Fenton Bicycle Pin

Object Details

Description

The stickpin is topped with an aqua colored celluloid button and is decorated with a red wheel in the center. The button reads “I admire/Fenton/Bicycles.” The Fenton Metallic Company of Jamestown, New York produced this souvenir pin advertising for Fenton bicycles around 1896. Fenton was one of many companies who parlayed their existing business (in this case metal office goods) into bicycles when the bicycle boom began. Similarly to those companies, the Fenton ceased manufacturing cycling parts when the bicycle boom ended in 1898.

Bicycling boomed in popularity in the United States during the 1890s when the invention of the “safety” bicycle replaced the dangerous high-wheeler. The National Cycle Board of Trade held the largest annual exhibitions in New York and Chicago between 1893 and 1897. At these cycle shows manufacturers attempted to capitalize on the bicycle boom with exhibitions of their products to both the public and bicycle agents from other cities. At shows like these, manufacturers advertised their wares with pins and buttons made of tin and celluloid—cheap materials easily mass manufactured into trinkets and souvenirs. The Chicago Tribune’s account of the 1896 Chicago show speaks to the ubiquity of these kind of souvenirs. “Every visitor seems to have a desire to cherish its memory through some kind of a souvenir . . . anyone who does not look like a walking sign board is a rarity and every exhibiter goes after him and every available buttonhole has some kind of button in it, and stick pins are thrust at him from all sides.”

Location

Currently not on view

ID Number

1990.0294.20

catalog number

1990.0294.20

accession number

1990.0294

Object Name

pin, lapel

Physical Description

metal (overall material)

celluloid (overall material)

Measurements

overall: 3/4 in; 1.905 cm

See more items in

Work and Industry: Transportation, Road

Bicycle Pins

Transportation

National Museum of American History

Record ID

nmah_1140629

Metadata Usage (text)

CC0

GUID (Link to Original Record)

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a9-ce08-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa