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How to Date Vintage Tin Pinback Lapel Buttons

Vintage pinback lapel buttons made from metals are collectible as historical items or fashion trends. Pinback buttons touted products as well as political parties or candidates. According to Mark Lansdown in a Collectors Weekly interview, pinback buttons were an inexpensive way to advertise. They were giveaways and awards that advertised for the business, similar to the current trend of free T-shirts with advertising. Pinback buttons were a clever advertising technique.

Things You'll Need

Magnifying glass

Instructions

- 1
  Identify the material used to make the pinback button. The material often dates the pinback. Celluloid pinback buttons were common up until 1940 and had a large share of the pinback market. Metal pinbacks with lithographs were available during and after celluloid. Early tin lithos date from about 1888 to the present. The celluloid pinback disappeared with the improved lithography methods, according to Lansdown. Metal toys and pinback buttons were tin lithographs through the first half of the 20th century. Tin litho toys decreased with plastic production; the tin lithograph pinback lives on.
- 2
  Identify the style of the design as an indication of the date of the pinback. Art deco style with geometric designs was popular in the 1920's and again in the 1950's. Art nouveau with scrolls and sweeping designs was popular from about 1900 to 1920. The style of clothing shown in a pinback can help identify the age of the pin.
- 3
  Look at the advertising. Coke, for example, has changed the style of the logo letters and the "real thing" tagline several times.
  
  Check the advertising content. Political buttons date to the years the candidate was popular or ran for office. Availability of advertising buttons ran concurrently with the years of the business activity. Some of the advertised businesses had limited years in business, and the pinback production would have occurred in that time span.
- 4
  Look for the union label and the company that made the pinback button. Open back tin pinback buttons often have a maker name and union label in tiny print at the rounded edge. Manufacturers were only in business for certain years, so it is possible to date the pinback to the years the maker was in business.
- 5
  Check the patent number, printed on some lapel pinbacks. Search the United States Patent Office database to find the date of the granting of the patent. This is not necessarily the date of the pinback, but it gives the date of the patent. The pinback was likely available after the patent date unless it is marked "patent pending."

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