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March, 2020  The Antique Shoppe   Page 27
                                                                                   valuing buttons, like condition,     BELOW:  William  Jennings  Bryan  ran
                                                                                                                        unsuccessfully  for  President  three  times.
           Political Parade                                                        scarcity and desirability.  Buttons   Small 1” picture campaign buttons like this
                                                                                   made in small quantities for
                                                                                                                        one sell for around $25 in great shape.
           By:  Michael McQuillen                                                  special events are going
                                                                                   to sell for more that
                                                                                   mass-produced                                               B.C.
                                                                                   buttons for                                          Q: emails:
           Spring is just around the                In to the Mailbag:             example.                                               Hi Michael!
        corner and with that arrival,                                              Keeping                                                 You always
        even more opportunities to hit               A.R. of Cincinnati e-mails:   all of that                                             write about
        outdoor antique shows and flea  Q: Recently my family and I                in mind,                                                campaign
        markets! With this column, I         were cleaning out my Grandfather’s    however,                                                buttons but
        am beginning my 28th year of         estate.  He was an accumulator of     I will tell                                             I seem to
        writing Political Parade and am      all kinds of things but not really a   you that the                                          remember
        excited to be continuing this fine   collector of anything if that makes   more common                                           you
        tradition.  On a personal note, in   sense.  When he passed away at        Bryan picture                                        mentioning
        addition to working with political   95 years old, he left a house full of   buttons in very                                 Police & Fire
        buttons and other historic           items including a 26 inch square      good condition inthat                          Badges in the past.
                                             Eisenhower picture campaign scarf
        collectibles professionally over     that pictures his and is a bright red   size are going to sell in the          Are badges cross-over items
        that time, I have had the honor      in color.  Is it rare and what’s the   $25 - $30 range.  I will remind     for political collectors? Am I
        to serve as an elected official      value?                                you that slight variations or        correct that you collect those as
        in Indianapolis for the past 14              While that particular         very unusual designs can sell for    well?
        years, first as a Township Board     A: scarf or bandanna is not           many multiples of that amount
        Member, and most recently for        really rare, it is a great vintage    - so a picture is always worth a            Thanks B.C.  What a
        12 years as a City-County               1950s campaign piece that          thousand words!                      A: great time to ask me
        Councillor. As of January                  would look great framed                                              that question.  Yes, I as well as
        1, I became “Joe                              on any collector’s wall.                                          many other political collectors
        Citizen” once                                       Average retail                                              like public safety badges in
        again and look                                       value - $40.                                               addition to our campaign
        forward to                                                                                                      button desires.  Your question
        having                                                                                                          is actually very timely, because
        more                                                        Q:                                                  as of the time of writing this
        time to                                                                                                         column, eBay has begun to
        spend                                                       J.E. of                                             stop the sales of practically
        on the                                                  Minneapolis,                                            ANY Police & Fire Badges on
        button side of                                       MN writes: Over                                            their site.  For some time there
        politics!                                         the years I have                                              has been a prohibition on the
           As the 2020                                 purchased a number            ABOVE: Most political collectors wouldn’t   selling of modern or current
        Presidential campaign                       of old political pin-backs     be overly excited about this Indianapolis City-  badges for obvious reasons,
        continues to fire-up,                     as I was a History Major in      County Council campaign button.  Especially   antique and obsolete badges
        there has been a noticeable            school, and have always had a       since  the  candidate  did  not  win  this  year!     were never prohibited, until
                                                                                   Retail value – about a buck!
        influx of new political collectors   fascination with Presidents and                                            now. eBay has begun removing
        entering the market.  This is a      Politics.  Most of the buttons I                                           almost all badges recently, citing
        trend that happens every four        have picture William Jennings                                              concerns about their misuse.
        years as campaign fever affects      Bryan who ran for President                                                This is a ridiculous justification
        our nation.                          three times and was never                                                  in my opinion as I cannot
        Political campaign debates,          elected.  I have over 30 of them                                           imagine anyone successfully
        rallies, fundraisers and other       that measure a little less than an                                         impersonating an office with a
        events will see the production       inch in diameter, and picture him                                          75 year-old badge. So, long story
        of countless buttons and items       with red, white and blue designs                                           short there is one less venue for
        for all of our favorite politicals   of flags and banners.  A few have                                          the selling of badges in our world
        and hopefuls and we move             silver backgrounds as well. Do                                             of collecting.
        towards finding out who will         you need to see pictures or are
        the “finalists” for the November     these all worth about the same                                             Michael McQuillen has been a full-time
        2020 election.                       amount? Thanks!                                                            dealer, collector and expert in the field of
           Please feel free to keep me               Bryan is a fascinating                                             Political Americana for 30 years. His column
                                                                                                                        Political Parade has appeared regularly in a
        posted on neat and notable           A: candidate to collect as                                                 number of antique & collectible publications
        items you find as the year           many of the items produced for                                             since 1992.   He invites readers to write or
        progresses and I will include        his campaigns were made during                                             email with any questions or suggestions.
                                                                                                                        Michael J. McQuillen can be reached by
        some of them in future columns.      the Golden Years of campaign                                               writing him directly at P. O. Box 50022,
        Have fun collecting!                 buttons.  A lot of factors go into                                         Indianapolis, Indiana 46250-0022, e-mail:
                                                                                                                        michael@politicalparade.com or through his
                                                                                                                        web-site:  www.PoliticalParade.com

        ABOVE: I Like Ike fans probably waved scarves like this colorful example at more than one
        political rally in the 1950s.  Retail value - $40.
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