Funny Birds

Cartoon bird in blue, red, and white with yellow beak and feet.  Blue text on white background.

This advertising novelty was produced in the early 1900s by the Whitehead & Hoag Co. (W&H). The button manufacturer was incorporated in 1892 by Benjamin Whitehead and Chester Hoag—two business men that had been fortunate enough to secure three major button patents before 1896, the year in which demand for buttons had skyrocketed. Before W&Hs' patents expired and the proliferation of the small printing press, the company was the world's largest button manufacturer. W&H was sold to a long-time competitor, Bastion Bros. Co., in 1959.  The same year its factory doors closed for the final time.