Presidential Elections & the Value of Political Memorabilia

Travis Landry, Toy Department Director for Bruneau & Co. Auctioneers & RI Comic Con

Presidential Elections & the Value of Political Memorabilia

We are a little over a month away from deciding who the next President of the United States will be. During this indecisive period in time, political memorabilia skyrockets in value, and it doesn’t need to be George Washington’s nine-million-dollar copy of the Constitution, either. Outside of the ephemera aspect of collecting political memorabilia, hats, pens, buttons, and essentially anything with a presidential seal or logo is collectible. One of the most saved collectibles for the novice collector would be a White House souvenir pen.

On average, a well-cared for example, with a box, sells for $30 to $60, with only certain Presidents’ era items demanding a premium. Along with pens, campaign pins are highly collected; from the two dollar 2016 election buttons to the $26,000 Cox and Roosevelt button, all campaign pins are coveted for a price. Even pins of modern day past presidents are rising in value. Pins from the 60s, 70s, and early 80s are now selling for hundreds; Jimmy Carter campaign buttons can sell for between two and three hundred dollars for the right variant. Campaign button collecting doesn’t end with presidents, but even pins such as Rhode Island’s Buddy Cianci for Governor button can be worth $30 to $50 dollars. 

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Aside from the Presidents themselves, memorabilia related to the First Ladies can be extremely rare. Besides being a very influential first lady, Eleanor Roosevelt was a founding member of the Val-Kill furniture company. Roosevelt had founded the company with friends Nancy Cook and Marion Dickerman. The three women oversaw the production of fine wooden furniture, metal wares, and decorative arts until 1936. Today on the secondary market, Val-Kill furniture and decorative wares can be worth thousands of dollars. 

Election 2016 Memorabilia 

With Hillary Clinton being the first female Democratic nominee for president, a new collectible could potentially be born with the first “first” man. Bill Clinton would not only just be the “first gentleman”, but the first president to ever be the “first gentleman”, which sounds like a nice scenario for some historically significant objects to be created for the future. If Clinton collecting doesn’t sit well with your political side, then don’t worry because Donald Trump makes an interesting candidate for future collectables, too. The real estate and business mogul’s collection of past and current businesses from casinos to vineyards has produced some interesting merchandise for people to appreciate in the near future. Regardless of whom you cast your vote for this November it wouldn’t hurt to pick up a Clinton button or Trump ashtray for the future.

This article was written by Travis Landry, Toy Department Director and Specialist for Bruneau & Co. Auctioneers and Rhode Island Comic Con in part of an ongoing content series with GoLocal.

Comic Con 2015

Lou Ferrigno and Mayor Jorge Elorza cut the ribbon with lightsabers and open up Comic Con 2015.

Jessica Rabbit (right) from Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

Captain Marvel in attendance

The Punisher took time out of his busy schedule to attend RI Comic Con.

Rapunzle from Tangled

Interesting costume

Heavy Star Wars presence at Comic Con with The Force Awakens just over one month away. Hugs for Chewbacca.

Deadpool took a break from filming his upcoming movie to come to RI Comic Con.

Raven from the DC Superhero team, The Teen Titans.

Someone let Scarecrow out of Arkham Asylum. Don't let him inject you with his fear toxin.

Bounty Hunters made their way from the Star Wars galaxy.

Hatsune Miku

Dynerays Targarian

Darth Vader was at Comic Con hunting Luke Skywalker.

Fans take thier costumes seriously, lots of effort put into this one.

She looks evil

DC Comics had a heavy presence as always. From left to right is Wonder Woman, Batman, Harley Quinn and Batman.

Hellboy made it to Comic Con

Rhode Island Comic Con was a success in 2015

Some of the more interesting costumes at Comic Con.

The NiRoPe brothers from Cardis showed up.

Lots of photo opportunities with all kinds of characters. Including unicorns.

A Pirate took a break from sailing the seas

Back to the Future anyone?  The Delorean

Security please

Deadpool costumes are always popular, especially now with the movie in production.

Skeleton hands, eyeballs, a knife and more on this costume. Very creative.

Thor took a break from protecting Asgard to come and help protect RI Comic Con.

With Suicide Squad coming out early next year, Harley Quinn was a popular costume at RI Comic Con

A Dalek from Dr. Who

 

Editor's Note: GoLocal mistakenly identified this as a Droid from Star Wars - we apologize for the error.

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann

Beware the Court of Owls.

A creepy faceless costume.

The Joker and Harley Quinn. Two characters that will be featured in the Suicide Squad movie.

Cruella Daville andher friends.

It's the Mario Brothers. Two Mario's, a Luigi and Toad tagging along.

Roman from RWBY and Amy from Sonic.

RWBY is a web series and it stands for Ruby,Weiss, Blake and Yang.

Captain America, Gambit (fom X-Men) and The Winter Soldier

A creepy scene.

Chewbacca, Princess Leia and Han Solo inside the Millinium Falcon ready to make the jump to light speed.

Despite Carrie Fisher dropping out last minute, her character was well represented at Comic Con. Lots of excitement for upcoming Star Wars movie.

The imperial Storm Troopers were present at Comic Con searching for Jedi Knights.

Deadpool haning out with Spider-Man and Spider-Man wearing an alternate Spidey suit.

Another busy vendor floor at Comic Con. Cool Comics, T-shirts, toys, video games and more.

Fans bring all kinds of costumes to Comic Con from all different genera's.

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