political Buttons Can Be Extremely Dear

This article was first published in The Daily Sentinel in 1976. It is summerizing a meeting of the Ohio Chapter of the APIC. It mentions members Dan McFarland and Ed Veleber. McFarland was the President of the Ohio chapter and Veleber was an member from New Jersey.

COLUMBUS (UPI) In 1900 supporters of William Jennings Bryan for president were giving away buttons with Bryan's picture on it. Monday the button could cost you $125 dollars. That's what a 1900 Bryan campaign button was selling for at the fall meeting of the Ohio American Political Items Collectors Saturday.

Monday, January 23, 2012

Collectors Archive: Terrorists Seek Political Buttons

This short article appeared in the Reading Eagle  on July, 21, 1972. It concerns terrorist demands for Nixon campaign buttons. This headline and story would be taken to a whole new level in the post 9/11 world. 


LOS ANGELES (UPI) Ransom demands are becoming almost commonplace, but this one was unusal. The terrorist demanded four Nixon campaign buttons.

A note slipped benith the door of a local headquarters for re-election of the President Thursday threatned to "destory the your headquarters with all the people in it" with TNT unless "two square buttons and two big round ones" were left outside after closing hours for ransom.

The note was signed "you know who."  Campaign workers said they did not know who. They did not say whether they left buttons.


What makes this story so sad is that Nixon buttons from 1972 are pretty much everywhere now. They were made by the thousands and given out in handfuls. Long after all human life is gone, Nixon Now pins will be picked up by alien explores and they'll toss them too! The Columbia Advertising Company was the official supplier for the Committee to Re-Elect The President. If you pay more than a dollar for one of these buttons....

Collectors Archive: Political items linked to Oregon intrigue a collector

Collectors Archive Posts share stories of collectors from Oregon and around the country that appeared in traditional media outlets. This first post is an article about long time Oregon collector John Gearhart. 

This was originally published in The Oregonian, Tuesday July 1, 2008 by Liz Dahl

 
For more than 40 years, John Gearhart has been collecting pieces of political history that traveled through Oregon.  "My brother had a McKinley button, and I swapped him for it," says Gearhart of his first button from the 1896 campaign of the 25th president. It was 1967, he recalls, and he had just been discharged from the Navy. His 14-year-old brother was delighted with the pocketknife he got in return.

Pictured Right:Delegate badge to the 1904 Republican National Convention for Oregonians who supported Theodore Roosevelt's second term as president

Welcome Oregon Political Collectors

This is, for the time being, the online home of the Oregon Political Items Collectors Chapter of the American Political Item Collectors/Conservators. If you live in Oregon and have a fondness of history and Politics, we want to hear from you.

On the sidebar you will see links to various online resources related to the hobby of political collecting. There are auction sites, sales sites, blogs that happen to post about political items and places in Oregon where you might be able to find political items at area antique shops and shows.

The Oregon chapter meets four times a year and you can join by becoming a member of the APIC.