ATDigger
Senior Member
I've been working a new place on and off for the past couple of weeks. It's been pretty good to me and I'm getting close to posting a final tally, but this one couldn't wait.
Last time I was there, I dug this interesting tin badge.
I figured it was some sort of kid's item, considering the thin construction. However, when I got home and cleaned it up, I could make out the words "for president" and a date - 1864.
I thought "Holy Cr*p! Is it a pin from the 1864 presidential election?" So I jumped online and did some research. There didn't seem to be too much available, until I found this photo:
Sure enough, I was correct - it was a campaign jugate from the 1864 Lincoln-McClellan presidential election. After more research, I discovered that one company had produced two styles of the same campaign pinback for the election - one for the Lincoln-Johnson ticket and one for the McClellan-Pendelton ticket.
Both included tiny tin-type photos of the candidates (apparently only the second time photos had been used in a campaign). Now here's the kicker... according to a couple of sources, only a few of these are known to exist (see links - http://historical.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=6092&lotIdNo=1031 & http://legendaryauctions.com/LotDetail.aspx?inventoryid=33641) and they have sold for $5000 to $47,800!!!!
Now granted, those were in great shape with the photos, but hey, it's still pretty freakin cool - wouldn't you say?
Oh yeah, and did I mention...
*
*
I found four of them!
As always, thanks for looking!!
*
Last time I was there, I dug this interesting tin badge.
I figured it was some sort of kid's item, considering the thin construction. However, when I got home and cleaned it up, I could make out the words "for president" and a date - 1864.
I thought "Holy Cr*p! Is it a pin from the 1864 presidential election?" So I jumped online and did some research. There didn't seem to be too much available, until I found this photo:
Sure enough, I was correct - it was a campaign jugate from the 1864 Lincoln-McClellan presidential election. After more research, I discovered that one company had produced two styles of the same campaign pinback for the election - one for the Lincoln-Johnson ticket and one for the McClellan-Pendelton ticket.
Both included tiny tin-type photos of the candidates (apparently only the second time photos had been used in a campaign). Now here's the kicker... according to a couple of sources, only a few of these are known to exist (see links - http://historical.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=6092&lotIdNo=1031 & http://legendaryauctions.com/LotDetail.aspx?inventoryid=33641) and they have sold for $5000 to $47,800!!!!
Now granted, those were in great shape with the photos, but hey, it's still pretty freakin cool - wouldn't you say?
Oh yeah, and did I mention...
*
*
I found four of them!
As always, thanks for looking!!
*