My Presidential Hobby Is a Real ‘Hot Button’ in My Life

With Presidents Day here, I thought I would tell you about an interesting hobby I have -- collecting Presidential Campaign Buttons.

I know it may seem kind of strange -- most kids usually collect baseball cards, which I did, but I also found the political campaign process very fascinating.

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It started with a few Nixon/Agnew buttons from the 1968 race that lead to other buttons from the ’72 campaign. About 15 years ago, I picked up where I left off, and thanks to online dealers, managed to fill in all the gaps dating back to the first celluloid buttons from 1896.

Some of the most expensive and rare buttons come from the presidential campaigns during the '20s. A button from the 1920 presidential election was sold recently for $15,100 on eBay. It featured a photo of James M. Cox (the Democratic nominee) and Franklin D Roosevelt (the Vice Presidential candidate).

The seller found that rare button at an estate sale and perhaps didn’t know its real value until he posted it on eBay. It was first posted with an opening bid of $10. But many collectors were interested in it, and a week later, it was sold for $15,100.

Now basically the hobby is not going to cost you an arm and a leg like some hobbies, unless of course you really want some of those hard to find buttons. For the most part, you can pick up some of the buttons you'll need to put together a nice collection for between $5 and $10 dollars, of course a few of the vintage ones will cost you more, but it's probably worth it since most buttons will usually appreciate in value.

Here's a pictorial look and quick explanation of the history of the political button.