I was extremely happy this past week to receive the pins I won the bid for on ebay for some SD Inaugural pins, one of which I was missing for my collection.
The 1953 Sigurd Anderson Pin is actually a challenging Inaugural to find, and it has taken me a long time to get one in the wild to put back into my collection. If you’re in Pierre, you’ll recognize the Sigurd Anderson Building named for this former Governor, across the street from the Capitol.
There was a downside to the pin find.. it came with a large group of pins, including a couple of tough pins to find; the ’41 Bushfield, and the equally challenging ’45 M. Q. Sharpe pin.
And predictably, that wasn’t lost on competing bidders, as they took me about to the limits of what I was willing to pay. It was not at all a bad price for the group, but a healthy sum for the one pin I wanted.
I did have a plan for a brief moment where I figured that I could recoup my expenses, sell off the duplicates, and maybe even make it a revenue neutral or moneymaking acquisition..
Until my daughter Sydney asked to have her pick before I did anything like that. And it is her birthday tomorrow… well, dang it. Best laid plans.. but I can’t fault my daughter for finding South Dakota political history interesting, she comes by it honestly.
At some point in the near future, I’m going to do some downsizing and have a sale of extras, as soon as I can find them. Which might be an indication that it’s time to downsize.
In the meantime, this leaves me 2 inaugural pins to find; the near impossible first one, and I need a large 1975 Kneip pin whenever I can come across it, and then my inaugural pin quest is complete. Which will leave me to chase state capital fight items.
Stay tuned.
Candidates live-on through their swag.
It’s one of the neater aspects of the experience.
I’ve never seen the Bushfield pin, though my Grandparents attended. They were admirers of Governor Bushfield and from what they said about him, I’m not surprised that his pins includes the names of all other elected office holders in the executive branch and Supreme Court. It was their Inaugural Ball as well.
Drive by Sigurd Anderson International Airport in Webster, SD often.
I have the complete set in my office in Pierre if somebody wants to see them. Pat, I probably have a duplicate of the Kniep pin, but maybe this summer I, like you can organize my thousands of pins and find it for you.
Sigurd and Vivien Anderson were neighbors of mine in Webster. Gave me rides to school some days. Driving gloves, even in summer. Often wore a Stetson hat. Knew everyone’s name. And you could hear his HA HA HAA!! easily above the crowd. A classic South Dakota character.