Erin Go Bragh

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Text on Button ERIN GO BRAGH
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Two flags with a three-leaf clover below black text over white background. Olive green ribbon hangs below connected to two lucky rabbits' feet, one green and one brown. 

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During the 1850s, the potato famine caused many Irish to immigrate to the United States. The Irish phrase "Erin Go Bragh" means Ireland forever. The phrase is often used to express pride for and allegiance to Ireland. The shamrock and the green harp flag are also symbols of Irish identity and nationalism.

The rabbit foot, like the one attached to this button, is considered to be a good luck charm.

See more innovative and unique buttons in action on the Busy Beaver blog.

Catalog ID IN0053

Drink Coca Cola

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Text on Button DRINK Coca-Cola TRADE-MARK IN BOTTLES
Image Description

Red text over yellow background.

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The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational beverage corporation and manufacturer, retailer and marketer of nonalcoholic beverages. The company is most famous for its flagship product Coca-Cola which was invented in 1886 by pharmacist John Stith Pemberton.

This button was manufactured by the Parisian Novelty Company which was founded in Chicago, Illinois, in 1898. In 2008, the button portion of the Parisian Novelty Company was sold to the Matchless Group and renamed Matchless Parisian Novelty, Inc. 

This button is a nail puzzle. This means that two of them can be interlocked. The object of the puzzle is to unlink the nails. The following link demonstrates the puzzle's solution: http://waynesword.palomar.edu/trjul98a.htm

Catalog ID IN0048

Dave Cook Sporting Goods

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Text on Button DAVE COOK SPORTING GOODS CO. MA, 3555 Corner 1601 Larimer St.
Image Description

Compass nestled between red text over yellowed background. 

Curl Text PARISIAN NOV. CO. CHGO
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In 1924, Dave and Max Cook opened and started the first sporting goods company in Colorado.  In 1932, Dave Cook bought out his brother Max's share of the business.  Dave Cook Sporting Good Company was opened in 1936 in Denver, Colorado at 1601 Larimer Street. The company gained attention from many due to the company being opened and operated by a Jewish businessman.  Dave Cook Sporting Good advertisements could be seen in popular magazines such as Field and Stream and Boys Life.  In 1988, Dave Cook Sporting Company was purchased from Gart Brother's Sporting Good Company for 20 million dollars.  The Cook family remained employed until late 1989 when they are resigned.  Gart continued to use the Cook name until the early 1990's when all store names where gradually changed to reflect Gart.

Catalog ID IN0069

Chambersburg Sesqui-Centennial

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Text on Button SOUVENIR SESQUI-CENTENNIAL Chambersburg, Pa. AUGUST 1953
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A blue, red, and white striped button with blue text in the center. A red, white, and blue ribbon is attached to the bottom of the button and the ribbon has a gold chain and trophy attached to it.

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Chambersburg, Pennsylvania was established in 1803, this button was to commemorate its 150th anniversary. Chambersburg was named after Benjamin Chambers, who settled near the confluence of Conococheaque Creek and Falling Spring with his brother. The location provided Benjamin Chambers with the necessary water power to operate a gristmill and a sawmill. Chambersburg became a commercial and agricultural center.

Chambersburg played a significant role during the Civil War. The city was occupied by the Confederate forces three times. It was in Chambersburg that Robert E. Lee decided to move east to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, which was a turning point during the Civil War when the Union forces started to emerge victoriously. During the last and third occupation, the troops under Confederate General J.A. McCausland and General Jubal Early burned down the center of the city when Union Troops did not pay a ransom for alleged transgressions committed Shenandoah Valley, West Virginia. Chambersburg was built after the Civil War with private and Federal funds.    

Catalog ID IN0073

Canada Dry Wink

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Text on Button DRINK wink THE SASSY ONE FROM CANADA DRY
Image Description

Lenticular blinking eye between alternating red and green text. 

Back Paper / Back Info

VARI-VUE PAT. NO. 2,815,310

MOUNT VERNON, N.Y. MADE IN U.S.A.

C-3291

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Wink is a soda produced by the Canada Dry Corporation. Introduced in 1965, Wink was touted as a non-cola drink. Made with grapefruit, and other citrus flavors, it was bottled in green glass bottles, much like 7-UP and Sprite. Their jingle was “Wink, the Sassy One, from Canada Dry." For a short time, there was a mascot the Wink Gink. Although not seen at all grocery stores in the US, it is still bottled in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. In Canada it is bottled under CPlus.

Catalog ID IN0057

Buttonmaker's Choice Award

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Text on Button THE BUTTONMAKER'S CHOICE AWARD MOON Busy Beaver Button Co. GOLDEN BUTTON AWARDS 2014
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Black circle with yellow text centered on gold background with black text. Gold ribbin hangs from the bottom conected to silver beaver charm. 

Curl Text BUSY BEAVER BUTTON CO. GOLDEN BUTTON AWARDS 2014 THANKS FOR BEING AWESOME!
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Every year the Busy Beaver Button Company gives out The “Buttonmaker’s Choice” Golden Button’s Awards to a customer whose button design catches the eye of a member of the Busy Beaver staff. In 2014 they gave out seven such awards. The awards naturally come in the form of pinback buttons. One of the seven awardees was designer Milton Glaser for a button entitled "Moon" that was part of the Busy Beaver Button Company's Button-O-Matic Series. According to Glaser, the Moon symbol signifies its power over the night sky and ocean waves.

Sources

Busy Beaver Button Company Blog. (2014, February 28). Golden Button Awards ’14: The Buttonmaker’s Choice Awards [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://www.busybeaver.net/blog/2014/02/28/golden-button-awards-14-the-b….

Catalog ID IN0064

Butter-Krust Bread

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Text on Button You Can't Go Wrong Butter-Krust BREAD SUNBURY, PA.
Image Description

Compass nestled between red text over yellowed background. 

Curl Text PARISIAN NOVELTY CO. CHGO
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This promotional compass was a gift-with-purchase from the Butter-Krust Bread Co. of Sunbury Pennsylvania. Started in 1915 as a bakery, founder B. Frank Bastian partnered with Benjamin Apple five years later to form Butter-Krust, a wholesale baking shop.  Their business flourished and they embraced the innovations of the day - a bread slicing machine in the 1930s,  cellophane wrapping in 1950 - and they were the first commercial bakery to use unbleached flour.  

By 2005, Butter-Krust Bread had reached sales of 80 million.  The following year, however, saw the company bought out by the Sara Lee Corporation although family members of co-founder Benjamin Apple continued to hold management positions.  By 2011 Butter-Krust was sold again this time to Grupo Bimbo, the world's largest bread maker based in Mexico City.


Butter-Krust has won several industry awards for their bread during its 100 year history in production.

Catalog ID IN0066

Third Man Records

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Image of three human figures burnt into wood (the Third Man Records logo)

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Third Man Records is an independent record label founded by Jack White in Detroit, Michigan, in 2001. Third Man established its first physical location—a combination record store, performance venue, and headquarters for the label—in Nashville, Tennessee, in 2009. On March 9, 2011, Third Man Records announced its newest creation, the Third Man Rolling Record Store. The store, a yellow step van outfitted with a sound system and Third Man Records inventory, was built by C Cook Enterprises in Erlanger, Kentucky. It made its first appearance in Austin, Texas, at SXSW 2011. Third Man has since brought the mobile store to concerts, festivals, and other events with anywhere from weeks to only a few hours notice.

This button was manufactured by the Busy Beaver Button Co.

Catalog ID IN0052