From CBN News - 'Obamanomics' Yields Big Bucks

By Erick Stakelbeck CBN News January 21, 2009

(Click on image to view video)

CBNNews.com - From breath mints to T-shirts, to coffee and pasta, President Barack Obama's likeness is on everything. But how much is being made in the booming business?

Ann Hand and her staff have been hard at work. In 20 years of designing jewelry through her business, Ann Hand Designs, she's never experienced anything quite like this.

"I don't think there's any comparison. I've never seen anything like it," she said. "So many people wanting just some memento of this historic day."

Since Barack Obama was elected, Hand has been sending her items all over the world.
"It's amazing to me that people in Singapore and Great Britain, Norway, Sweden, have wanted something to commemorate this President. It's wonderful for America," she added.

Profits from Obama-related merchandise are estimated at $300 million and climbing.

"This is my souvenir. My Barack Obama momento," one tourist said. "I'll take it home and they'll be proud of it back home because everyone loves Barack Obama in Australia."

Larry Bird, a curator at the Smithsonian Museum, says this type of political excitement dates back to George Washington. "Historically I think this fits very closely with what we've seen before," he said. Bird, however, added that campaigns profiting from political items is new. In the past candidates gave away hats or buttons in order to advertise. "They don't really believe in these things as effective media any more," he explained. "It's just as likely if you went to Obama headquarters and asked for a button, they'd be happy to sell you one for $1.00. The same thing with a bumper sticker."

The cost doesn't seem to bother the millions of people wanting their own piece of history.

Although Obama's record-breaking campaign has ended, sales at his official Web site are still going strong. Profits will go to the inauguration, which will cost an estimated $150 million.

If You Were 1 of the 1.8 Million At The Inauguration - Get Your Ann Hand "I Was There" Keepsake

January 20, 2009 marked an historic event in American history that was witnessed by a record crowd estimated to be over 1.8 million people. Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States becoming the first African-American to reach the highest office in the country.

What better way to commemorate this historic day than an Ann Hand "I Was There" dog tag for $45 (pictured here and available in gold and silver tones). It is a keepsake for years to come to let your family and friends know that you were one of the 1.8 million witnesses to history.

You may shop the entire Ann Hand Obama Collection at annhand.com.

The Huffington Post - Jewelry Designer Ann Hand Brings Out The Bling For Obama

By Annie Groer

WASHINGTON - January 16, 2009. As a sartorial signifier, nothing says Serious Political Woman or, for that matter, Political Wife, like an Ann Hand Liberty Eagle. Since the early '90s, the red-eyed raptor clawing a faux pearl has, like a sorority pin on steroids, perched on the bodices of countless high-profile Republicans and Democrats, from Nancy Reagan and Cindy McCain to Janet Reno and Tipper Gore.

Hillary Clinton wore hers to meet Mother Teresa. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright donned one to take the oath that broke the glass ceiling in Foggy Bottom. Even Geena Davis got one to play Mackenzie Allen, America's first female president, on ABC's "Commander-in-Chief," which is fitting since the very eagle was copied from the legs of a White House piano.


These days Ann Hand, the undisputed Queen of Bejeweled Patriotica, is flying high with a line of Obama bling that includes $175 Swarovski-studded black plastic sunglasses, (shown in photo on left Ann Hand and Washington-based tech exec Basel Dalloul modeling glitzy Obama shades) inspired by a trip to Vegas as the official designer of Miss America baubles (her shades touting John McCain and Hillary went nowhere); a $25 blue plastic mini-thermos, its crystal collar rendering it too delicate for the dishwasher (but perfect as a party favor at Thursday's hot-ticket Cafe Milano party in Georgetown); and the $75 Great Seal of the United States circle pin bearing Barack Obama's name ($3,800 in 18k gold and diamonds).

She now has two Washington stores, takes private commissions and her website has generated orders for Obama trinkets from as far away as Singapore and Norway. Hand did not set out to build a mini-empire that has expanded well beyond jewelry to scarves, ties, boxes, blankets, paperweights, perfume, T-shirts, frames and other objects designed to celebrate American history and the U.S. military.

She just wanted a hobby. So back in 1988, with her five children grown and gone, she started making earrings in her kitchen. "I'd wad up pieces of the Washington Post, mix them with flour and water and put them on a greased cookie sheet at 350 degrees. When they dried, I'd paint and bead them. They were not always patriotic. I was just trying to do something pretty." Although she had taken a few jewelry-making classes, "I never thought this was going to be a business. I knew I didn't want to work with gold and silver. I don't like to get my hands dirty. I didn't want to be soldering."

Tragedy turned a diversion into grief therapy. "My son Tommy, my baby, was 27 and he was struck by an automobile and died in Florida. It was a horrible, horrible time for us. My husband had his law practice. I had just started this, so I could get lost in my work from early morning to night. I was stringing pearls. I learned how to put on clasps. It did help me recover." So did her friends, many of them Congressional wives. The Hands had come to Washington in the late 1950s, when her husband, Lloyd, was hired by a fellow Texan, Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson. By 1963, LBJ was in the White House and his trusted aide was chief of protocol. Johnson left office and returned home in 1969, but the Hands stayed put. After Tommy's death, Colleen Nunn, wife of Georgia Sen. Sam Nunn, asked Hand to design a brooch of the statue of Freedom that tops the Capitol dome. "I said, 'Sure, I can do that,'" though she wasn't convinced she actually could. But the design was sound, and the pins were produced in Rhode Island.

The ubiquitous eagle was hatched in 1991 or '92, she recalls, and "no one would buy it when I brought it out. But it took off when Pamela Harriman became ambassador to France. She wore it and wore it, and a lot of people who told us no one was wearing eagles because they were kind of corny saw that this sophisticated citizen of the world liked it. Then Hillary got one."

And so, it seems, did every third woman in politics who felt moved to spend $150 on a piece of costume jewelry. An additional $125 buys a pair of matchy-matchy eagle earrings. Not every design has been such a runaway hit. "I did a drawing of Lady Justice," says Hand. "I was so excited, and then the prototype came in and it looked like she had a 44-inch bosom and a 22-inch waist. And I learned that something on paper doesn't always translate to metal."

On the other hand, a $45 "First Pooch" dog tag, with a paw print in honor of a non-existent canine that may someday occupy the Obama White House, is selling briskly.

From Washingtonian - Dress Up in Obama Bling

Washington jeweler Ann Hand sells Obama necklaces, watches, cuff links, and coffee mugs.

By Emily Leamon

If voting wasn’t enough, now you can show your love for Barack Obama with a bit of bling. Washington jewelry designer Ann Hand has created a Barack Obama collection to commemorate the historic inauguration. For $95, you can score a glitzy silver necklace featuring Obama’s name written in 84 Swarovski crystals. Bling not your bag? Hand also has Obama watches, sunglasses, cuff links, dog tags, and pins. Her favorite item is a blue Obama 2008 travel mug with six rows of rhinestones for $25 .

A limited-edition inaugural pin, priced at $75, is the centerpiece of the collection. It features the presidential seal above Obama’s name, which is flanked by two crystals. For $3,800, you can special-order an 18-karat-gold version and swap out the crystals for diamonds. Both come inscribed with the Ann Hand logo and the date of the inauguration, January 20, 2009. Hand, who has made only 2,500 inaugural pins, received more than 1,000 orders within the first week of advertising them in her store and on her Web site. “I didn’t realize they’d be so popular,” she says. Hand’s dog tags, priced at $45, come in gold or silver tones and a choice of inscriptions. One reads: “This is our Moment / This is our Time,” and another says, “I WAS THERE”—meant for attendees of the swearing-in ceremony on January 20. Items range in price from the $25 mug to a $175 pair of sunglasses, which have several rows of Swarovski crystals on the temples. The crystals create an outline for the letters OBAMA. “We’re trying to keep prices as low as we can, with the economy,” Hand says. “We want this line to be available to as many people as possible.”