Hoping for some info on this pin

[Exhibitman]

I've seen this pin front with Whitehead & Hoag backs but this one was new to me. I can't find anything on it, other than I see there is a reference to a W & H patent on it. Any ideas on Wm. F. Miller & Co.?

[thecatspajamas]

What size is your pin? Hake's had another Fitzsimmons pin in 2008 that they described as:

1.25" listed in "Boxing Pinback Buttons By Muchinsky" as #12. Muchinsky notes this and the following 2 buttons were likely issued in anticipation of the famous 1897 Corbett-Fitzsimmons fight. Lower half of the backpaper lists the W&H name and 3 early patent dates but the upper half of the paper has this text "Wm. F. Miller & Co.,/23 Duane St./N.Y. City."

http://www.hakes.com/item.asp?Auction=196&ItemNo=77145



No back image, but the verbal description appears to match yours. Perhaps yours is the other of the 2 buttons described in the book? I do not have Paul's boxing pin book (his baseball pin book is amazing though, so I probably should), but perhaps someone else does and can confirm or deny...?

[springpin]

I am not quite sure of your question. The pin was issued for the fight with Corbett. Whitehead and Hoag had one of the patents for making pinback buttons. If you are referring to the name of the company presented on the back paper, I don't know who they were. My guess is either they were a pin maker themselves, or just a company that purchased the pins for this famous fight and gave them out as a form of advertising.

Paul

[Exhibitman]

The pin is just under an inch.

I realize that the pin is from the Corbett fight and matches the images on the ones with the Whitehead and Hoag paper inserts. My question was whether anyone knew anything about the company that issued this brand variation on the standard W & H pin. Apparently one has been slabbed by PSA, so it is a known variation.