REMEMBER HANGING CHADS?

Collectible political memorabilia is everywhere this week, but we just read an AP story about a unique buy from the 2000 election. Remember hanging chads? When the 1,200 Votomatic III voting machines used that year in Palm Beach County were junked and sold, Florida political consultant Jim Dobyns bought a warehouse-full offered on eBay for $12,000. The machines are collapsible and can fold to briefcase-size, so he's selling them online and through his website (JimDobyns.com) for $75 each plus shipping. Presidential libraries, politicians (mostly Democrats), teachers, and of course political memorabilia collectors bought them.



Each machine is a piece of history. Dobyns has only about 60 left, but six months ago he thought about the chads still inside each machine. He and his wife are now selling the chads on eBay. For $20, you can buy 10 chads in a little plastic bag. You'll also get a certificate of authenticity.
So wait till Nov. 4 and see if there is a "hanging chad of 2008" that could be sold in a few years. And save your signs, pins, and other political stuff for future collectors.


We were doing our television show when Richard Nixon was president. Cesar Chavez was boycotting lettuce growers in California, trying to get his United Farm Workers Union rather than the Teamsters recognized as leading the fight to get rights for migrant workers. It was an issue at the 1972 Democratic convention. An angry lettuce grower had special boxes made to support Nixon and the Republicans in the election and to protest Chavez's boycott. We got one of those boxes and showed it on our program as an example of a rare political collectible. We have no idea what this mint box would be worth today--we have never seen one sold. But who knew hanging chads would be worth $2 each?

Kovels.com Item of the Week: Democratic National Party 1896 Convention Badge

Kovels.com Item of the Week: Democratic National Party

Delegates at this week’s Democratic National Convention will no doubt go home with handfuls of future political collectibles. An alternate delegate saved this ribbon badge from the 1896 Chicago Democratic convention, where William Jennings Bryan was nominated. The 9-inch-long badge sold this summer for $358 at auction.

There are several similarities between the 1896 and 2008 conventions—mainly the youthfulness of candidates William Jennings Bryan and Barack Obama. Bryan, who was 36 years old in 1896, is the youngest nominee in presidential history. At 47, Obama is younger than most presidential candidates (the average age is 54.8 years). And like the 2000s, the 1890s were troubled financial times in the United States. Bryan’s famous “Cross of Gold” convention address called for reforms in the American monetary system to offer relief from the effects of the Panic of 1893.

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