The 1896 Presidential election featured a fight between supporters of the gold standard and those supporting free silver. A political campaign tactic that also made its debut in the 1896 election was the campaign button that featured mounted paper images protected by a thin coating of celluloid. William McKinley supporters took it a step further, creating a brass pin depicting a bug and referring to themselves as gold bugs. The Democrats followed suit, with silver bug pins. The wings of this bug can fold back underneath the body, which makes the pin more wearable outside of election season.
