# How to sell an old campaign button when I can't find anything about it online?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-sell-an-old-campaign-button-when-i-cant-find-anything-about-it-online/673694>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [November 12, 2013, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-sell-an-old-campaign-button-when-i-cant-find-anything-about-it-online/673694 "2013-11-12T02:50:02Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![DummyGladHands](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/49beb7/32.png) [@DummyGladHands](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DummyGladHands)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2013, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-sell-an-old-campaign-button-when-i-cant-find-anything-about-it-online/673694/1 "2013-11-12T02:50:02Z")

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Small “Aviators for Goldwater” lapel pin. I can’t find one online anywhere. I am in the market to sell, but don’t want to get ripped off. Ideas?

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**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2013, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-sell-an-old-campaign-button-when-i-cant-find-anything-about-it-online/673694/2 "2013-11-12T07:46:45Z")

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1. Collect [del]underpants[/del] campaign buttons.
2. ???
3. Profit!

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**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2013, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-sell-an-old-campaign-button-when-i-cant-find-anything-about-it-online/673694/3 "2013-11-12T18:00:05Z")

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By coincidence, I just happened to see an episode of Antiques Roadshow, and there was a woman who had a huge board full of old campaign buttons.

Some were obviously worth more than others, but I believe the top price mentioned was about $100 for one very old one (James Garfield?), and most of the others were in the $10-$30 range, with some only being worth a few dollars at best. My guess is that a relatively “new” one from Goldwater would be in the lower range of $10-$30 - but that is just a guess, after watching the show.

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**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2013, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-sell-an-old-campaign-button-when-i-cant-find-anything-about-it-online/673694/4 "2013-11-13T00:14:22Z")

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Here’s an [eBay search for completed auctions in “goldwater campaign buttons”](http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=See-All-Categories&_nkw=goldwater+campaign+button&LH_Complete=1&rt=nc). Looks like they’re not really worth much at all. It’s possible that your particular button is super special and valuable for some reason, but it’s probably not.