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Political Collectibles -- History of Campaign Buttons
Guest Author Ron Wade 
In a time when people think of a Nixon button as being an antique, you might expect that political campaign buttons or pins are a modern device, conceived by some media representative to boost name recognition. As a result, it comes as a surprise to many that George Washington wore the first political button in 1789 at his first Inauguration in New York. He, and many present, wore buttons, but these buttons were clothing buttons made of brass and proudly reading "G.W.-Long Live the President", modeling the phrase "Long live the King." Clothing-type buttons continued to be used by citizens in a very young United States, oftentimes with the name of a hero like Andrew Jackson conservatively placed on the reverse side of the button. Since most campaigns for the Presidency didn't involve active campaigns, as we know them today, political memorabilia for the early Presidents consisted of the buttons and silk ribbons.
For the rest of this article please see:
http://collectibles.about.com/library/weekly/aa102602a.htm
Political Collectibles -- Lithograph Buttons
Guest Author Ron Wade
Another 20 years or so passed before a two-piece button was created with just one single piece of metal used with the lithograph printing made directly on the metal piece and the same type pin used on the reverse. These are still in use but the cost of initial setup for production of "litho" pins is such that these pins are produced when a run of thousands of buttons is needed. Celluloid buttons can be produced far less expensively when only a small run is needed, such as for a local headquarters.
For the rest of this article please see:
http://collectibles.about.com/library/weekly/aa102602b.htm
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