Lapel Pin Diplomacy

My friend Star Sosa of Spectrum Art & Jewelry told me about a wonderful book by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.  Read My Pins: Stories from a Diplomat’s Jewel Box, was published in conjunction with the Museum of Arts and Design’s first major exhibition of jewelry from Ms. Albright’s personal collection.

Why should the world care about Madeleine Albright’s pins? Well, turns out they were an important factor in recent history. The story goes that Albright, the first female Secretary of State became known for wearing brooches during diplomatic meetings that purposefully conveyed her views.

It started when Albright criticized Saddam Hussein and in return, Hussein’s poet in residence called her “an unparalleled serpent.” Shortly thereafter, while preparing to meet with Iraqi officials, Albright decided to make a diplomatic statement by wearing a snake pin she happened to have in her jewelry box. From that day forward, pins became part of Albright’s diplomatic communication.

For example, when Ms. Albright thought negotiations would likely go well, she would wear a balloon pin. She also frequently wore a dove pin given to her by Leah Rabin, wife of former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was assassinated in 1995 by a radical opposed to Rabin’s role in peace efforts. Later, Leah Rabin presented Albright with a matching dove necklace, and told her, “In your job one dove of peace is not going to be enough.”

As the Queen of Promotional Products, one of the things I find most interesting about Albright’s collection is that it is not particularly valuable in terms of the jewelry itself. Many of the pins owned by the former Secretary of State are mass-produced, inexpensive pieces (like the ones we sell here) that she picked up or received as token gifts during her diplomatic globe-trotting.

The Museum of Arts and Design will be holding on to Albright’s pin collection for a while; because it is a traveling exhibit, Ms. Albright will not get her pins back for at least two years. This didn’t seem to bother her. According to USA Today, the museum curator said Albright saw the long delay as an opportunity — to buy more pins.

Did You Earn Your Wings?

 Aah, the good ol’ days….I travel extensively and these days we’re lucky if the airline gives us a bag of pretzels and something to drink.  But do you remember the days when the airlines used to serve food on real china with real silverware?  Or the era when you could still get pillows and blankets and slippers without flying first class?

The airlines used to treat children well too.  As a kid it was so exciting to fly the friendly skies knowing that your reward would be a set of plastic wings “just like” the ones the pilots wore on their uniforms.  Didn’t every child dream of becoming a pilot or a flight attendant after receiving a junior wings lapel pin?

Those airline lapel wings are now pieces of nostalgia sought after by collectors.  Manufacturers started issuing lapel pins in the 1930’s.  Today there are over 900 known types of junior wings.  They have been made from cast metal, stamped tin, plastic, cloth, paper and vinyl.  Small plastic wings sell for about $1 each on the collectibles market whereas metal wings command about $25 a pair.  As for those childhood memories?  Well, they’re priceless.