July 01, 2026
Provided images/National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum
Betsy Ross and Benjamin Franklin bobbleheads are now available for preorder. Each collectible costs $30.
Pint-sized versions of Benjamin Franklin and Betsy Ross can soon wobble on your desk.
The National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum has put together a special collection of figurines for the country's big birthday this weekend. The semiquincentennial set includes several notable Americans and a copy of the Declaration of Independence that jiggles.
Revolutionary seamstress Betsy Ross is depicted with a needle in hand and the first U.S. flag, which she purportedly sewed at 239 Arch St., on her lap. Benjamin Franklin has no accessories, but technically appears twice in the collection — once as a standalone 8-inch-tall bobblehead and again in a larger piece inspired by John Trumbull’s 1818 painting "Declaration of Independence." This collectible, priced at $176, also features Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and John Hancock. The foundational document has its own wobbler, too.
Another flag-maker tied to the Delaware Valley made the cut. Though Mary Pickersgill is primarily known for sewing the Star-Spangled Banner that flew over Fort McHenry, she was born in Philadelphia and lived there with her husband John Pickersgill prior to his death. Pickersgill's figurine, like Ross's, features a version of the flag she created.
The bobblehead museum has produced novelty odes to people from other parts of the country. Inventors like Eli Whitney, Samuel Morse, Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell are part of the series, as are abolitionists Frederick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison. Ross and Pickersgill aren't the only lady bobbleheads, either. Suffragette Susan B. Anthony, mental health reformer Dorothea Dix and surgeon Mary Edwards Walker, the only woman to receive the Medal of Honor, also totter.
These patriotic collectibles are now available for preorder and expected to ship in December. (The one exception is the group wobbler, which is projected to ship in July.) Each bobblehead will be individually numbered up to 1,776. Most are priced at $30, though Morse and Bell cost an extra $5. That's presumably due to their extra hardware — a telegram and telephone.
Follow Kristin & PhillyVoice on Twitter: @kristin_hunt
| @thePhillyVoice
Like us on Facebook: PhillyVoice
Have a news tip? Let us know.
