It’s a little worn, but it’s a great old piece, antique in fact. It’s dated 1900 and it’s in a bezel. The reverse shows the wear but I consider that normal for its age. The reverse side is a campaign advertising peace.
I have one, not the same as yours as it's around the size of a quarter and it's from Sterling Mfg., early 1900's!
Randy, it’s called a Ferrotype photo and after a little research @alurid is correct. It’s McKinley and Roosevelt in 1901. A Ferrotype is also known as as a Tintype. A Ferrotype It’s a very underexposed negative image produced on a thin iron plate. It was made darker by lacking or enabling and coded with a collodion photographic emotion that process made the dark background appear to be more positive in coloring. This underexposed process meant that a photographer could Prepare, expose, develop, and varnish a Ferrotype Plate in a few minutes. Back in those days iron was much cheaper than glass. That process was first patented in 1857. Because it was a very thin piece of iron to which the negative was applied the public at that time. Prefer to call it a tin type. it was called that because it implied a cheap tin like feel of the material. Because it’s made on a thin sheet of iron Ferrotypes Often show evidence of rust or blisters or the applied enamel has started to lift off. Hope that helps to explain it.
Yes, it's McKinley and Roosevelt. Here's a button from the 1900 presidential campaign. The background is in gold because they ran on maintaining the gold standard. Here's a black and white view.
Here's an Indian cent, that was mounted on a stick pin, used during the 1896 presidential election campaign.
