Taco Bell

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Text on Button I know 50 ways. TACO BELL
Image Description

Yellow text above the white Taco Bell logo centered on a red background.  The "50" on the yellow text is larger than the rest of the lettering.

Curl Text © 1986 TACO BELL CORP PRINTED IN U.S.A.
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Restaurant chain Taco Bell produced several marketing items in support of their 1980s promotional campaign, "50 Ways to Leave Your Burger."  Taco Bell ran a peel-and-win competition in their restaurants where customers could win 1 of 50 prizes - from free tacos to a trip to Tahiti. Videos of various versions of the marketing commercials can be found on the Internet.

Catalog ID AD0228

Wieland's Vitamin D Milk

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Text on Button Wieland's VITAMIN D MILK
Image Description

Cursive ivory text within an orange stripe atop a shining red sun and orange text on a red-outlined ivory background.

Curl Text PARISIAN NOVELTY CO., CHICAGO
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Wieland's was a Chicago-based dairy purchased by Borden in the early 1930s. Borden is a company founded in 1857 that manufactures food and consumer products such as Elmer's Glue and Krazy Glue. It was founded by Gail Borden Jr. in Connecticut with evaporated milk as the primary product of the company.

Catalog ID AD0162

Sealtest Cottage Cheese For Summer Menus

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Text on Button Sealtest COTTAGE CHEESE For Summer Menus IN EXCITING NEW MUGS
Image Description

Red and white Sealtest trademark above black and red text around a pink and black mug on a white background.

Curl Text PHILA BADGE CO. INC. PHILA. PA.
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Sealtest Dairy was a division of the National Dairy Products Corporation that manufactured dairy products throughout the United States. It is the predecessor to Kraft Foods, Inc. One of its products included mugs.

Catalog ID AD0152

Modern Press

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Text on Button 121-127 PLYMOUTH COURT CHICAGO FOR COMMERCIAL PRINTING TRY THE MODERN PRESS REPRESENTED BY A.R. WHITE PHONE HARRISON 5321
Image Description

Red logo in the center of the button with black text above and below on a light yellow background. A thin red line borders the button and another red line creates a circle 3/8 inch from the edge with black text in between. 

Back Paper / Back Info

The back is a mirror.

Curl Text PARISIAN NOVELTY CO. CHICAGO
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The Modern Press was a printing press that operated in Chicago, Illinios from around 1908 until 1922. It specialized in religious literature, producing such Christian titles as My Last Drink: A Tragic Human Story and The Cause of Damaged Goods: Why There are More Convicts Outside of the Penitentiary Than Inside

Sources

Francis, Joseph H. (1916). My last drink: A tragic human story. Chicago, IL: The Modern Press. Retrieved from http://www.williamwhitepapers.com/early_recovery_biographies/

Quale, Carle C. (1915). The cause of damaged goods: Why there are more convicts outside the penitentiary than inside. Chicago, IL: The Modern Press. Retrieved from https://books.google.com

Catalog ID AD0248

High Admiral Cigarettes

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Text on Button A CLEAN SWEEP HIGH ADMIRAL CIGARETTES
Image Description

A rooster holding a broom upside-down and crowing with red text curving about the circumference.

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Lapel style with WHITEHEAD & HOAG CO. PAT APP'D FOR NEWARK, N.J. engraved.

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High Admiral Cigarettes are a brand owned by The National Cigarette and Tobacco Company.  Their flagship brand, Admiral, was first marketed in 1883.  Other brands produced by the company included: Royal Sweets, Opera Lights and Yellow Kid.  Known for their outrageous publicity stunts and forward thinking marketing, National was eventually absorbed into American Tobacco.

Catalog ID AD0242

Care Will Save Your Car

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Text on Button CARE WILL SAVE YOUR CAR
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A red flag with black text and white block on top left with a black and white seal that says "MOTOR AID EQUIPMENT" on a black background outline in white.

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Manufacturer seal printed on back in black.

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Have info on this button? Contact us here.

Catalog ID AD0241

Tea Rose

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Text on Button TEA ROSE ALWAYS LOVELY
Image Description

A yellow tea rose flower on a stem with green leaves surrounded by small green dots is on a white background.  Small green text is below the tea rose.

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KING BEE TOBACCO AND CIGARETTES L.C.W. TE CO BUTTON MFRS WATERONRY CO. 

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The King Bee Tobacco Company was a subsidiary of the American Tobacco Company. It was a common practice for tobacco companies to produce series of floral pinback buttons, cigarette cards, etc. at the turn of the 19th century. The use of roses in tobacco-related collectibles is just one example of this phenomena.

Catalog ID AD0252

Furniture & Piano Movers

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Text on Button FURNITURE & PIANO MOVERS 343 JAN. 1914
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Red text over a black logo (with two horse heads) on a white background surrounded by a purple border with white text.  

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Recognize the logo behind the year 1914?  The Furniture and Piano movers whom this button belonged to were also known as "Teamsters No. 343" and were based out of Massachusetts.  The Local’s behavior was immortalized in a case heard by the Massachusetts Superior Court.  After failing to increase wages at the request of the union, No. 343 declared a strike on May 2, 1910 against M. Steinert and Sons Company, a prominent Bostonian Steinway Pianos Piano Dealer.  11 of the protesting members disbanded thereafter, 8 finding new employment and 3 relocating away from the city.  On October 14, 1910, the members involved in the strike drove around town displaying the protesting placards on their vehicle, long after the strike ended.  The court ruled that “a decree must be entered giving to the plaintiff the relief prayed for”.  The details of the case were published and available on page 134 of Labor Bulletin, Volumes 113-118, published in 1916 by Wright & Potter.

Catalog ID CL0384

NetWare

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Text on Button SLIP INTO SOMETHING ELEGANT, NetWare ^TM
Image Description

Sky blue button with dark grey centered lettering. Larger white, underlined text is located in the center bottom half of the button accompanied by a small white trademark logo. 

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NetWare was a computer network operating system developed by Novell, Inc. originally released in 1983. Netware was used in multitasking and programming on personal computers and later became something that could be added to any suitable computer build, making their mainframe both independent and accessible. Novell released a series of products for CP/M, MS-DOS, and Windows that facilitated peer to peer networking and workplace networking systems that seemed to overshadow Netware as technology was advancing in the 1990s and early 2000s. As other products became more popular and competition from big names like Microsoft drew away business, Novell discontinued Netware in 2009 and stopped supporting it entirely in 2017.

Catalog ID AD0161

I'm Not Quite Human

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Text on Button I'm NOT QUITE HUMAN New Young Adult Series from Archway Paperbacks/Pocketbooks
Image Description

White handwriting text to the left of neon green text on a black background, very small company information in white at bottom.

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Not Quite Human is a young adult series written by Seth Mcevoy and published by Archway Paperbacks.  The first book in the series, Batteries Not Included, was published in 1985.  Five additional novels, the last of which was published in 1986, are also part of the Not Quite Human series.  The series’ main characters include Dr. Jonas Carson, his daughter Becky, and Chip, an android created by Dr. Carson.  In the late 80s and early 90s, the Disney Channel adapted the series into three made-for-tv-movies.

Catalog ID AD0255