Little Pieces of Politics, Some Obscure, Lure Collectors
Over the next few weeks, Carl Toepel will send out letters, along with a donation of at least $2, to every major-party candidate for the United States Senate.
And while other people might write expressing views on the Iraq war or the economy, Dr. Toepel will have just one request: A campaign button, maybe a bumper sticker, even a pencil with the candidate’s name. Just something.
“I don’t know that I will say I’m a collector,” said Dr. Toepel, a 69-year-old retired elementary school principal from Sheboygan, Wis. “That I don’t emphasize. They might think that’s odd.”
Perhaps, but here in the ballroom of the Riviera Hotel & Casino at the 2008 American Political Items Collectors National Convention, Dr. Toepel has no such fear. He is joined by about 300 fellow aficionados who understand the appeal of gathering, studying and selling memorabilia related to politicians and who empathize with his frustration over owning items from every current senator but two. (Senators David Vitter, Republican of Louisiana, and John Barrasso, Republican of Wyoming, are missing.)
Organizers say the biennial conference is particularly energized in this groundbreaking political year. Even stalwart Republicans acknowledge that items related to Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, may become especially valuable if he is elected because he would be the first black in the office. A button, for instance, issued at Mr. Obama’s campaign kickoff in February 2007 sold for $150 on Monday, the first day of the gathering, which ends Thursday.
Even hobbyists opposed to Mr. Obama’s candidacy hope he inspires young people to collect. Mr. Obama’s likely opponent, Senator John McCain of Arizona, is not drawing the same excitement; 22 members attended a meeting Wednesday to form an Obama specialty chapter, but two showed up for a McCain effort.
“I’d like to see people buying inexpensive $2 Obama buttons today, hopefully 10 years from now become interested in Teddy Roosevelt or F.D.R. or J.F.K. and maybe 20 years from now they’ll be interested in Washington and Lincoln,” said Rex Stark of Gardner, Mass., a collectibles dealer who sold a John Adams snuff box for more than $5,000 at the show. “That would be a good thing.”
Indeed, many collectors say a brush in their youth with a certain political figure or his legacy translated into a lifelong passion...
Read entire article at NYT
And while other people might write expressing views on the Iraq war or the economy, Dr. Toepel will have just one request: A campaign button, maybe a bumper sticker, even a pencil with the candidate’s name. Just something.
“I don’t know that I will say I’m a collector,” said Dr. Toepel, a 69-year-old retired elementary school principal from Sheboygan, Wis. “That I don’t emphasize. They might think that’s odd.”
Perhaps, but here in the ballroom of the Riviera Hotel & Casino at the 2008 American Political Items Collectors National Convention, Dr. Toepel has no such fear. He is joined by about 300 fellow aficionados who understand the appeal of gathering, studying and selling memorabilia related to politicians and who empathize with his frustration over owning items from every current senator but two. (Senators David Vitter, Republican of Louisiana, and John Barrasso, Republican of Wyoming, are missing.)
Organizers say the biennial conference is particularly energized in this groundbreaking political year. Even stalwart Republicans acknowledge that items related to Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, may become especially valuable if he is elected because he would be the first black in the office. A button, for instance, issued at Mr. Obama’s campaign kickoff in February 2007 sold for $150 on Monday, the first day of the gathering, which ends Thursday.
Even hobbyists opposed to Mr. Obama’s candidacy hope he inspires young people to collect. Mr. Obama’s likely opponent, Senator John McCain of Arizona, is not drawing the same excitement; 22 members attended a meeting Wednesday to form an Obama specialty chapter, but two showed up for a McCain effort.
“I’d like to see people buying inexpensive $2 Obama buttons today, hopefully 10 years from now become interested in Teddy Roosevelt or F.D.R. or J.F.K. and maybe 20 years from now they’ll be interested in Washington and Lincoln,” said Rex Stark of Gardner, Mass., a collectibles dealer who sold a John Adams snuff box for more than $5,000 at the show. “That would be a good thing.”
Indeed, many collectors say a brush in their youth with a certain political figure or his legacy translated into a lifelong passion...