Wire Story
Button, button, whose got the button? It’s Md. collector Frank Enten
By Logan C. Adams
Scripps Howard Foundation Wire
WASHINGTON - Frank Enten knows his political buttons – he’s been selling them for more than 43 years.
Enten, 75, owns PC Button Co., PC being short for political campaign, in Bethesda, Md., a Washington suburb. He was running a booth Friday at the Conservative Political Action Conference, held in the Ronald Reagan Building.
“I was selling this the day Wallace got shot,” he said, holding a black-and-white button that changed between “Stand up for America” and “Wallace for President” as he rotated it. He was referring to the 1972 assassination attempt that paralyzed Alabama governor George Wallace and ended his bid for the presidency.
The shooter, Arthur Bremer, “was wearing this button, not this same piece, but one like the ones I was selling,” Enten said. “I may have even sold him the button, who knows?”
Once an insurance salesman, Enten started his business in 1961 after discovering he could make money manufacturing and selling political memorabilia.
Enten’s convention booth was covered in posters, medallions and bumper stickers, but the majority of his stock is buttons he has acquired from other collectors. He has bins and books of them with the older, more rare ones sealed in plastic and paper. A lifelong Republican, he sells few Democratic items, although he did have some FDR buttons.
His oldest? A button from the 1896 campaign that elected President William McKinley priced at $45.
Enten, a Korean War veteran, wore a Disabled American Veterans cap covered in buttons. Standing out among them was a badge he got as a part of the staff of the 1985 Inaugural Committee. He said he made more than a million buttons for the 1984 Reagan campaign.
He said he had a lot of fun with one from that era that said: “Redheads for Reagan.” “Every time that I saw a red-headed woman, I’d go over to her and show her the button and she would buy it,” he said.
Enten sells other political knickknacks from days gone by, including a bottle of cologne named “GOLD WATER” from the 1964 election between Barry Goldwater and Lyndon Johnson. Another treasure was a 6-inch statue of an elephant from the 1980 Republican National Convention.
Those in possession of potentially rare items sometimes seek Enten out for an appraisal. One woman who visited him at the conference left disappointed.
“A lady came in here with a frame of buttons, and they were all reproductions, and I hated to tell her that,” he said. “She had it for 40 years, but these things were reproductions back then, and they’re still reproductions today, so they’re worth maybe 10 cents apiece.”
Enten’s time in the business and the age of his collection have given him a unique perspective on the style of political buttons over the years.
The color tone in the faces of the candidates on the buttons has changed, he said, comparing today’s flat color reproductions to yesteryear’s rosy-cheeked candidates.
“Look at the color tone on this Teddy Roosevelt piece,” he said. “This is a lost art. They don’t know how to do this today.”
By Logan C. Adams
Scripps Howard Foundation Wire
WASHINGTON - Frank Enten knows his political buttons – he’s been selling them for more than 43 years.
Enten, 75, owns PC Button Co., PC being short for political campaign, in Bethesda, Md., a Washington suburb. He was running a booth Friday at the Conservative Political Action Conference, held in the Ronald Reagan Building.
“I was selling this the day Wallace got shot,” he said, holding a black-and-white button that changed between “Stand up for America” and “Wallace for President” as he rotated it. He was referring to the 1972 assassination attempt that paralyzed Alabama governor George Wallace and ended his bid for the presidency.
The shooter, Arthur Bremer, “was wearing this button, not this same piece, but one like the ones I was selling,” Enten said. “I may have even sold him the button, who knows?”
Once an insurance salesman, Enten started his business in 1961 after discovering he could make money manufacturing and selling political memorabilia.
Enten’s convention booth was covered in posters, medallions and bumper stickers, but the majority of his stock is buttons he has acquired from other collectors. He has bins and books of them with the older, more rare ones sealed in plastic and paper. A lifelong Republican, he sells few Democratic items, although he did have some FDR buttons.
His oldest? A button from the 1896 campaign that elected President William McKinley priced at $45.
Enten, a Korean War veteran, wore a Disabled American Veterans cap covered in buttons. Standing out among them was a badge he got as a part of the staff of the 1985 Inaugural Committee. He said he made more than a million buttons for the 1984 Reagan campaign.
He said he had a lot of fun with one from that era that said: “Redheads for Reagan.” “Every time that I saw a red-headed woman, I’d go over to her and show her the button and she would buy it,” he said.
Enten sells other political knickknacks from days gone by, including a bottle of cologne named “GOLD WATER” from the 1964 election between Barry Goldwater and Lyndon Johnson. Another treasure was a 6-inch statue of an elephant from the 1980 Republican National Convention.
Those in possession of potentially rare items sometimes seek Enten out for an appraisal. One woman who visited him at the conference left disappointed.
“A lady came in here with a frame of buttons, and they were all reproductions, and I hated to tell her that,” he said. “She had it for 40 years, but these things were reproductions back then, and they’re still reproductions today, so they’re worth maybe 10 cents apiece.”
Enten’s time in the business and the age of his collection have given him a unique perspective on the style of political buttons over the years.
The color tone in the faces of the candidates on the buttons has changed, he said, comparing today’s flat color reproductions to yesteryear’s rosy-cheeked candidates.
“Look at the color tone on this Teddy Roosevelt piece,” he said. “This is a lost art. They don’t know how to do this today.”
posted by Logan C. Adams at 2/19/2005 03:10:00 PM
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