1900 Wm J Bryan Political Lapel Pin McKinley in Coffin

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1900 Wm J Bryan Political Lapel Pin McKinley in Coffin

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Sold Date: 04/16/2008
Channel: Online Auction
Source: eBay
Category: Fraternal, Political, Organizations

For sale is a rare Williams Jennings Bryan political lapel button dated Nov. 6, 1900. The only pin we could find similar to this one is in the Syracuse University Library of Rare Books in a special section on presidential campaign memorabilia.

This lapel button is in the shape of a coffin. The top of the coffin lid has two tiny hinges and a spring that holds it closed, but you can flip it open to reveal a figure of President McKinley inside. The button and coffin are made of brass or bronze, but the figure of McKinley is a shiny silver colored metal. On the coffin lid (the part that does not flip open), the following is written in raised letters: "Billy Bryan Nov. 6. 1900." When the lid is open showing the figure of McKinley, you can see these words written in raised letters on the inside of the lid: "McKinley, Prosperity Laid Him Low." The spring that holds the lid closed is in good working order. A round knob is attached to the bottom of the coffin for insertion into a lapel button hole. The coffin is 1 1/8" long by 7/16" wide at the hinge. From the top of the coffin to the bottom of the knob is 1/2". T is some grime on the metal coffin surfaces - no attempt has been made to clean it, but I expect it will shine when cleaned. I could find no manufacturer's mark. See the research below.

is some background on McKinley and the 1900 Presidential election: On November 6, 1900, President William B. McKinley was re-elected, beating Democrat William Jennings Bryan. This was a rematch between the same two candidates who ran for President in 1896. The return of economic prosperity and a decisive victory in the Spanish-American War of 1898 helped McKinley score a decisive victory in 1900. It is ironic that the lapel button shows McKinley in a coffin, as he was assassinated less than a year later in September 1901. On October 29, 1901 his assassin, Leon Czolgosz, was electrocuted. Some people consider the low campaign rhetoric to be a contributing factor in McKinleyÂ's assassination.

We researched this political item and were unable to find any reference to the 1900 button. However, a very similar lapel button was used by William Jennings Bryan in the 1896 election. The Carl E. and Amelia Morgan Dorr collection of Presidential Campaign Memorabilia, which is perhaps the most interesting, informative, and enlightening collection of historical material of its kind in the United States, was presented to the Syracuse University Library and is on permanent exhibition in specially constructed cases in the Leana R. Arents Rare Book Room. The collection contains rare specimens of macabre and funereal types of political novelties including an 1896 campaign pin designed as a coffin, which, when the lid was opened, showed McKinley inside. Printed on the coffin were the date of the election and the words: "The Tool of Trusts and British Gold." This sort of low campaign propaganda, it has been said, was at least an indirect cause of the assassination of the President. Another device, circulated by the Republicans during the 1896 campaign and likely produced by the same manufacturer as the Dorr button and the button for sale , was a brass lapel button also in the shape of a coffin. On the lower lid was "Billy Bryan, Nov. 3, 1896," and when the cover hinge opened, t was inside a picture of the Democratic nominee, looking down on the legend: "Free Silver Knocked Him Out." The Dorr collection contains another gruesome and contemporary pin in the form of a skeleton. This gilded metal skeleton had a pin attached to the base of the skull. On the front was a panel with a hinge and clasp, and on it appeared in gold lettering the words: "Death to Trusts." When the panel was opened, t was a photograph of William Jennings Bryan, who was to live on to be a three-time loser.

For more information, Google the Dorr Collection and go to The Carl E. and Amelia Morgan Dorr Collection of Presidential Campaign Memorabilia at the Syracuse University Library.

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