ROGER KIMMEL’S IMPRESSIVE ASSEMBLAGE OF CAMPAIGN BUTTONS IS THE RESULT OF 40 YEARS OF DEDICATED COLLECTING
By Steve Lansdale
The finest collection of political pins from one of the most popular presidents in American history will land in new collections this month when Heritage presents The Roger Kimmel Collection Americana & Political Signature® Auction.
The collection, which crosses the block February 21-22, is rich in wonderfully conditioned, infrequently offered presidential artifacts, with a focus on Theodore Roosevelt. The breadth of the collection, which also includes items from Calvin Coolidge, offers a clear view of Kimmel’s fascination with presidents and their collections.
Uncle Sam greets Theodore Roosevelt on this ultra-rare button from The Roger Kimmel Collection, which is now open for bidding at Heritage Auctions.
This 1904 pin from Kimmel’s vast collection of presidential campaign buttons features Roosevelt and Vice President Charles Fairbanks.
Nearly half of the auction’s 916 lots relate to Roosevelt, who was the 26th American president and so much more. Before he took office, he was a historian and a popular writer. He led the reform faction of Republicans in the New York State Legislature and later served as assistant secretary of the Navy under his presidential predecessor, William McKinley. He resigned to help form and lead the Rough Riders, a unit that fought the Spanish army in Cuba, and, when he returned, was elected governor of New York in 1898. Two years later, he was McKinley’s vice presidential candidate on a ticket that easily won the 1900 election.
Kimmel’s love of history started when he was a high school student in Queens, New York. “I read a lot of history books,” he says, “and I became interested in the election process.” Kimmel’s interest grew into a passion on a family trip to New Mexico. After two days of visiting art galleries, Kimmel says, “I became bored and wandered off. I found a shop with old political buttons and was immediately drawn to the historical significance of the buttons.” Thus began a hobby that lasted decades for Kimmel, a former law partner at Latham & Watkins LLP, vice chairman of investment banking firm Rothschild Inc., and chairman of the Board of Trustees of the University of Virginia School of Law.
Dual portraits of Roosevelt, one in civilian clothes and the other in his Rough Rider uniform, grace the front of this rare campaign pin.
Made by American Badge Company of Chicago, this 20th Century Club button features portraits of Roosevelt and Fairbanks.
“This is the greatest collection of Theodore Roosevelt political items ever offered at auction,” says Curtis Lindner, Americana & Political Consignment Director at Heritage. “Roger spent years – decades – building this collection. It is elite in quantity and in quality. He always pursued the best of the best.”
Among the items on offer is an exceptionally rare 20th Century Club jugate featuring Roosevelt and his vice president, Charles Fairbanks. The pin’s image depicts the front of a train, with portraits of Roosevelt and Fairbanks in the front windows of the lead engine, flanking a headlight that reads, “To Washington 1904.” Made by American Badge Company of Chicago, it is widely considered one of the best Roosevelt buttons in the hobby and is an undeniable rarity. With no known auction records, it is perhaps even unique.
Collectors of historical items often are drawn to jugate-style buttons – those featuring two portraits side by side. One of the auction’s most remarkable examples is a jugate featuring dual portraits of the 26th president. One image shows Roosevelt in a suit, the other in his Rough Rider uniform, celebrating his time in the First U.S. Volunteer Cavalry. Titled “For President Roosevelt 1904,” it was copyrighted in 1902 by T.H.P.B.&N. Company of Terre Haute, Indiana, and is another treasure that very possibly is unique.
Roosevelt rides high in Noah’s Ark in this cartoon pin put out by the Goerke Co. to welcome the president home from his African safari.
Roosevelt’s Rough Rider hat sits in the middle of a boxing ring on this 1912 campaign button.
Rather than featuring traditional photographs, some of the pins in the auction include cartoons or caricatures. One exceptional example that is considered one of the top Roosevelt pinbacks is a “TR in the Ark” cartoon pin put out by the Goerke Co. to welcome Roosevelt home from his African safari. The pin depicts the president in a “Noah’s Ark” filled with wildlife from Africa in an image in which both the hunter and his live specimens smile broadly.
Before he became president, Roosevelt served as vice president under McKinley, a partnership that is celebrated on a massive 10-inch jugate featuring both politicians. This button is extraordinary because of both the enormity and the bold color, and it rarely reaches the collecting community in such exceptional condition.
Candidates contending for a job often are described as “throwing their hat in the ring” – an image that is brought to life on a sought-after “Hat Is in the Ring” button showing Roosevelt’s hat in a boxing ring and bearing the words “Roosevelt 1912.” The in-demand keepsake comes in two sizes, but this 1-1/4-inch version is larger, as is its demand among collectors.
“Theodore Roosevelt is considered one of the greatest – and is unquestionably one of the most collected – of American presidents,” says Don Ackerman, Heritage’s Managing Director of Political Americana, “and this material is as impressive as he was.”
STEVE LANSDALE is a staff writer at Intelligent Collector.