On Jan. 20, Warlick’s forecast—as well as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s dream of racial unity and reconciliation—will come to fruition as the inauguration of America’s first president of African-American descent is held on the Capitol steps before the eyes of the world. Obama’s unprecedented presidency will resonate throughout history, and undoubtedly, the material evidence of his victory, swearing-in and presidency will be treasured for generations to come.

As the owner, producer and curator of the American Presidential Experience’s InauguralFest and with his store, Political Americana, located literally just down the street from the White House, rest assured that Warlick will be at the center of Tuesday’s events (and the inevitable flood of “Obamabilia”) as an estimated crowd of two to five million will be in Washington, D.C., as Obama takes the oath of office.

Crystal paperweight with 2009 inaugural seal

Presidential memorabilia, like many collectibles, can serve as social barometers and indicators of an ongoing narrative describing the times we lived in, are living in and will live in as the future approaches. It is little wonder, then, that “Obamabilia” speaks to messages of hope and change in a dark economic and geopolitical climate.

Jim Warlick’s work in the political-collectibles field as a retailer and an acknowledged authority has helped to preserve this ongoing narrative. From saving campaign literature in childhood to selling buttons at the 1980 Democratic National Convention and on through the opening of his Political Americana store, Warlick’s involvement with political collecting has been lifelong. He has parlayed his keen understanding of the presidency’s significance into a success measured more in the preservation of America’s political heritage and the extension of the presidential experience to everyday Americans than in sales or personal gratification.

Autographed Obama picture

“I’ve always been a student of American political history,” says Warlick. “Being a part of political campaigns and collecting early American political memorabilia, I’ve learned more about American history than I ever did in school. Collecting and documenting political memorabilia is a great way to preserve American history for future generations to share and learn from.”

Those visiting D.C. next week will have an opportunity to share in Warlick’s passion as part of the larger festivities that will be occurring throughout the nation’s capital not only at his Political Americana and five official souvenir store locations selling inauguration memorabilia, but also at the American Presidential Experience’s InauguralFest. As did visitors to the American Presidential Experience in Denver last August during the Democratic National Convention, those attending InauguralFest will get a hands-on look at three centuries worth of presidential memorabilia and collectibles including scale-model replicas of Air Force One and the Oval Office.

A John-John pose in the Oval Office replica

From an exhibit of First Ladies’ gowns to one of the infamous Florida voting machines that introduced the phrase “hanging chads” to the world, the range of exhibits that Warlick has curated tells not only the story of the American presidency but also of the nation itself—a story that will reach one of its defining climaxes as the son of a white Kansas woman and a black Kenyan man accedes to the most powerful office in the world.

First Ladies' gowns

It is a historic moment in American history, and Jim Warlick will be there as it happens to collect, identify and share the significant artifacts that will capture the spirit of this turning point in our national, cultural and social narrative.

The American Presidential Experience’s InauguralFest is located at the old Washington Convention Site at 1001 H. St. NW Washington, DC (Metro Center subway stop). It is open every day from 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Jan. 16 through Jan. 23 and from 9 a.m.-5.p.m. Jan. 24. For tickets and further information, visit the InauguralFest Web site.

The Political Americana store is located at 1331 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, D.C. 20004. Four other locations selling official inauguration memorabilia are in Washington, Virginia and Maryland. Visit www.officialsouvenirs.com, www.politicalamericana.com , email info [at] officialsouvenirs [dot] com, or call 202-737-7730 for more information.

Other articles about Jim Warlick and political collectibles:

Jim’s WorthPoint Worthologist profile

Jim’s WorthPoint blogs

Warlick profile by Mark Jaffe

Top Obama collectibles

The American Presidential Experience

WorthPoint at the American Presidential Experience (video)

Jim Warlick’s Political Americana (video)

WorthPoint—Get the Most from Your Antiques & Collectibles

Presidential dollars are now available directly from the U.S. Mint at face value. Collectors and others can now order up to $500 in rolls of Uncirculated Presidential dollars for each president as the coins become available. The Mint will pay the standard shipping costs.

The Mint will ship directly to retail establishments, financial institutions, and the public in an effort to stimulate circulation of the dollar coins in daily transactions.

It is a mystery to educated people from other countries: What is it with the American fascination with presidents?

School children know their names in order by heart. Parents date important moments of their lives by who was in the Oval Office. Many people collect objects associated with their favorites. Why?

My wife, Ines, is from Peru. When I visited her family in the early 1990s and stayed at their small farmhouse about 30 miles south of the capital, Lima, they were baffled by my interest in presidents and the buying and selling of their artifacts. Peru declared its independence from Spain in 1821. Yet very few know – or, honestly, want to know – who all the Peruvian presidents have been. (There have been 72, including the current president, Alan Garcia).

Except for artifacts associated with the royal families of Europe, few people elsewhere collect and learn about their heads of state. I don’t recall collectors vying for the signatures of prime ministers, reciting their country’s presidents during their lifetimes or knowing all the presidents of Tanzania through history.

It could very well be because U.S. presidents are, in fact, us. (Or, they claim to be.) In our system where presidents are home-grown, they come from humble and privileged beginnings alike, have been educated or not, have been provincial or international, have been part of large families or single children, are religious or not, have struggled or not and have known disaster or lifelong peace.

Or, maybe it is because under our Constitution, if you are at least 35 and born in the U.S., you are free to run for the office, but only four years at a time and then only twice. That’s it.

And, we can criticize them. We can celebrate them. We can feel pride, we can feel anger, we can feel disappointment. We will always participate in their selection and evaluation, we will always have our say and we can vow do to better. No matter how they achieved their office – election, appointment, or succession – our presidents have come from where we live and we feel responsible for them – good or bad.

Through our collecting, we identify with the philosophy of our candidates and our president. The campaigns, the rewards of office, our access to the day-to-day struggle to manage a large community of interests and peoples is something felt by every one of us, every day.

Very philosophical, I know. But where else are collectors interested in Abraham Lincoln’s pocket litter or sunglasses worn by John F. Kennedy? Where else – and why – except here, would anyone possibly care about these things?

Recently on Ebay I noticed an unusual change to the official seal of the vice president, 50 gold stars surrounding the central eagle on a white background. Everything was correct except for the 50 gold stars.

According to Executive Order 11884 creating the official seal of the Vice President on October 7, 1975, the seal of the vice president did not authorize stars surrounding the eagle. Only the seal of the president shows that.

Perplexed and wondering if there was an official change, I contacted the military office of the vice president which handles the official seal and I was assured that no change to the official seal of the vice president has been authorized or contemplated at this time.

Therefore, the cuff links shown on Ebay as official are not official government-issue cuff links. In fact, it is very difficult to get a pair of cuff links engraved with the signature of Vice President Dick Cheney on the reverse. His office simply does not give them out on any consistent basis. So much so, that I don’t even have a photo to put up along side the one’s above for comparison. The official seal of the Vice President will have to represent the cuff links for now to show that a circle of stars do not surround the eagle.

Simply stated, the official white ‘cobalt’ cuff links of Vice President Dick Cheney do not show the circle of stars around the eagle. Any internet buyer or collector should be wary of any attempt to insist that these are official. It is also very difficult to find official presidential or vice presidential cufflinks or other jewelry at a price of only $45 or so. Their retail or collector value is usually around $200 a set and more.

Much has been written about the seal of the president of the United States. It is a more powerful, more visible office, of course, but in many ways the influence of the vice president can be just as significant. Yet, recognizing the symbols of the office isn’t that high on a collector’s radar. It should be, though, since many of the items of the vice president are in fact more difficult to obtain than those of the president, particularly the flag.

In fact, the seal of the vice president itself was an afterthought. When it was decided by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to create a new unifying presidential flag, it was determined that the seal of the president he had been using was never codified. He insisted that a new design similar to a new flag be created, but died before it was completed. President Harry Truman took up the challenge and created the design of the presidential flag and seal and officially adopted it by Executive Order on October 25, 1945, the one we are all familiar used on the podium and as a backdrop during press conferences.

When the presidential seal and flag were adopted in 1945, Truman didn’t have a vice president. He had moved up from the vice presidency to the office of president upon Roosevelt’s death and the Constitution didn’t have a provision to appoint a new vice president. That would later change under the 25th Amendment to the Constitution in 1967. Gerald Ford became vice president under this Amendment in 1974.

It wasn’t until 1948 when a new vice president would take office that a seal for the office was proposed and ratified by Executive Order. It was meant to be designed as a complete contrast to the seal of the president and in that succeeded very well. So well, in fact, that vice presidents universally disliked it. The eagle was smaller, held one arrow, had its wings in a submissive position and was surrounded by 13 blue stars. It was Vice President Hubert Humphrey who was supposed to have said that the eagle looked like a wounded quail.

And so it was that in 1974, upon being appointed by President Gerald Ford under the same constitutional amendment that also made him vice president, Nelson Rockefeller took it upon himself to have the seal of the vice president changed to reflect a more robust eagle design and perhaps a subtle improvement on his own constitutional role. He succeeded admirably. With a few minor stylistic differences and color variations, the vice presidential eagle is more striking than its predecessor, while still being noticeably different from that of the president.

The most striking difference is that the eagle is placed on a white background instead of the dark blue of the president. It is much larger than the earlier version, but is surrounded by no stars at all unlike the 50 stars that surround the seal of the president, although the flag of the vice president has a dark blue star in each of its four corners.

Many collectors mistake the vice presidential patch, for example, as that of the Great Seal of the United States even though the eagles, particularly the glory at the top, are noticeably different. Even official presidential gift items or the official state china ordered by Nancy Reagan utilized the coat-of-arms of the vice president rather than that of the president. You see, the seal and coat-of-arms of the president must include the 50 stars around the eagle.

Recently, certain Ebay sellers, in order to avoid the restrictions of selling official vice presidential items for commercial purposes, have taken to surrounding the vice presidential eagle with 50 gold stars on a white background. This is incorrect as there has been no change to the Executive Order ordering the design of the seal of the vice president at this writing (Dec 2007).

For more detailed information on the seal of the vice president, visit:

http://www.tioh.hqda.pentagon.mil/SealsEmblems/VicePresidentOfTheUnitedStates.htm

The seal of the vice president was created by Executive Order 10016 on November 10, 1948 and signed by President Harry S Truman. The Executive Order specifies the design and restrictive use of the seal of the president. That design lasted until it was changed in 1975 by Executive Order 11884 signed by President Gerald Ford.

In the years since, there haven’t been many of the vice presidential agencies from governmental to military utilizing the vice presidential seal or eagle to differentiate its role in serving the office of vice president of the United States. Of the few distinctive patches known, I’ve included here.

Naturally, there are more and you are welcome to include the patches that you may have found as well.

Presidential spoons. That is what the advertisement was trying to sell me, 42 presidents with a color photo on the stem and an engraving on the bowl. Silver plated, of course.

I found the offering in the trash. And, it should have stayed there. Yet, I found it to be of such interest that I pulled it out to examine it and again wonder why there are some who consider these to be collectible.

The initial cost is always low, in this case $2.95. That includes the shipping. However, once a month over the next 3.5 years, you will receive an additional “…elegant, custom-designed, commemorative…” silver-plated spoon for only $9.95, plus $1.95 shipping and service for a total cost of $359.95. The wooden collector’s “beautifully designed” showcase is free.

But are they really collectible? In order for them to be “…sought after…” they must command a higher price in the after market of collectibles. What about these? Hard to say, since they are a relatively new offering. There are others that have come before, so let’s examine one such silver-plated set.

In the 1930s, a set of silver coin spoons were issued by Wm Rogers Co, a silversmith family dating to the early 1800s. Each had a stamped image of a president through Franklin D. Roosevelt along with an image etched in the bowl pertinent to the president pictured. I can’t get information as to what they were selling for at the time, but a complete set of 31 presidential silver spoons from this period can be bought today for about $4 each.

So, if a set of real coin silver commemorative presidential spoons that are about 75 years old are selling for only about $4 each today, a premium over what they sold for originally, I’m sure, what does that say about the long term collectiblity of these newly minted commemorative ones?

And yet, I still can’t help but wonder about this newer offering. They look familiar somehow. Ah, yes, now I remember. These same spoons, with an almost identical stamped design and image with claims of silver plate, sell routinely at Political Americana as a gift shop souvenir for no more than $3 to $5 each which means they are bought from a wholesaler for about $2 each.

The bottom line is that these ‘collectibles’, whether from this series or any ‘mint’ series, have little long-term value as a collectible. If you want to collect these items, shop for them in the after market, not through the ongoing subscription market. You’ll come out ahead that way and, most importantly, you won’t find yourself on mailing lists to buy other ‘collectibles’ at an amazing introductory offer.

Some of my favorite presidential items to collect are the glassware to include the mugs, tumblers, plates, dishes, wine glasses, and tumblers.

They don’t all have to be historic pieces like the Air Force One tumbler from John F. Kennedy. Instead, the U.S. Secret Service sells coffee mugs and glassware to benefit the families of agents who are wounded or killed in action. The clear glass tumbler or wine glass features an engraved full seal of the president while the cobalt coffee mug has a full presidential seal cut in white. I particularly like the covered candy canister for every day items. Visit the White House Gift Shop at http://www.whitehousegiftshop.com for all their items. The use of the seal of the president is authorized by the White House Counsel and so is considered official items.

Air Force One, Army One, and Marine One all have issued these smoked green glass candy dishes featuring the gold and blue full seal of the president with the president’s signature printed in gold. They come in a green felt bag in its own gold presentation box. The one featured is from Army One during the Nixon Administration, c. 1970s.

For historic items, one of my favorites is the smoked glass tumbler featuring a gold and blue full seal of the presidentwith the words ‘Aboard Air Force One’in gold with the signature of John F. Kennedy in gold also. Very scarce.

Several clear glass tumblers were issued for Army One, the presidential helicopter, when it was jointly managed by the Army and the Marine Corps until about 1975 when it became a solely Marine Corps command. Army One items are rather scarce and these two glass tumblers feature the gold and blue full presidential seal, the words Army One in gold and the gold printed signatures of Richard Nixon and Gerald R. Ford.

Lastly, I have a smoked tumbler from the HMX-1 command featuring a gold presidential seal with the added words of HMX-1 on the obverse and the two principal helicopters servicing the presidential fleet, the smaller VH-60N and the larger VH-3D with words Marine One all in gold. Within a couple of years, the helicopters used by the HMX-1 command will be completely replaced with a newer VH-71 Kestral so these items will be instantly collectible.

What are some of your official presidential glassware?

On occasion, online auction companies have offered a uniquely produced piece of White House china service from the Administration of Rutherford B. Hayes from 1877 to 1881.

Produced by Haviland & Co., the outdoor and nature scenes produced especially for the Hayes’ official service were and still are unmatched in the art of specialty dinnerware, especially that of the president of the United States.

What isn’t as well known is that the design itself caused such an uproar of approval that it was decided by the artist, Theodore Davis, to take out patents on his designs and allow commemorative sets to be made for sale to the general public.

So which is the official Hayes china set used at the White House and which were sold to the public?

According to “Official White House China: 1789 to the Present”, author Margaret Klapthor, each of the items made for public sale included a unique patent number and the patent date. The official White House china does not bear these patent numbers.

Each piece of the public plates are marked on the reverse as: “Design patented/August 10th, 1880/No. …..” the numbers being from 11932 to 11936, depending on the listed plate below:

11932 game course
11933 soup course
11934 dessert set
11935 fish course
11936 dinner plates

The White House official plates have the following markings on their reverse:

Fabrique par/haviland & Co./d/apres les dessins/DE/Theodore R. Davis” with the artist’s initials and the date of 1879.