A campaign button lapel pin promoting the presidential campaign of future 18th U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885), attributed to the Scovill Manufacturing Company (Waterbury, Connecticut), ca. 1868. The button is comprised of a black and white tintype portrait of Grant at the center recto set within a round brass frame adorned with decorative loops. "[Pat.] Appd For" appears on the pin back. Expected wear including an isolated surface loss to the tintype image. A spot of verdigris affects part of the pin back. Otherwise extremely attractive, with a rich patina. The button measures .875" diameter; it measures 1.25" wide at its widest part including the safety clasp prong.

Ulysses S. Grant accepted the Republican Party presidential nomination in May 1868. Grant hoped to use his post-Civil War popularity to unite Reconstruction-era America under one banner. Grant's running mate as vice president was Indiana Congressman and sitting Speaker of the House Schuyler Colfax. At the November 3, 1868 presidential election, Grant and Colfax handily defeated the Democratic Party candidates, New York Governor Horatio Seymour and former Missouri Congressman Francis Preston Blair, Jr., by a popular vote of 52.7% and 214 Electoral College votes. The 1868 presidential election was the first national election held after slavery was abolished. The election was thus impacted by two specific demographic trends; the first-time voting of freed blacks, newly enfranchised; and the voting ineligibility of former Confederate states resisting Reconstruction (Texas, Virginia, Mississippi.)

The Scovill Manufacturing Company was incorporated in 1850, after first being founded in 1802 in Waterbury, Connecticut as a manufacturer of sewing hardware and buttons. By 1850, Scovill had expanded its manufacturing to include coin blanks, lighting, munitions, and even camera equipment. An identical example of this U.S. Grant 1868 presidential campaign pin can be found in the collection of the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation (Dearborn, Michigan.)

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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