Political Badges Valuable

Save the political “stuff” that is already available for the next Presidential election. The Merrill Berman collection of political Americana was sold by Heritage Auctions in four sales, the first in February 2015. Top lot was a set of buckles with ferrotype pictures showing the four sets of presidential and vice presidential candidates in the 1860 election. They were Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin (Republican), Stephen Douglas and Herschel Johnson (Democratic), John Breckinridge and Joseph Lane (Southern Democratic), and John Bell and Edward Everett (Constitutional Union).The set of 1-inch-wide buckles sold for $58,750. It was the first year badges were made with photographs. Look online for the third sale, September 26, 2015.