Some pinbacks are hard to find today because so many were simply worn and thrown away. Collectors also seek to assemble entire pinback series (for example comic character pinbacks) and finding every pinback in a large series can be quite difficult.
Clothing+ Fashion | Jewelry +Watches | Home +Furniture | Pottery + Glass | Art +Photos | Paper +Books | Music +Movies | Toys +Games | Sports +Outdoors | Ads +Signs | Eras +Themes | ![]() |
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Celluloid pinbacks, a type of button, were popular from the 1890s to the 1940s as a cheap way of conveying a political message or advertising anything from food and clothing to movies and tobacco. In 1896 the first patent was granted to Whitehead and Hoag for a button with a textile surface covered with a thin layer of transparent celluloid. Later on the textile was replaced with lithographed paper (cheaper), and ultimately metal without the celluloid.
Advertising pinbacks, sometimes featuring cartoon characters, were often given away as pre...
Some pinbacks are hard to find today because so many were simply worn and thrown away. Collectors also seek to assemble entire pinback series (for example comic character pinbacks) and finding every pinback in a large series can be quite difficult.
Richard Nixon pin
Eisenhower pin» See all pinbacks Show & Tells

Think current U.S. political campaigns are nasty? The attack-pinback has long been a tool of partisans and politicos. Today, Pr… [more]

I started off collecting comics, and still do, but I’d been given a few early Disney pinbacks as a child and always thought they w… [more]

How did I get started collecting advertising antiques? My dad was a lecturer and tutor in graphics and art from the 1960s onwards,… [more]

I liked to collect things even as a child. Things that didn’t cost anything, like different colors of stones. There was somethin… [more]

Mark Lansdown's excellent collection of over 800 pinbacks representing 200+ comic characters from 100+ strips. Beau… [read review or visit site]

This classy looking British site features hundreds of high resolution photos of antique porcelain pre-war (enamel) … [read review or visit site]

Duke University's library has pulled together an impressive collection of over 7,000 ads printed in U.S. and Canadi… [read review or visit site]

From the Nostlagia Factory in Virginia comes this celebration of 'mid-century automotive advertising illustrations'… [read review or visit site]

Ian House's gallery of early 20th Century American package designs. Browse the exhibits in slide show mode or view … [read review or visit site]

Paula Zargaj-Reynolds’ blog, an extensive collection of 20th century vintage advertising, is a visual feast. Scro… [read review or visit site]

This gallery of cigarette magazine advertising from the 1940s and 50s contains no surgeon general's warning, just p… [read review or visit site]