

These are more expensive to produce than button pins, and as such, are mostly used for business, military uses, or as a fashion statement piece. The closure mechanism on the back of the pin can come in a number of looks, and either has one or multiple pin-backs depending on the designer’s size and preference. Certain parts of the creation process and materials used will determine how the pin appears (e.g., smooth, matte, dimpled, etc.). They are smaller than button pins with general sizes ranging from.

These pins are usually made out of two main elements, and those are plated metal of your choice and enamel paint. This article is going to briefly highlight the most significant differences. The uses for each are unique, and so are the pros and cons of choosing one over the other. They also have different uses as enamel is usually seen as sturdier and is used for things like military badges, while button pins are more temporary as they do not hold up as well over time.įor anyone new to collecting or trading them, there are multiple distinctions between button pins and enamel pins that go beyond the appearance and materials used. What is the difference between an enamel pin and a button pin? The primary differences are the appearance, materials used, and mechanism for keeping it in place. They are both designed to be worn on clothing. The fasteners are also different as buttons usually have safety-pin-like catches, and enamel pins look more like earring backs. The creation process sets these two kinds of pins apart. At the last Presidential election Obama buttons outstripped demand.Enamel pins are stamped on metal or plastic and then painted over, while button pins usually consist of an image coated in a plastic layer, backed by metal. ~ From Beatle's mania, "Let John and Yoko Stay" campaigns through the peace and antinuclear movements buttons have been used for good (and bad) causes more and more each year since 1787.
BUTTON PINS SERIES
Roosevelt.ġ945 Kelloggs introduce buttons in cereal boxes as a collector series to boost sales. He's idea used celluloid over photography to protect the image.ġ896 Whitehead & Hoag patent a design using a metal pin incorporated in their design.ġ898 Pin-back buttons used in advertising by chewing gum and tobacco companies.ġ940 During the presidential campaign Wendell Willkie's camp uses millions of lithographed slogan buttons to respond to news items regarding his opponent President Franklin D. The original was a stamp for wax but the image was later reproduced by Wedgewood as a porcelain cameo.ġ789 Buttons with campaign slogans, on pendants or sewn to the lapel, were used by George Washington's supporters in US elections.ġ860 Campaign buttons incorporating photography used by Abraham Lincoln's campaign.ġ893 First patent registered by Benjamin S. This is believed to be the first use of a slogan on a product and a forerunner of todays polical campaign button. History of pin-back buttons.ġ787 Josiah Wedgewood of the Wedgewood pottery dynasty orders the production of "the kneeling African" depicting a slave in chains and uses the slogan "Am I not a man and a brother" to promote the British anti-slavery movement to the House of Commons. A button can be the weapon of the oppressed or a quiet form of passive resistance. A button is a small canvas for ordinary people to express themselves. You can comment on issues on a day to day basis and sit on the subway a month later and see someone wearing your message. A button maker is having your own printing press. A button is a messaging tool, a person to person communications device. The first design for a pin-back button in the United States was patented in 1896, and contemporary buttons have many of the same design features.īut I think Wikipedia doesn't really clinch it. The word is commonly associated with a campaign button used in the United States and abroad during a political campaign. This fastening mechanism is anchored to the back side of a button-shaped metal disk, either flat or concave, which leaves an area on the front of the button to carry an image or printed message.

Wikipedia: A pin-back button or pinback button, pin button, button badge or simply pin-back, is a button or badge that can be temporarily fastened to the surface of a garment using a safety pin, or a pin formed from wire, a clutch or other mechanism.
