CAMPAIGN PHOTO BADGES
Badges with ferrotype and paper candidate photos represent some of the best examples of 19th Century political badges. Click here for images of some favorite photo badges from my collection: Favorite Photo Badges
Description of photography processes. The use of photographs as a key design element of 19th Century campaign badges closely parallels the development of photography. Edward Sullivan outlines in American Political Badges and Medalets 1789-1892, a concise description of the different photographic processes employed in making 19th century campaign badges:
The first campaign photography to appear was daguerreotypes during the 1848 campaigns of Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore and Lewis Cass. Being from Life, a daguerreotype could only be secured by having the subject sit for a portrait or purchase one already taken. Many of the copies were made from paintings and engravings. The daguerreotype was a highly polished sheet of copper with a silvered mirror finish that was fumed with mercury, placed in a dark box and then exposed for up to twenty-one minutes, depending upon the available light. The sheet, or plate, was washed, then steamed and fixed with hyposulphate, the very same that fixes images today. The original plate was the photograph. There was no negative nor printing technique. If more than one copy was required, a daguerreotype would have to be taken of a daguerreotype.
The ambrotype was patented in 1854. It was a process of capturing a negative on glass and then laying it over a black ground, thus creating the illusion of a positive. There was no reproduction process as each ambrotype was an individual shot. Ambrotype campaign items were available for all presidential candidates in 1856, 1860 and 1864, although none are known for the vice presidential candidates. The ambrotype almost immediately replaced the daguerreotype in popularity.
In 1856 a patent for photographic pictures on Japanned (enamel painted) surfaces was granted. First called malainotypes, meaning ‘dark colored’, they were black enamel painted sheets of iron. The enamel was coated with collodion and after exposure washed in a number of solutions and then varnished. The result, most commonly called a tintype, had no tin in it. The tintype, or ferrotype, at its best was the weakest of all photographs. The whites turned out gray and the range of contrasts was very small. D. F. Maltby of Waterbury, Connecticut conceived the idea of preparing special medals with tintype portraits of the candidates in the 1860 campaign. As many as thirty-six ferrotypes could be taken on a single plate, then cut apart and set into brass frames.
Mass production of ferrotypes was made possible by Simon Wing’s invention of the multiple tube. Wing was the Socialist Labor Party’s nominee for president in 1892; ironically, there are no known campaign photographs of him. Ferrotype pictures were produced by copying a master portrait with a multi-lens camera. The lenses with the furthest angle from the master produced a distorted image. Campaign ferrotypes were sold for 5˘ to 12˘ each depending upon their design and size. They continued popular thorough the remainder of the century and are last evident in miniature lapel prinz-nez glasses with tintype photographs of Theodore Roosevelt and Charles Fairbanks, Republican nominees in the 1904 campaign.
The final stage in photography’s early history is the paper photograph, which was printed with a negative plate. The first known campaign piece is a Lincoln and Hamlin locket with salt print photographs of each under glass. These first paper photographs were printed on paper immersed in a solution of common salts. They were faint and had no glaze. Nevertheless, due to the low cost of materials and the simple developing process, the paper photograph eventually replaced all other processes. Its quality was improved considerably by using the egg white technique to glaze photographs, thus insuring a durable brightness. Such photographs were called albumen prints, and were in use until the beginning of the twentieth century.
The 1860 Campaign. Ferrotype badges are plentiful for the 1860 campaign and exist in numerous sets for all for candidates – Lincoln, Douglas, Breckinridge and Bell. Most ferrotypes are set into brass frames, some with single candidate and a pin on the reverse, some from pictures front and back of the presidential and vice-presidential candidates, and some with "jugate" photographs of the presidential and vice-president candidates on the front and a pin or button hole on the reverse. Some of the best photo badges from the 1860 campaign include the Lincoln ambrotype, and the various sets available for the four candidates: the large "doughnut" (referring to the thick doughnut shaped silvered copper rim around the ferrotype) ferrotypes, the oval ferrotypes, and jugate ferrotypes. Lincoln ferrotypes generally bring better prices than the other candidates, although Breckinridge ferrotypes of all types are generally the most difficult to find.
The 1864 Campaign. Photo badges from the 1864 campaign are relatively scarce in comparison to those of the 1860 campaign. The 1864 campaign is noteworthy for a set of jugate shield shaped badges for Lincoln/Johnson and McClellan/Pendelton that are perhaps the most desirable and expensive pair of jugate badges. Another noteworthy 1864 ferrotype badge is the "Gault" badge (named after John Gault who also manufactured encased postage stamps) with their brass frames and keyhole shaped opening for the ferrotype. The 1864 campaign also marked the introduction of large quantities of paper photo badges, primarily found in a rectangular shapes for this campaign.
The 1868 & 1872 Campaigns. The 1868 campaign was the high tide point for political ferrotypes, as there exists numerous badges for Ulysses Grant and Horatio Seymour. The 1868 campaign introduced the "porthole" ferrotype, which featured a brass shell with the bust of the candidate on the reverse and jugate "portholes" portraits of the candidates on the obverse. Porthole ferrotypes also exist for the 1872 and 1876 campaigns. The 1872 campaign includes a number of rare and desirable ferrotypes for Horace Greeley, some of which include images of Greeley in his trademark hat and another in the shape of a quill pen inscribed, THE PEN IS MIGHTIER THAN THE SWORD.
The 1876 and later campaigns. There are a number of fine ferrotype and paper photo badges for the 1876 and 1880 campaigns. The jugate ferrotypes for each of these campaigns are scarce. Winfield Hancock photo badges are particularly desirable and the "rebus" ferrotype with a rooster on a hand is particularly desirable. Ferrotype badges for later campaigns are generally much scarcer than those for the 1860 and 1870 campaigns, but do not seem to command a substantial premium when compared to the cost of a standard 1860 Lincoln. This may be changing as the marketplace becomes more sophisticated and the old time sources for 19th century badges are exhausted. Paper photos for later campaigns are often plentiful and the key is to search out photos in more elaborate and imaginative brass frames.