One Inch Badges

Buttonbadges.co.uk - Home Of The Button Badge

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we make badges using only traditional metal components
the price you see is the price you pay
there is no VAT to add and delivery is free to the UK
we aim to despatch all orders within one week of receipt
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We just love making button badges!

A History Of Buttons, Pins And Badges!

One Inch Button Badges were first produced in the USA towards the end of the Nineteenth Century as a low cost alternative to the medallions, pendants and "badges" of the day that were expensive to make.

The invention of celluloid in 1869 by John Wesley Hyatt gave the world its first semi-synthetic plastic and it was crucial in the development of a whole new range of products including button badges.

Thin sheets of celluloid could be used to cover paper and give the effect of the traditional enamel badge without the cost or labour skills needed to work with enamel. It also meant that less metal could be used in producing badges and there was no longer any need for soldering or screwing.

All that was needed was a printed image and a thin sheet of celluloid to cover it (both cut the size, usually circular and one inch in diameter, with the celluloid slightly overlapping the paper so that it would hold it in place). A pressed metal shell was produced and a simple machine used to press the paper, celluloid and shell together. A metal ring was then attached to the back of the badge to hold the badge together, again by the use of a simple press. Finally a pin was clipped into the back of the badge so that it could be fixed to an item of clothing.

1 Inch button badges were and still are called buttons or pins, particularly in the USA, but in the UK they are best known as button badges - for no other reason than they are more often than not the size of a button.

Plastic badges have been made in recent years, but the traditional metal button badge - as made by us here at buttonbadges.co.uk - are still made in the same way and to the same high standard as they were over 100 years ago. Certainly the components we use haven't changed for decades, with the only real difference between the early button badges and the ones we make today being the use of plastic acetates instead of celluloid ones and a D pin instead of an open pin.

Some of the first buttons to appear in the UK were produced to celebrate the diamond jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1897. The badges were cheap to buy and made popular souvenirs of what was a huge occasion in Britain at the time.

The New Jersey company of Whitehead & Hoag were one of the biggest manufacturers of one inch circular button badges during the first half of the twentieth century and they were responsible for the production of the Boer War badges that arrived in Britain at the turn of the twentieth century. With messages like "Only One Order - Forward!" and "England Expects Every Man To Do His Duty", they proved very popular in a country gripped by the wave of patriotism that accompanied the war.

Today's love of button badges among the young though dates back to the 1960s and early Seventies when they were used by students, hippies and musicians as a symbol of protest. John Lennon for one loved them and from then onwards the one inch button badge has always been seen as a cool thing to wear.

It was the arrival of the Sex Pistols and punk in 1976 though that was to make the button badge an essential fashion statement. For the next decade, people all over the world displayed their allegiance to a band, music, youth cult or cause by wearing one or more button badges. Despite lulls in their popularity since, they remain a firm favourite today and are enjoying something of a revival in fortunes of late.

The British Museum (Great Russell Street London WC1B 3DG) is currently hosting a free exhibition to celebrate the role of button badges in society entitled "Status Symbols: Identity And Belief On Modern Badges" and it features some early examples of button badges, including a Queen Victoria jubilee badge, as well as others such as the Smiley badge and the classic "Ban The Bomb". It runs until the 16th of January 2005.

For more details contact the The British Museum by telephone: (+44) 020 7323 8000 (switchboard) or (+44) 020 7323 8299 (information desk) or visit their website at http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/cm/badges/

A book to accompany the exhibition has also been produced called The British Museum Book of Badges and as is available from amazon.co.uk for £6.39 (20% off the usual price). Excellent for reference and further reading.

Meanwhile there's talk of a band to be called The Button Badges. But that's all it is at the moment. Talk.