Ben Hur Bicycle Pin
notes: label: Description
content: The Central Cycle Manufacturing Company of Indianapolis, Indiana produced this souvenir pin for its Ben-Hur bicycle around 1896. Ben-Hur was originally sold as a cheap wheel, before moving on to full bicycle production.
label: Description
content: Bicycling boomed in popularity in the United States during the 1890s when the invention of the “safety” bicycle replaced the dangerous high-wheeler. The National Cycle Board of Trade held the largest annual exhibitions in New York and Chicago between 1893 and 1897. At these cycle shows manufacturers attempted to capitalize on the bicycle boom with exhibitions of their products to both the public and bicycle agents from other cities. At shows like these, manufacturers advertised their wares with pins and buttons made of tin and celluloid—cheap materials easily mass manufactured into trinkets and souvenirs. The Chicago Tribune’s account of the 1896 Chicago show speaks to the ubiquity of these kind of souvenirs. “Every visitor seems to have a desire to cherish its memory through some kind of a souvenir . . . anyone who does not look like a walking sign board is a rarity and every exhibiter goes after him and every available buttonhole has some kind of button in it, and stick pins are thrust at him from all sides.”
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Transportation, Road
label: See more items in
content: Bicycle Pins
label: See more items in
content: Transportation
label: Exhibition
content: Object Project
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1990.0294.27
label: catalog number
content: 1990.0294.27
label: accession number
content: 1990.0294
objectType: label: Object Name
content: pin, lapel
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: celluloid (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 3/4 in; 1.905 cm