1912 Elfego Baca Campaign Buttons
GUEST: I brought some pins from Elfego Baca, when he ran for congress in 1912 for the state of New Mexico. And I also brought some photos. He's my great, great grandfather. Him and his wife had a daughter and she had three boys Albert and Alfred were the twins. Alfred was my grandpa. So that's them right there. This is him right there with them. This is his wife Crucita with the boys. He was like a famous gunman, like a lawyer, a lawman in New Mexico. And hew as involved in the Frisco Shootout in 1884 which they made Disney movies about. He became a mayor, school superintendent. And when New Mexico became a state in 1912, he ran for congress, for the House of Representatives. So, we found some buttons that had kind of been passed down through the family and stuff, so…
APPRAISER: Yeah a gunman, lawman, and politician. In the closing days of the Wild West?
GUEST: Yeah.
APPRAISER: Yeah. And, first deputized when he was 19 years old, correct?
GUEST: Yes, super young, 1884, around there was when the Frisco Shootout was, so yeah.
APPRAISER: And what were some of your favorite stories about your great-great grandfather?
GUEST: The Frisco Shootout one was really cool. There's a rumor that he sent around a letter to people by serving warrants, he would basically tell them that they could turn themselves in or he would be forced to act in violent ways that would take care of the problem.
APPRAISER: And tell us about the run-in with Pancho Villa.
GUEST: Oh, so there is a rumor that he stole Pancho Villa's gun. Pancho Villa put a hit out on his head for, I want to say it was tens of thousands of dollars, to get it back, there's a picture of him holding it that I've seen in a couple books that he's just kinda holding the rifle. And obviously the hit on his head was never served to Pancho Villa, but that's the legend is that he stole his gun.
APPRAISER: These are stories that have been passed down from generation to generation?
GUEST: Oh yeah.
APPRAISER: Well, we were really excited to see the pinback buttons of his run for congress in 1912.
GUEST: Yeah.
APPRAISER: Shortly after New Mexico had just become a state.
GUEST: Yes.
APPRAISER: And it was an unsuccessful run, but he did make that run for congress there in 1912. The thing we were most impressed with is that we could not find any other examples whatsoever of either one of these color variations of this pinback button.
GUEST: Oh wow.
APPRAISER: Have you ever had these appraised before?
GUEST: No.
APPRAISER: Because of the importance of these buttons and the rarity, we would estimate these two buttons to sell at auction for $2,500.
GUEST: Oh my goodness. Wow! That's shocking.
APPRAISER: And it was so great to see a pair of rare pinback buttons like that that are…
GUEST: Wow.
APPRAISER: …such local history.
GUEST: Cool, thank you so much! That's cool, my dad will be really excited.
$3,000 - $3,500 Auction
$2,500 Auction
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