The iconic colorful metal buttons that have served at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s admission tickets since 1971 are no more. Due to the rising cost of the tin-plate pins, the museum will employ a new paper ticket system that will include detachable stickers, which will serve as proof of admission. The buttons will be discontinued on Monday, July 1, the same day that the Met will switch to a seven-day-a-week schedule. It was previously closed on Mondays.
The Met’s admission buttons have become a symbol of New York City culture and a popular souvenir for tourists. Their badge’s most recent iteration features an “M” appropriated from a 16th century woodcut based on a Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) drawing. After the Met introduced their unique admission tokens over 40 years ago, a number of institutions followed suit and they are now commonplace in museums around the world.
In addition to bringing production costs down from 3 cents per button to 1 cent per paper ticket, the new system will also be more environmentally friendly.
