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About fifteen years ago I turned on the radio. "President Reagan will be going in for surgery shortly, doctors announced today. The stock market dived on the news." What? The president's polyps dictated stock prices? Also in the Reagan years, the space shuttle Challenger exploded, and the market dived again. Stock prices can seem awfully mysterious, when events that seemingly have little to do with American corporations can cause market averages to gyrate wildly.
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Button prices can also seem mysterious. They can rise and fall with the years, and even by the season of the year. Further, dealers seemingly can disagree sharply over what a button is worth. Take the Nixon-Agnew jugate pictured here. An antique dealer may have it priced at $10. A button ad in the Bandwagon may list it at $2. You try to order it from the Bandwagon ad, but it has already sold. You then bid on it at auction, and purchase it for $4. So what is the button worth--$2, $4, or $10?
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Or take this 1900 Republican jugate. At the Akron, Ohio Americana show I saw this button for sale from one dealer for $32, while another had it priced at $22. A pretty big difference, percentage-wise! Why this difference? Why do button prices seem to vary widely from one dealer to another, whether auctioneer, antique dealer, or the proprietor of a table at a show?
First, what may be the most obvious answer. Button prices sometimes vary because of the condition of the item. It would not be uncommon for the above McKinley button to go for $30 in excellent condition, or $15 in foxed condition. While every dealer and every collector has different attitudes about condition and how it should affect price, it is clear that the most serious flaws such as splits in the front celluloid, dark water stains, or prominent foxing, do bring the value of buttons down quickly. This is one thing antique store dealers, especially, never seem to understand. Antique dealers will often look up a button like the McKinley jugate in a price guide, see it listed at perhaps $25, and immediately put that price on it—never mind that McKinley has a deep gash across his face.
Other reasons button prices vary from dealer to dealer? For one thing, each dealer's price will reflect in some way the price he or she paid for the item. The dealer who overpays a bit for a certain item, will probably end up charging the customer at least a little more than the going rate. Conversely, the dealer who gets a good deal on a given button will likely pass at least some of the savings on to the customer. These fluctuations tend to average out to a happy medium. A typical dealer will have some items priced above the hobby average, and some items priced below.
At shows, dealers may have items priced high so they have room to reduce the price. Customers at collectibles shows feel it is their right to have the dealer reduce the price by at least 10%. Thus most dealers mark up their prices by about 10% so they have room to come down. This is true of antique stores as well. There may be some variations however. One dealer may have a "firm price" policy and his marked prices may be lower. Another dealer may enjoy "giving" the customer 25% off, but his prices are definitely higher to start with. Fixed price lists, whether printed or on the Internet, usually are fixed price—that is, haggling over prices is not the practice.
Over the years, button prices tend to go up and down. Prices have traditionally been highest just after a presidential election, when hundreds of new collectors enter the hobby. Prices may be lower in the spring of "off years," with no election to stir people's interest. Prices can drop during an economic downturn, as collectors worry about their own economic future and spend less on their hobby.
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Prices also vary by collector interest. Right now, for example, there is no hotter field in the political hobby than woman suffrage items. The stamp pictured here might have gone for $12 a few years ago; now prices of $25-$30 are not uncommon. Even plain suffrage buttons that just say "Votes for Women" (unidentified as to date or place) often top one or two hundred dollars. For several years now Eugene Debs and Teddy Roosevelt have been two extremely popular candidates. Items for Herbert Hoover and Michael Dukakis seem to languish, and there are some great bargains out their for some of these "not hot" candidates. Of course by the year 2004 Hoover and Dukakis may have their day in the sun.
One of the flattest collecting areas for many years has been the pre-1896 items, especially ribbons and tokens. I can't help but believe the best prices in the hobby (for the buyer) are items for Henry Clay, Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, and other 19th century candidates. It always strikes me as odd to see a 20th century button go for $2500, when you could buy an extremely rare George Washington inaugural clothing button for barely over $1000. At $400 or so, photographic pins (ferrotypes) from the 1860 election also seem like a real bargain. Attractive William Henry Harrison ribbons from 1840, with a picture of the candidate, can be had for around $150. And these items are more than 150 years old!
Data from Hake's Encyclopedia of Political Buttons updates confirms these trends. Between 1984 and 1991 prices for Teddy Roosevelt items increased about 390%, Socialist Party items increased 402%, yet items for Al Smith increased only 155% and Adlai Stevenson items by only 122%. Hake's updates show the least appreciation for early items. George Washington items are up only 77%, and Andrew Jackson items 76%. Abraham Lincoln items do a little better, up 173%, but poor Horatio Seymour saw his items advance only 58%.
Items have upward and downward trends not only by era and candidate, but also by medium. Pinback buttons remain the favorite, especially jugates, followed by single picture buttons. Cellos tend to be favored over lithos, and lithos over tabs. Studs and ribbons lag a bit behind the buttons, with paper items behind that. Of course a graphic and colorful poster may excite a lot of interest, but only the truly historically-minded collector will spend much money on an unillustrated pamphlet.
Many a savvy collector has a lot of fun, and builds a strong collection relatively easily and cheaply, by specializing in things other collectors bypass. Some of these areas might include 20th century jewelry, bumper stickers, or 19th century copper tokens.
How much attention should we all be paying to price? I once heard a coin dealer advise a beginner not to think of his collection as an investment. If it were easy to make money by investing in coins, he explained, a lot more people would be doing it, and a lot more coin dealers would be retiring at age 45. The best way to collect coins or political items is undoubtedly to buy the things you like, and to study and learn from the things you purchase. Probably the best goal is to be careful enough about prices to ensure you're not being reckless with your money—not paying more than the average going price within the hobby.
Enjoy!
| © 1997 by Stephen Cresswell |