HISTORY OF THE BUTTON BADGE
Button Badges
were invented by a New Jersey company called Whitehead and Hoag in 1896. Amongst a number of novelty items they produced was a button for holding up men’s trousers. The original buton was made using a unique process whereby a piece of cloth was placed over a metal shell.
A metal collar was stamped into the back clipping the piece of cloth in place and pulling it tight across the front of the shell. In 1896 this was modified to make “all classes of jewelry such as cuff-buttons, and especially link buttons, stick-pins, badges (and) brooches. The Button Badge was born but not exactly as we know it today as it had a cloth front.
Around the same time John Wesley Hyatt invented “celluloid” a durable thermoplastic that could be printed on and was durable enough to stamp. Swapping the cloth for the celluloid produced the first Button Badges as we now know them. Whitehead and Hoag in 1896 quickly moved to announce “improvements in badges for use as lapel pins or buttons, or other like uses.”
As the original Button Badges were a simple advance in the trouser Buttons being 1 inch or roughly 25 mm in diameter and the badges were made in the same way as the clothing buttons they were and still are called “Button Badges” or Pins.
A Badge Maker today would still make Button Badges in the same way but with slightly different materials.
At this time metal die struck Cloisonne Enamel Badges were the only badge pins or promotional badges available. Enamel lapel pins were extremely popular however they were expensive. The new “Button Badge” was such a popular alternative promotional item that that in the first year over a million Button Badges were made.
In the early years Button Badges were used to promote sports stars, actors and politicians. They were given as promotional gifts and incentive when a packet of cigarettes was bought. They were even given to promote political messages in England during the Boer War with messages like “England expects every man to do his duty”
The Button Badge uses have been so varied since its conception that it requires a more in-depth look at its uses. Please look at this article “Popular uses of the Button Badge” for more info on the much loved Button Badge
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