Illustration of red power fist in lower right. Black and red text across button. All on white background.

The Internationalist Group is the American branch of the left-wing political organization, League For The Fourth International. The group's ideology is based in Trotskyism and their political goals are centered around the defense of the working class and immigrants. On May 1st, 2017, the Internationalist Group helped to organize some of the protests that were held in New York city for May Day. Their protests in particular were focused on defending the rights of migrants against what they viewed as anti-immigration policy by the new Trump presidential administration. Buttons were created to raise awareness for the protest and distributed via mail from their website. 

Black and white photograph of man with mustache wearing suit on blue background.

Mike Dunham is an avid button collector. This button was created for a retirement celebration at the American Political Items Collectors (APIC) conference. Buttons are often worn to mark significant events such as celebrations and conference meetups.

White text and illustration of skull with powder wig on black background.

Created by artist, Jennifer Daniel, Liberty was part of the Busy Beaver's Button-O-Matic Artist Series. Starting in 2002 and ending in 2017, the series was a collaborative effort between the Busy Beaver Button Co. and artists culminating in an annual collection of limited edition custom art buttons curated by different artists with different themes. Liberty comes from the 2009 series curated by Dustin Hostetler, which featured art centering around a theme of currency.

Red text on white background.

Horses Haven is a not-for-profit in Howell, Michigan, founded in 1995 with a mission to rescue, rehabilitate, retain, and re-home at risk equines and the goal is to find forever homes for each horse through adoption. They work with law enforcement agencies and accept surrendered horses when the owners demonstrate an evident need of help. Horses Haven relies heavily on volunteers for the heart and soul of the organization as they work 7 days a week, 365 days a year and help cover the two shifts a day scheduled at the farm.

Black and red text with yellow halo surrounded by photographic images of Star Wars products on a black background with white stars. Top has the Hake's logo in red, white, yellow, and blue.

Ted Hake is a collector of pin-backed political campaign buttons who turned his hobby of collecting into a business which led to the founding of Hake’s Auctions in 1967. The business expanded beyond political campaign buttons and includes comic-book, vintage toys, and pop culture collectibles up for auction. In the following four decades, Ted authored 17 collectibles price guides, with those devoted to presidential campaign items, pin-back buttons, character collectibles, and Disneyana considered to be the authoritative references by collectors nationwide. Ted continues with work with Hake’s Americana as a full-time consultant. In 2012, Ted launched his personal website, tedhake.com, to offer buttons and other pop culture collectibles at fixed prices from his personal collections.

In November 2017, Hake’s Americana and Collectibles announced they were presenting Russell Branton’s Star Wars collection up for auction. Russell Branton’s Star Wars collection, one of the most extensive collections of Star Wars memorabilia assembled for a decade, contained roughly 700 to 800 pieces and included many rare and valuable items, mostly consisting of rare toy figures, figures, and playsets. Hake’s Americana & Collectibles began selling Branton’s collection over several auctions, beginning with Auction #222, which went online on October 24, 2017 and closed on November 14-16, 2017.

Black text with red illustration of top on yellow background with red border.

The Hand Tip and Novelty Co. was a manufacturer of promotional buttons based out of Newburg, New York. Hand and Tip Novelty Co. eventually became Hantico Line, a specialty advertising company with offices in Newburg and New York City. Hantico was later purchased by Uniflex, a bag manufacturer, in 1992. In 1995, Uniflex Inc. sold Hantico to American Greenwood Inc. that had a similar promotional product line. In addition to promotional products for political causes and other initiatives, Hantico made items such as buttons and tops with fun messages or branding for creative advertising for themselves.

Black illustration of smiley face on yellow background.

The classic yellow smiley face is comprised of a yellow circle, two black dots for eyes, and a black arc ending in serifs for a mouth. It was designed in 1963 by commercial artist, Harvey Ross Ball. Ball was commissioned by The State Mutual Life Insurance Company to create a happy face to raise the morale of their employees. His version was created in 10 minutes. The design was printed onto more than 50 million buttons. Neither Ball nor the company copyrighted this smiley, so it was continually used by other businesses in their promotions.

The design and concept is quite simple and was definitely used before Ball’s 1963 version. However, his has become the most iconic. Variations have been used for advertising campaigns and in popular culture ever since.

White text over black line with yellow smiley illustration to the right. Below, yellow text, all on a purple background.

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Image of orange no sign with blue text over illustration of tan gopher wearing M cap on white background.   

The Fighting Illini refer to the Big 10 football or basketball teams of the University of Illinois. Their opponent for this match is the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers. The colors, blue and gold, are the colors of the Illinois school. Along with the "no" symbol on a cartoon of a gopher mascot, this memorabilia was created to be worn at a live match up of the two schools.

White text on blue and red rectangle tilted on white background.

James R. Thompson—also known as Big Jim by his constituents—was the longest serving governor of Illinois and held office from 1977 to 1991. As a Republican politician, he was fiscally conservative and tough on crime, but took a liberal stance when it came to the working class. Thompson’s greatest achievement as governor was Build Illinois, a sweeping construction project that helped modernize state buildings and improve highways. He also spearheaded the creation of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency. Policies aside, Thompson was a larger-than-life character who was often clad in casual clothing and rode horses around the Capitol Rotunda during holiday parades. After serving his time in office, Thompson worked as a high-profile attorney and later served on the 9/11 Commission.