4 Most Popular Types of Political Memorabilia

Suzie Ryu

2016’s contentious political campaigns and the candidates’ saturation TV ads will soon be history, but collectors will see to it that the memorabilia left behind lives to see another day. Presidential campaign mementos – the signs, banners, buttons, hats and other ephemera produced to publicize candidates and fire up voters – rank among the few things besides rocks and bottles that collectors can pick up for free. In fact, there are diehard collectors who, like Deadheads, go from city to city following campaigners and collecting free memorabilia printed or manufactured specifically for a particular region.

When, exactly, did political items become collectible, and which categories are rising the fastest in value? We asked two of the hobby’s top experts – Hake’s Americana founder Ted Hake and the company’s Americana specialist, Scott Mussell – to name the four most popular categories of political memorabilia and to share their insights on each of them.

Campaign Buttons

James M. Cox/FDR jugate button depicting the Democratic running mates from the presidential/vice-presidential election of 1920. Estimated value: $25,000+. Image courtesy of Hake’s Americana

The large-scale commercial production of campaign buttons began in 1896. Today, buttons have the largest following of all the various types of political memorabilia.

“Collectors like them because they’re small and easy to display,” said Hake, who authored his first edition of the groundbreaking reference The Encyclopedia of Political Buttons in 1974.

“They’re high-end artworks in a small format. You get a lot of bang for the buck,” Mussell observed. “Some buttons have sold for $100,000 or more, but many nice, early examples can be purchased very inexpensively. For instance, you can get colorful 1896 McKinley or Bryan buttons for as little as $15 to $20. Tons of them were made because they were a novelty at the time.”

Hake and Mussell say the best way to stay on top of the market for campaign buttons is to study auction prices realized, attend shows, and view fellow hobbyists’ collections.

Textiles and Flags

1860 parade flag “For President, Abram Lincoln For Vice President, Hannibal Hamlin,” was sold by Hake’s Americana on July 12, 2016 for $31,625. The exemplary 11 x 17-inch glazed-cotton flag is considered special because of its visually pleasing star pattern and the unintentional misspelling of Lincoln’s first name. Image courtesy of Hake’s Americana

There’s a long tradition of textiles in political campaigns. In addition to flags, which are highly desirable, the category also includes banners, handkerchiefs, bandannas and ribbons.

“Every campaign until the 1900s has had flags, but it’s harder for a beginning collector to get into them because even a reasonably priced flag could cost you $2,500,” Mussell said. “The really big money is in the earlier ones, from before the 1884 campaign.”

The greatest prize a textile collector might aspire to own is a Lincoln campaign flag, from either the 1860 or 1864 campaign. But it won’t come cheaply. A private sale in excess of $150,000 has been confirmed. Nevertheless, collectors should never give up the search, as a treasure could appear where you least expect it. In the 1980s at a local auction in the Midwest, a lucky buyer purchased an antique quilt whose backing was composed entirely of campaign flags, including Lincoln flags. The quilt was carefully dismantled so the flags could be salvaged.

Posters

William McKinley ‘Prosperity’ color litho poster produced for the incumbent president’s 1900 re-election campaign. Estimated value: $10,000-$20,000. Image courtesy of Hake’s Americana

Graphic campaign posters date back to the 1840s, but the golden age for this sort of ephemera was 1888 to 1908. Many beautiful lithographed posters were created in support of William Jennings Bryan’s candidacy against William McKinley in 1896 and 1900, Hake noted.

In the 1930s, campaign poster art entered a new era when artists started to design them. A trailblazer in the political poster field, “social realist” Ben Shahn, designed posters from the Franklin D. Roosevelt period through the 1968 Eugene McCarthy campaign. Roy Lichtenstein designed a Bill Clinton poster, and, of course, there was the famous Shepard Fairey “Hope” poster with an image of Barack Obama. The poster’s artwork became the focus of a 2009 legal dispute in which Fairey sued the Associated Press for claiming he had infringed on their photo copyright. [n.b. – The suit was settled out of court, with neither side disclosing the terms or surrendering its view of the law.]

“The ‘Hope’ poster became an icon that transcends politics and moves into the art world,” Hake said. “I’m waiting for art buyers to discover the incredible artistic qualities of political buttons in the same way they’ve discovered the posters.”

Pricewise, the high end for political campaign posters is in excess of $30,000.

Pre-1896 Campaign Buttons and Related Items

Those who collect only pre-1896 political memorabilia clamor for items such as this clothing button commemorating George Washington’s inauguration in 1789. It is inscribed ‘Long Live The President.’ Estimated value: approximately $3,000. Image courtesy of Hake’s Americana

There seems to be a line drawn in the sand that separates campaign materials produced before and after 1896. There are many collectors who want only the earlier, pre-1896 pieces that were not mass-produced. That would include pre-pinback buttons.

“When the pinback button came along in 1896, there was no obvious metal except on the back. You had a round button with a photo under celluloid,” Hake said. “Up until that time, campaign badges were ferrotypes with photographic emulsion on metal, or they were cardboard with a metal frame.”

The auction record for a pre-1896 political badge is $47,800, which was paid for an 1864 Abraham Lincoln/Andrew Johnson shield-shape ferrotype.

Of the current crop of campaign buttons they’ve seen, Hake and Mussell agree that the Donald Trump “crazy hair” pin is their favorite. “From the Jimmy Carter campaign onward, only a handful of buttons from each candidate has remained desirable,” Mussell said. It’s having the foresight to predict which buttons – and other campaign material – will hold their value that makes collecting political memorabilia so much fun.

Tipped to become a classic collectible from the 2016 presidential campaign, a Donald Trump ‘crazy hair’ button, which has an estimated value of $20-$50. Image courtesy of Hake’s Americana

There are endless educational and networking opportunities available through the American Political Items Collectors (APIC), Mussell said. “There are more than 2,000 members, including US presidents, Members of Congress, museum curators, campaign staffers and journalists. There’s a high level of access within the group.”

Click to view and bid on high-quality political memorabilia on LiveAuctioneers.