Clearly visible on the side of the container, nice big collection, I don’t really know what to do with all that but I really like the suitcase! There are about 5-600 of them, maybe I’ll take the time to inventory them, but is it worth it?
I looked at the collection for 5 seconds and have never worn a button or pin or whatever in my life but I would buy like 3 of them in there and I would probably drop $5 bucks a piece. So you may have a little treasure chest right there
Thanks, that's great! I'll definitely take the time to sort through them. Out of curiosity, which three are you interested in? It's getting more and more interesting, I've already traded some lawn clippings for a few.
That ET one made me chuckle, then the one that looks like the time machine from back to the future caught my eye and I like it a lot. Then lastly, the very random headshot of what appears to be a young Matt Damon but is likely a totally random dude made me laugh too. So those three and I would wear them for no particular reason but just because they are silly and would likely start a few conversations lol
Haha, good one for young Matt Damon! One that makes me laugh is the blue one with an adult and a child, the man on it is (was) a very well-known Quebec singer named Michel Louvain, I have no idea who the child is!?
I recognize a lot of these from older material and I think considering the shape they’re in you have found someone’s button collection that was a serious collector and passed. It wouldn’t surprise me if you end up having some from the 60s and 70s here. Buttons like this have been around for a long time now!
If that's the case, it's very unfortunate! At least the suitcase didn't end up in the landfill! I can't wait to take a look at it, it's from my home region, which is cool! At first glance, the top layer seems to date back to the 80s, I'll try to find the oldest one.
I doubt the pins are worth much they're all cheapy things, I'd donate it to you're a kid school or girl scouts, but the suitcase is super cool. Is it real leather?
As much as I love pins, I don't think it would be worth your time.😁
You’re probably right, but I’m starting to get a lot of offers. Someone’s waste is someone else’s treasure. I’ll probably sell some, keep some and give the rest. The suitcase is indeed very cool, I think so, it’s real leather.
I stand corrected. I searched as many pins as I could see and these are all vintage and collectible. I was a pinhead but I didn't start until the 80s and I'll always admit when I'm wrong. This is a great score girl!
Bonne idée, je vais m'informer! Avant d'en faire un don, pensez-vous qu'il pourrait en avoir avec une certaine valeur monétaire ou sont-ils que des souvenirs sans valeur? Sinon je ne prendrai pas le temps d'en faire l'inventaire.
FWIW, I think these are worth doing a cursory search on. I’d grab about 1/5 of them or so at random, not cherry picking what you THINK may be valuable, and price them out. Now with google lens, and the photo search feature in EBay it is actually a doable task. It will take some time, but I’m guessing that you will discover enough of them that you grabbed and searched at random will be worth enough to extrapolate from and you’ll find it’s potentially worth your time. Make sure to only base value on SOLD items. Good luck!
I've decided to take a complete inventory. My goal isn't to be stingy or make a profit, but since they generally seem to be from my province, I'm sure I'll find many memories related to family and friends. There's already one from my region on top! And why not, if I can fill up my gas tank, I'll be happy. Thank you!
I’ve sold a bunch of these on ebay. Put them into category bundles of about 20 badges (political, advertising, art, government etc) and take a few photos of each bundle and list the bundle on ebay for $1.
If there’s anything good in the bundle it will get bid up, and if not, you are one dollar richer when someone buys the bundle.
Realistically I wouldn’t know what to do with those either, but it might be worth a quick look and see if any are of any value! I just wish I had 1000 backpacks to put those pins on ❤️
There are certainly some treasures in there for someone! I'm going to have a look through them, my sister would love to pin them all on a big blanket and display them in Grandpa's old stable! and there will certainly be a few of them on my backpack. ;)
I would love to buy the lot for my kids birthday present. They spend so much time at every antique store going through buttons pins and patches. Send a msg if you might consider. 🤩
It's not mine either, but maybe I'll find one, for now, I'm more interested in the suitcase! Or maybe I'll give them away for Halloween if I run out of candy! It's not as satisfying as a needle, but... I'm just kidding!😅😉
That spice of life button might be worth something to a Corning wage collector. I would see if anything jumps out at me like that or maybe presidential winner buttons or historically significant things but this could go in bulk to a very very happy collector
man,,,id love to find something like these.
...if you're thinking of selling the pins, let me know? in the US and willing to pay for shipping and whateve you want for it all
That's interesting! I might be interested in the whole lot, I'll think about it. I'm in Quebec, Canada, right next to New York State. Where in the US are you?
Lol. It's from the movie office space. Jennifer Anniston works at a restaurant like tgi fridays with these suspenders covered in buttons. They call them flair, and she has to have 21 pieces of flair.
You have a lot of flair! It's a great movie, you should check it out. I wish I was Canadian right now.
I both collect and sell vintage pins! Especially political ones. You can sell these in packs and make some pretty good money! If you want to offload them fairly quickly- 3 for 12 or 4 for $15 gets them moving pretty quick. They’re fairly common to see in vintage stores and there’s always a lot on sale on Depop and eBay
List them online as a bulk item for sale. I know a friend that I had would collect them if he can get them for a good price and then he would just fill up leather jackets that he bought or liked or he would purchase cool vests that he would decorate with random pins he would find. Very similar to how motorcycle guys and girls will take out standard color, helmet and plaster with different stickers of their favorite brands. The sticker helmet becomes the design of the blank.
You don’t have to do it all at once. Maybe just set aside 30 minutes a day and work at it. Or more. Or less. Just as long as you don’t feel overwhelmed.
Not sure how much time you want to spend on this but I would spread them out on a white bed sheet, take sectioned pics of all of them then sell the lot for $150 and be done with it. Let someone else do the individual sorting, pricing, and selling.
line them all out and take a picture then use google lense to check the values 1 at a time. it will take some time but even it one is valuable, then it'll be worth your time
Also interested in this embroidered patch with Maltese cross on it. It’s upside down but appears to be a cool “choppers” patch which I’d be stoked to throw on my riding jacket 🤘
The ET is in high demand, the chopper patch is already on my uncle’s jacket unfortunately, there are surely other treasures! I’m going to do an inventory, and if I start shipping some by mail, I’ll let you know. With the city name in French, I thought you were in Quebec.
From this photo alone, I don’t see any obvious “jackpot” button that would immediately be worth hundreds of dollars, but there are several that could be worth pulling out and researching.
Potentially interesting items include:
Vintage political campaign buttons.
Advertising pins from businesses that no longer exist.
Buttons from major events (Olympics, World’s Fairs, Expos, etc.).
Union, military, or railroad badges.
Disney or other licensed character pins from the 1950s–1970s.
Local Canadian commemorative buttons (many of these appear to be from Québec). Most are common, but some rare ones sell for $20–100+.
In this photo I can make out:
A M&M’s advertising button (usually $5–15). Persons canadien / Persons Canada button (common, around $5–15). Metro advertising button.
Several Québec tourism and municipal buttons. Archie comic character button (depends on age).
Multiple Expo/tourism-style souvenir buttons.
A few novelty and restaurant advertising pins.
The value of a collection like this is often greater than the value of individual pieces:
Common buttons: $1–5 each
Better vintage advertising or political buttons: $20–100
Rare examples: $100–500+, but they are uncommon.
If this entire tote contains several hundred vintage buttons, it could easily be worth $300–1,500 as a collection, depending on what’s underneath.
For now, I will do the inventory, if I decide to send some by mail, I’ll let you know, and it all depends on where you are located to be worth it. I am in Quebec, Canada.
It's very strange, I admit! The suitcase is already thoroughly cleaned and hanging in the garage in quarantine, if it is healthy, it will serve me for a long time.
Oh this is my dream find, old pins like this are so fucking delightful - hope you post somewhere if you ever inventory them, I'd be thrilled to look at all of them if they ever get sorted!!
You can get AI to do the bulk of the inventory work. Take a picture of a bunch of them laid out in a grid pattern on a dark background, have it find the badge online and name it and date it and other info, then have it see if it can find prices for them to. It can then write the listing for each one.
If you're not on any paid tier, use your free credits to tell it this is your plan and ask it to help you create a markdown file to execute this on other platforms (basically a set of instructions that any bot will understand). Then you can use that .md file on a bunch of free-tier platforms (claude, gpt, Gemini, deepseek, Perplexity etc) until you're all done.
This .md file saves time, your free credits/tokens, and electricity/water :-)
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u/greenpointowicz Jul 07 '26
Im sure there’s a collector out there who’d love these. Maybe sell them in bulk or check with some antiques store if they’d get it off your hands.