People whose hobby is collecting political memorabilia are few, but they’re passionate.

There are only 2,000 members in the hobby’s national club, the American Political Item Collectors, and just 150 in Indiana’s affiliate, the Political Collectors of Indiana.

Even so, some kind of confab is held somewhere nearly every month.

There’s one in Indianapolis on Saturday at the Beech Grove Public Library.

It’s a chance for collectors to swap among themselves and also to check out items brought in by the public, who may have cleared out a pack-rat relative’s attic and is looking to unload, say, a Ted Kennedy-for-president lapel pin.

This would be a good time to dump such an item, experts say, as there’s a Ted Kennedy feeding frenzy following the senator’s death. Michael McQuillen, the president of the Indiana group, says he was at a show in Ohio last month and saw Kennedy buttons commanding upwards of $15, about five times their earlier value.

There is money to be made in political memorabilia. An Obama-for-state-senate button, the equivalent of an Obama rookie card, today is worth $1,000.

But most collectors say they’re not in it for the money.

Charles A. Hunter, a retired HUD employee from Beech Grove, has been collecting for 40 years. Earlier this summer he was combing a flea market on Indianapolis’ Westside when he came across a William McKinley button. He of course bought it. McKinley, a former governor of Ohio, was U.S. president at the turn of the last century.

It’s possible Hunter will sell his McKinley button today, but when it comes to his specialty, Indiana politicians, he’s purely a buyer. This, even though he’s 75 and his collection already is so vast he can’t say for sure how many items it contains.

Among Hunter’s wares are at least one item from every Indiana governor’s campaign going back to 1890.

“It’s just something I do,” Hunter says. “Some people garden. The point is to keep collecting until you die.”

David Yount, a fellow member of the Indiana club, has been a collector for 25 years.

“Once you’re a collector, you’re always a collector. The beauty of it is, there are so many forms — posters, buttons, things made of china, every conceivable tchotchke.”

But the future does not appear bright. Political memorabilia is fading, collectors say, its role diminished as candidates increasingly turn from grassroots advertising to mass-media.

“It’s easier to find a Schricker (button) than a Ballard,” says Hunter. Henry Schricker became Indiana’s governor in 1941; Greg Ballard is the current mayor of Indianapolis.

Robert Vane, an aide to Ballard, estimated that fewer than 5,000 campaign buttons were minted.

The most popular form of personal political advertising these days are yard signs. Some collectors covet them, but others won’t touch them.

“Big items just take up so much space,” says Hunter, indicating even his passion has boundaries. "I was at an antique store a few years ago, and there was this 5 by 7 foot picture of Adlai Stevenson, and they didn’t want too much for it.

“But what do you do with a 5 by 7 foot picture of Adlai Stevenson?

“So I passed.”