Cartoon illustration of a face with a finger in the nose. Tan face with brown hair, pink pupils, and two brown circles on cheeks. 

This cartoon face illustration of a nose picker is part of a series of buttons by an unknown artist. The faces are intended to elicit lighthearted humor and depict exaggerated features or expressions to elicit laughs. This series was created at Colonial Sales, a greeting card and stationary shop in Massachusetts.

Abstract design of three large shapes of varying shades of blue and 7 small light blue shapes on a white background. 

This image is a hand painted button. It was created by an unknown artist and found in a closet in Wicker Park, Chicago.

Abstract design of a blue shape, yellow dots, and a red curved shape on a metallic gold background. 

This image is a hand painted button. It was created by an unknown artist and found in a closet in Wicker Park, Chicago. 

Abstract design of a cube with two blue sides and a white top on a yellow background.

This illustration is part of a series of buttons that were distributed at the Park Place Gallery in New York, the first art gallery in SoHo. According to an Art in America article, they were given out during the opening show in 1966 and at a party for the Rolling Stones at the Scene discotheque. The buttons were designed by different artists including Dean Fleming, Tony Magar, Tamara Melcher, Patsy Krebs, and Steve Vasey. According to Fleming, the colorful geometric designs encourage the viewer to interpret the art in their own way.

Black text on a white background with an image of a man scratching his head. 

Could imply that the wearer is brilliant, but no one understands the incoherent ramblings, or that the ramblings are incoherent and only the wearer thinks they are intelligent.

Illustration of a head with a white bag tied over the face with a nose and lips on the outside of the bag. White text on a turquoise background. 

This button is from the 1965 series of LEAF "Fink Buttons" illustrated by popular Mid-Century artist Basil Wolverton. Perhaps best known for his work at MAD Magazine, Basil Wolverton (July 9, 1909 – December 31, 1978) was an American cartoonist and illustrator famous for his humorously grotesque drawings. Wolverton worked in the "Golden Age" of comic books doing features like "Powerhouse Pepper" and "Spacehawk" in the 1940s. A 2009 New York Times article states that Wolverton’s drawings embodied the “sick-and-proud humor” of MAD magazine and were considered a “virtuoso exercise in bad taste, made all the weirder for being so meticulously executed."

Painted image of black curved shapes around a white circle on a tan background. 

This hand painted button was created by an unknown artist and found in a closet in Wicker Park, Chicago. 

White illustration of two figures dancing on a dark blue background with white text along the bottom edge.

Illustrator Thomas E. Powers (1870-1939) is known as the first American to draw a color comic strip for a newspaper, the New York Evening World. He was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, educated in Kansas City, Missouri, and worked briefly in Chicago, Illinois before moving to New York City in 1894. His most well-known comic is "Joy and Gloom" and features a character named Joy.

Illustration of The Riddler, enemy of Batman, in blue costume with black question marks.  White text and white question marks on a red background.

The Riddler was created by writer Bill Finger and artist Dick Sprang. This character commits crimes revolving around an obsession with riddles. He leaves challenging clues behind his crimes to prove that he is smarter than others.

Robin flying in the air with a full moon backdrop. Blue and red letters on a purple button.

Dick Grayson, a fictional superhero otherwise known as Robin from the DC Comics comic book series, Batman. He was Batman's sidekick and adopted son. The youngest in a family of acrobats known as the "Flying Graysons", Robin's character first appeared in Detective Comics #38 in April 1940. After Robin saw his parents die at the hands of a mafia boss who sought to extort money from the circus, Batman takes Robin under his wing as a legal ward and the two become inseparable. When Grayson grows older and spends more time with the Teen Titans, he retires as Robin and becomes Nightwing. Others fill in for Grayson's role as Robin upon his departure.