Blog Post

These delegate passes to Monday’s cancelled convention session should be popular with collectors.

The Republican National Convention in Tampa is over, and now it’s time to turn the other cheek, so to speak. The Democrats will have their say in Charlotte this week as the Democratic National Convention gets under way.

As with the Republicans, loads of political collectors will be in Charlotte this week gathering everything in sight, from corporate swag related to the convention, to floor tickets for gaining admittance to the convention floor, to buttons from delegations.

One of the hot items from the RNC last week in Tampa was a small lapel pin worn and given out to reporters and dignitaries by the Secret Service. It was a small American flag with a law enforcement badge over part of the flag’s stripes. If you really weren’t looking for it, you might have missed it. But once it was brought to light with collectors, everyone began noticing who was wearing it. Marco Rubio wore one, as did Mitt Romney. Jeb Bush had one. The list went on and on. Many collectors were looking to add one of those to their collections last week.

This Secret Service pin, shown here with a penny to illustrate size, is a popular collectible now.

Buttons from delegates were hot as usual, as were convention tickets. One thing that’s bound to be popular with collectors in the future is  floor passes to the Monday session of the convention. It was, of course, cancelled because of Tropical Storm Isaac’s close pass by Tampa.

This week should be no different. Collectors will be searching for those elusive media passes, or items that you could only get by being invited into a certain event.

Collector John Olsen of Iowa mans the APIC booth in Charlotte.

Watch the lapels closely of delegates, politicians and celebrities on TV this week. That will give you a hint at what collectors are looking for. And if you are in Charlotte, check out the American Political Items Collectors booth where you can get information about the hobby. The booth will be manned by collectors this week.