This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 11/3/2021
Gold bug bicycle stickpin with original United States Tire Co. 3 inch tall card, crease in card, pin is excellent. We have listed this pin as a McKinley item in the past, but David Holcomb has provided us with this information:
In the Autumn ’73 Keynoter, Elmer Piercy provided a wonderful piece on gold and silver bugs. It has come to light that a gold bug was included that was not a McKinley gold bug but a novelty advertising piece from 1917, which was well after the gold and silver campaigns of the turn of the century. It is the cute bug on a bicycle and is number 30 in the article. The first clue as to the stickpin’s attribution is the back, which is marked “U.S. Bicycle Tires.” The attractive stickpin was produced in 1917 as part of the bicycle tire company’s advertising campaign to get children to acquire the “bicycle bug.” One contemporary account of the day put it this way, “Thousands of boys and girls in all parts of the country will shortly receive the ‘Bicycle Bug’ through the generosity of the United States Tire Company. The bug is an attractive stickpin, with an amusing little insect riding a bicycle on it and can be obtained by applying to dealers and distributers of the United States bicycle tires. This novelty has been originated in order to stimulate the demand for the bicycle and to continue the campaign now under way to restore the bicycle to it former state of popularity.” They proved quite popular as several runs were made of the pin. Part of the advertising campaign was a booklet titled “Mother Goose Up-To-Date” and were made up of the classic nursery rhymes revised to advertise bicycles and U.S. Tires. The “Bicycle Bug” was prominent throughout, as seen on this sample page. While the stickpin is a great advertising piece, it is not a campaign memento from the great gold vs. silver campaigns from 20 years before.