Outstanding new item for my collection – Ribbon for South Dakota Delegation to 1892 National Republican Convention

I was thinking this day wasn’t starting out so well.

I was out running errands when I decided to quickly run through Arby’s to grab an order of their buffalo chicken nuggets and a diet coke for lunch. And as I was in the drive through, I discovered I did not have my wallet with me. Oops. So, I went home, to get back to work and ended up combing through the dregs of my freezer for something to eat. So, yeah. Basically I had pizza rolls and shame for lunch.

But, this afternoon’s mail turned my day around 100%. It’s a great day, because I received a recent purchase that’s one of the top items for my South Dakota political ribbon collection. A ribbon for the South Dakota Delegation for the first National Republican Convention where South Dakota was represented as a state in 1892.

In the prior presidential election in 1888, we were still Dakota Territory, but after statehood in 1889, 1892 represents the first time Republicans were able to go to convention as “South Dakotans.”

The 1892 convention was held in Minneapolis, and Benjamin Harrison was nominated, an election he ultimately lost. The GOP convention was also the first convention where they allowed women to serve as delegates in a national political convention. A delegate from Wyoming cast the first vote by a woman for president, as Wyoming had granted full suffrage for women at statehood in 1890.

It would be worth a lot more to outside collectors if it had President Harrison on it.. But the early version of the state seal is ok.

The owner was still fairly proud of the item, but I managed to get them down to territory where I was ok with writing a check.

And despite the awful pizza rolls and the embarrassment, it ended up being a pretty good day.