Portland Made Humphrey Stickers

We have recently come across a green HHH sticker made in Portland, Oregon. For a long time we had known of the smaller blue HHH sticker. Many members have it in their collections. Both of these stickers have Portland, Oregon union stickers on the face. Pretty neat to find a second sticker.

The two stickers have different photos of HHH in them, but with the same slogan. Note that the different union bugs are position in the same location on each sticker. It makes me wonder why a photo of Humphrey and Muskie were not used on these stickers, even if the stickers mention both candidates.

Middle Aged Matrons

I recently picked up this great Eugene McCarthy bumper sticker. It was issued by the Benton Co. Committee for McCarthy. Middle Aged Matrons for McCarthy. I'm still trying to track down what Middle Aged Matrons is a reference to at the moment.

Another great Oregon item found! Special thanks to my friend Margaret who's sister found it in a box in Seattle and brought it back down with her this summer for me.

Helen Cannon Delegate Badge

While taking a trip to the Oregon coast this weekend I stumbled upon a few political items. In one shop, there were some very common 1960s-1970s local Oregon candidate and national presidential buttons. Lot's of Nixon's the One!, Morse, Packwood. Many of the typical pins you might find at antique shops across the state.

In the mix of all these pins was a badge and ribbon pictured below. Still trying to find out more details about Helen Cannon and what event the badge is from exactly. It could be from an Oregon Republican State Convention in 1968 or 1972.

 If you know what event these badges were used from, please leave a comment.

George Romney Dinner Ticket

This ticket from a fundraising dinner in 1967 to benefit Oregon House Republicans featured a keynote by Michigan Governor George Romney. It is noted in a longer article about Romney from the Owosso Argus-Press. The very end of the article mentions that a former Mark Hatfield aide is now working for Romney.

I picked this ticket up on a New Years Eve adventure in Salem. It was at one of the local antique shops. There is a quick blurb about the dinner it here (scroll down until you see PORTLAND)

25 dollars doesn't seem like much to attend a dinner with a potential presidential candidate a little under a year before the Oregon '68 primary. Then again, we only have current 'per plate' dinners to compare too.  Oregon APIC member John Silvertooth stated he was in the audience at the speech. I wonder if he can dig up any other memorabilia from the event.

Romney did not last long in the '68 race. He withdrew after weeks of problems associated with his 'brainwashed' comments regarding the Vietnam war. The first article linked mentions the comments and the start of the fallout from them.

He ended up withdrawing from the race before the first primary.

The Nixon-Hatfield Ticket

Possible 1968 GOP ticket buttons

Richard Nixon. Everyone knows the good, the bad and the ugly about him and his administration and how that is related to Watergate. Most Oregonians though are unaware that for a few days leading up to the 1968 Republican National Convention Nixon and top aides actually placed Oregon Senator Mark Hatifeld on a short list of eight people to be considered for the nomination of Vice President on the Republican ticket.

In the weeks and sometimes months before a political convention you can find some of the best 'fantasy ticket' items produced. A fantasy ticket or hypothetical ticket item is a political item bearing a ticket of a possible or favored party ticket prior to the selection of nominees from that party. Some fantasy tickets are highly plausible others are mostly just dream tickets. In 2004 a dream ticket of many was a Kerry-McCain ticket. McCain and Kerry were fellow Vietnam veterans and U.S. Senators that had been friends for many years. McCain teased the media for a few days saying he would seriously think about it if an offer was made from the Democratic Party. Of course, no offer ever did come from the party.

Reagan Campaigns in Oregon Birthday Edition

Former President Ronald Reagan turns 103 this year. 2014 marks the tenth year from his passing. He was the first U.S. President to pass away in the 21st century and it happened right during a presidential election. President Bush was overseas in Paris at the time and Democratic nominee John Kerry suspended his campaign until after the funeral. It was the first state funeral I had ever had the chance to see as it was happening. President Nixon was the last President to pass away during my lifetime and had refused a state funeral.

OR Reagan pin

My Reagan collection is very small, maybe not even 100 items. Reagan does manage to fit into several of my collecting interests. His gubernatorial items are always nice, as they fit into my celebrity political collection and then of course his Oregon items. Reagan was also the first President to visit a Star Trek set so that fits down into my Star Trek collection. Today we're going to focus on his Oregon campaign relics. APIC member Winston Blair I think has one of the most well documented modern Ronald Reagan collections.

It may be surprising to many that the same Oregon that voted twice for Barack Obama; for John Kerry; for Al Gore; twice for Bill Clinton and even gave 7 electoral votes for Micheal Dukakis also twice picked Ronald Reagan for President. It's been 28 years since Reagan won Oregon. He was the last national Republican to do so. George W. Bush has come the closest to carrying Oregon. He was 6700 some odd votes shy of beating Al Gore in 2000.

Collectors Archive: Spiro Items

This Collectors Archive comes from the files of the Bend Bulletin in Oregon. A UPI article with long time member Robert Fratkin. At the time, Fratkin was President of the APIC. This article originally appeared on Saturday, May 16, 1981.

Spiro 'king' of novelty collectors

BALTIMORE (UPI) - The name of former Vice President Spiro T. Agnew doesn't bring much cash among collector's of traditional political items, but when it comes novelties, Agnew is king. 
Robert Fratkin, head of the American Political Items Collectors, said Friday an en elephant shaped Jim Beam bottle with Agnew's name on it goes for $2,400, an Agnew "Dirty Time" watch brings $200, and a dancing clown with Agnew's face on it brings $100. 


"The Most interesting Agnew item, and one that has gone up considerably in value, is a dancing clown figure with Agnew's face, which is a chrome music box," he said. "Wind it up and the box plays 'It's Howdy Doody Time.' It's a very nice mechanical item." 

The first Agnew watches, similar to Mickey Mouse watches, were sold for $19.95 by a California company. The watches now sell for $100 in Baltimore and last month brought $200 at an auction in New York. The watches feature Agnew's face and hands and the slogan "Dirty Time Company." They are nearly as valuable as original Mickey Mouse watches, Fratkin said. 


The bourbon bottles are valuable because they are rare. Only 200 were made and were given away during 1970 Republican fundraisers.


A Maryland kickback scheme dating from the late 1960s forced Agnew from the vice presidency on Oct. 10, 1973.

Does anyone have any of the Agnew items today? Do they still command such high prices? He may still be someones hero if they can find a buyer.

Collectors Archive: Ferdinand O'Brien Collection Story

This Collectors Archive was featured in the Chicago Sun Times in 1968. It is about Chicago area collector Ferdinand O'Brien, who was at one time President of the APIC. 

Photo by Bob Kotalik

Cityscapes Section By David Anderson

No man has ever been elected President of the United States without a campaign button. They've all had them, every candidate from George Washington (a brass button with the initials, G.W.) to the late (politically) George Romney (a plastic, blue and white two-incher saying "Return to the Mainstream, Romney for President").

The labepls of Americans have sprouted campaign buttons in every election for 179 years. The buttons are a national quirk and just about necessary to a candidate as the political platform he runs on. Factories turn them out by the millions, yet they are collectors' items, like postage stamps, classic cars, coins and diamonds.

The button savers are even organized. Eleven hundered of them are members of an elite society called the American Political Item Collectors. They buy, they sell and they swap.

All His Buttons -15,000

The man with the biggest collection in Chicago is Ferdinand O'Brien, a slim, grayish-haired man of 60, who keeps half of his 15,000 button in his Sandburg Village apartment and the other half in a Loop bank vault. He is a former president of the APIC.

O'Brien, a coin collector for 20 years, switched from coins to buttons 10 years ago rather than fight the higher prices. He specialized in coins from 1793 to  1830 and he had about 12,000.

Right now you can find a photo of O'Brien with some of his prized collection in a 1968 photo on sale from a photo archive on ebay. It looks like he had a pretty good assortment. I don't know much more about O'Brien or where his collection ended up. If you have something that you acquired from him or know where his collection ended up let us know.

If it is being held at a university or library it is always good to try and get these institutions to put these massive collections on display for the public to enjoy or for collectors to arrange appointments to view in the archive setting.