More of this Feature • History of Campaign Buttons • Lithograph Buttons • Getting Started • About Ron Wade

Related Resources • Collecting a Piece of History • Political Memorabilia Links

From Other Guides • PoliticalFest Photo Gallery • Hail to the Chief

Elsewhere on the Web • Ron Wade Buttons

How do you become a collector of campaign buttons? I started out in 1960 at age 9 years old at our little county fair in Gilmer, Texas with my first 2 buttons. It was the famous Kennedy-Nixon campaign, when my dad and I came across a vendor selling big Nixon campaign buttons for $1. As a die-hard Nixon fan, I just had to have one. But down the street was a little booth for Kennedy. I was too embarrassed to be seen at a Democrat booth, so I made my dad go get one of the lithograph campaign buttons with the photos of Kennedy and Johnson on it! By the age of 18, when Nixon was again seeking the presidency, I had accumulated hundreds of buttons and all the other things political collectors collect -- bumper stickers, posters, brochures, etc.

Most collectors begin because they are working in a campaign and pick up a few items at headquarters. Then they go on to buy in auctions, flea markets, or more so now on online auctions like ebay.com or websites like my own, http://ronwadebuttons.com.

I've always advised new collectors to get more than one, if possible, to trade the extra for something else you need should the opportunity arise. You can collect on a shoestring spending little or nothing or you can collect big-time. One well-known collector spent over $100,000. for one of the rarest political campaign buttons for the 1920 election. The button for James Cox is valuable for a number of reasons. Very few are known to exist and Cox's Vice Presidential nominee was a young man named Franklin D. Roosevelt. All Cox-Roosevelt buttons with their photo likenesses on them are valuable if in good condition. And condition is everything in the hobby. A $10,000 button with big water spots might not bring $50 within the hobby. Scratches, spots, discoloring or cuts all diminish the value of a button.

Texas Ranger Seal Pin Valued at $14.

When the campaigns and elections are going on visit your local headquarters to get started. Perhaps that local button produced in your hometown by the local labor union for a candidate will become that next valuable button!

Images Courtesy of Ron Wade, (c)2002