US Presidential Collectibles
Washington, Adams, Roosevelt,Taft Make Useful Items for Collectors
Campaign buttons are just the tip of the presidential collectible iceberg; U.S. Presidents have appeared on everything from suspender clips to shirt hangers.
James Madison Decanters and FDR Clocks
Henry VIII might have objected to his person in the form of a whiskey bottle with a screw-off head, but James Madison was subjected to that and worse at the hands of American capitalists. From the very first, manufacturers saw profit in both the lauding and lampooning of the Chief of State. Over the years, presidents have appeared in a variety of forms, some as tributes like the FDR clock or the James Monroe mug. Others are less flattering, more fun, and every bit as collectible!
Presidents as Porcelain
Pottery presidents have been particularly popular! James Monroe made it onto a transferware flow blue coffee mug as early as the late 18th century, which has since been reproduced. Whiskey decanters are common, and have been manufactured in the likenesses of James Madison, James Monroe, John Adams, Ulysses S. Grant, and Theodore Roosevelt. Other presidential porcelain includes the Ronald Reagan teapot, the Andrew Jackson table lamp, the James Buchanan toothpick holder, the John F. Kennedy salt & pepper shakers, and the Thomas Jefferson head vase, made by Enesco in the 1950s and '60s when these vases, usually heads of beautiful women, were all the rage.
The President as a Handy Household Helper
The Wm Rogers Silver Company produced a John Quincy Adams candle snuffer. Grover Cleveland, Teddy Roosevelt, and Gerald Ford have appeared on sterling silver spoons, and Andrew Johnson makes possibly his greatest contribution to this country’s welfare, in the prevention of white rings on the furniture with his drink coasters. Ulysses S. Grant was recently turned into a resin pill bottle. In 1928, the Hall China Company produced a lemonade pitcher in the likeness of Herbert Hoover. Not surprisingly, barware has made a strong showing: Harry Truman as a handy bottle stopper, Ike, a bottle cap, Bill Clinton a corkscrew, and James Earl Carter a bottle opener. President Lyndon Johnson urged the Great Society to hang up their clothes with a shirt hanger bearing his likeness
Merely Decorative Presidents
Warren G. Harding, one of our handsomest presidents, graced a good luck charm that resembled a Lincoln head penny in 1923. Martin Van Buren, known for his penchant for the finer things in life, made his appearance on a mixed silver and gold plate as part of The White House Historical Association Series. That jolly old soul, William Howard Taft made a delightful Christmas tree ornament produced by Christopher Radko in the 1990s.
Presidents Both Decorative and Useful
Franklin Roosevelt has appeared on a variety of clocks. When he wasn’t busy steering the ship of state, he was enjoying a snootfull, celebrating the repeal of prohibition. George Washington has appeared as a thimble, and James Garfield as a trivet. As for the Abraham Lincoln paperclip, according to Carl Sferazza Anthony, author of Heads of State, “If he could guide a nation through its most unstable period, imagine how well Abraham Lincoln could turn a messy desk of papers into a tidy bundle.”
SOURCE: Heads of State by Carl Sferazza Anthony 2004 Fair Stree Books Bloomsbury and Kovels' 34th Edition Antiques & Collectibles 2002 Three Rivers Press 2002
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