The seller described the button as the “holy grail of political buttons”.  The auction had 18 bids.  The seller had little knowledge of the actual value of the button until it was listed.  The seller even threatened to cancel the auction if a higher bid wasn’t reached.  A few pictures of the button can be found below.

And some people are making Michael Jackson buttons.  Over at Zazzle, there are over 400 Michael Jackson buttons available.

Susan Leak over at Examiner.com looks at what Michael Jackson collectibles make sense to buy right now.  She suggests “unusual articles such as…

dolls, the toys, the pinback buttons,unused ticket stubs and the like

There are even some buttons over at Etsy.

From CreativeClam

From lisalisa2158

Here are a few points to consider when determining the value of a political button:

1. How rare is the button.
2. Was the button available to the general public or was it just available to a select group of people?
3. Buttons from the early years of a politicians career are much more valuable than the later years. For example, buttons from President Barack Obama’s run for the State Senate in Illinois are currently more valuable than most of his presidential campaign buttons.
4. Buttons that are unusual are usually more valuable than conventional buttons.

What Makes a Political Button Valuable? - WorthPoint

Sean Penn portrays Harvey Milk in the Oscar nominated film Milk.

A political junkie and button collector sent a note to Ken Rudin of NPR bragging about his Harvey Milk campaign buttons.  Well, Ken Rudin is a political junkie and collector himself and posts pictures of his Harvey Milk campaign buttons.

Head on over over to NPR to see some Harvey Milk political buttons.

If you like this tutorial, then go support her through her etsy shop.

Fabric Buttons Tutorial:

When using fabric circles with a button machine, the fabric stretches and pulls and this is what happens. Not cool. I totally ruined half a dozen buttons before I figured out the trick.

See what happens when the fabric stretches?

Take a scrap of fabric and using one of the mylar circles, trace around the part you want to make a button.

See?  Next you’ll need a paper sticker. You can use blank labels (the big address kind you get at the office depot place), but I didn’t have any, so I used a customs form that Sullivan tore the the other half from.

Stick your sticker to the back of the fabric and cut it out.

See? All cut out!

Put the circle on your press (where you would put the paper and mylar) and punch like normal.

All done and it’s perfect! No pulling!!

See how adorable and wonderful?

Sit back and bask in your awesomeness!!!

The company offers custom packaging for 1″, 1.25″, 1.5″, 1.75″, and 2.25″ buttons.  Minimum order is 50 packages.  I’ve included a few pictures of the packaging below.

The company also offers a counter-top display for buttons.  A short description and a photo of the display is below.

Without taking up too much counter space, this simple mini revolving counter top display unit is ideal for your button sets. Each unit contains: 24 holes across and 20 rows down. Each rack includes 8 - 4 inch hooks. Available in black only.

Finally, the company also offers vending machines.  The machines start at $275.

Obama’s likeness brings in the bucks - The Sun Chronicle

Vendors fill D.C. streets with goods - USA Today

Obama souvenirs increasing presidential inauguration memorabilia fans - Wallet Pop

Inaugural memorabilia may fetch big bucks - Politico

Inaugural Memorabilia: What It’s Worth - SmartMoney

Barack Obama Memorabilia Rush Ahead of Inauguration - VOA News

Hot ticket: Obama memorabilia sets record for inaugural bling - Miami Herald

The Business Of Selling Barack Obama - CBSNews.com

I created the template below for all those flickr fans out there.  The template is designed for 1″ buttons.  The template will work with this 1″ button maker.  Just print the template on regular 8.5″ x 11″ paper and start making buttons.