More Stuff From the Box!
It's time for another selection of STUFF FROM THE BOX!
We'll start with these three employee pins from the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company. I don't have any information about these, but they look "vintage" - whatever that means. The pins were given for somebody's fifth, tenth, and fifteenth anniversaries with the company.
Another employee pin is this badge from the REO Motor Car Company. Ransom E. Olds was an entrepreneur who founded multiple companies in the automobile industry. In 1897 Olds founded Oldsmobile. In 1905 Olds left Oldsmobile and established a new company, REO Motor Car Company, in Lansing, Michigan. I was surprised to learn that the REO company survived through to 1975! I would imagine that this badge is probably from the 1950s, but it's just a guess.
Years ago I shared a photo of another employee pin from the Holiday Inn chain of hotels, but that one was for somebody's eight years with the company, while this one is for lucky 13. With a "genuine" Ethiopian emerald!
I don't collect things from the 1939-40 New York World's Fair like I used to, but I still love a quality item. Like this brass key blank! Yale and Towne had a pavilion at the Fair, as close to the Trylon and Perisphere as possible.
I have a small number of employee pins from Sears (see some of them HERE); today's example has a modern geometric design that doesn't scream "Sears" to me, but I'll allow it. 15 years of selling reasonably-priced items to all Americans!
I hope you have enjoyed today's selection of STUFF FROM THE BOX!
17 comments:
Major-
I'm a sucker for that Yale key blank, too. (I wonder if the few mechanical locks they currently make still use the same keyway-?)
Thanks, Major.
1) Arrr, this be pirate's treasure, says I. Great, crisp detail on these Goodyear pins. And I like how the Roman numeral years are worked into the designs. Plus, the gold has a satisfyingly deep yellow color that I find appealing.
2) I've heard of the Reo car company, mostly from crossword puzzles. Seems like Reo comes up in those puzzles at least once a week. Wow, I never would've guessed that it was still around in 1975! I would've thought, more like the 1930s. I do like the triangular shape and the silver and red coloring. The type-written number kinda ruins the elegance of it though.
3) Ooh, I like this one! It's the same as the "years ago" pin in your link, except this one has a green gemstone, which looks nicer than the yellowish one from the 8 year pin. Hmm, "Genuine Ethiopian emerald"... I suppose it could be. I would sooner believe that it was a fragment of a crushed lime-flavored lollipop.
4) More gold!... OK, more brass. But still very shiny and hypnotic! The key must have been made during a total solar eclipse, as shown by the black sun radiating its rays upon the Trylon and Perisphere. ;-p
5) I suppose this design IS kind of random for a Sears pin, but I like it! Not sure what a Sears pin should look like... a mail-order catalog? A power tool? A guy posing in long johns? I like the design. It's like you're getting four... four... four pins in one!
Hard to pick a favorite from today's offerings, but I think I'll go with the three Goodyear pins. Thanks, Major.
Nice stuff, Major! My favorite is that blank key! I would think that has to be pretty rare!
That REO logo makes me think of the RCA logo, which was similar with large letters like that in a red circle.
Thanks for sharin', Major!
Interesting "bits and bobs" as we call them across the pond...I use that term quite a lot and people look at me like I'm a crazy old man: which kind of makes sense....In any case: Emeralds are a special thing...even a tiny one like this: and rarer than diamonds...and extremely fragile. So if you see a "big one" or larger specimens...it's kind of "wow...that needs to be in a safe..."....the pin itself takes me back to the aroma of that "Holiday Inn Soap"....which when you entered the rather humble rooms: it was the first thing you encountered...right before ripping off the "sanitized for your protection" loop around the toilet seat. I saved the soap AND the paper loop....I loved hotel soaps and still do....however, they are a dying breed. I went to a hotel once in Houston: and stumbled upon a fire exit: and there was a bucket of all the soap remnants from rooms: hundreds of them...wonder if they were recycling them... (?). Seems gross but green. And you CAN recycle soap bits....but moving on: Did REO Speedwagon come from REO? and were their wagons speedy? Thats a rabbit hole for later. Go go Goodyear! I'm wondering when the shoe became a people mover...but I suppose that Goodyear was in the business of moving people: so it makes complete sense. That Sears logo seems more "AMC American Motors Car" to me....isn't it? I'm sure there were some inside corporate "The Three Pyramids of Sears Values" or something like that....I'd like to say that I saved all my corporate awards and stuff...but they all ended up in the trash...I'm all for employee recognition: but one of the awards I helped design myself...with a large "group conscience" of people....took forever...and there was only one company in the UK that could produce them the way we wanted...and on time...since we took so long designing it....in the end they cost about $600 US each to manufacture....BEFORE air freight...I actually got one that year...I thought kind of strangely...since I had a hand in it...when I went to toss it, I thought....hmmm....should I toss this? Can I melt it down to get $600? Then threw it into the bin with a flourish. No hard feelings just....awww...really bro? do you care that much? Just another thing to dust. Moving onto the Yale Towne key. An interesting piece of CT history actually. And once the largest employer in CT. I know the company not just by locks and such (...and I do love a good lock) but the old brick factory straddles the MTA so I would pass by it every day: twice....and the complex is super cool and very "Ghirardelli Square" in it's vibe....however: the factory closed in '59. The artists took over: as they do: there is great light there as it's also on a river...then decades and decades later they (developers) decided to develop into residential lofts.....and did some "noodling" with the wooden pilings that it had been sitting on for 100+ years.....and basically exposed them to air: they started rotting because: pilings have to stay wet: or they rot (duh)....but it wasn't duh to the people who did it...so the heavy brick building started to list a little...then more....and they had to move all the fancy people (and non fancy people) out of their lofts. So now: it's abandoned: all tied up in lawyers, preservationists, etc etc etc....I only know all of this because I was looking for loft space: and since it's basically right on the train tracks...it had/has immediate access to NYC which is about 1/2 hour away........sooo:......cool key! And so shiny. People say "brass is coming back!" in the design world: I say: It never left. Thanks Major for the B & B's!
I wouldn’t doubt that the Yale keyway is still available. Things like that have almost eternal life. Door hardware is an unusual thing in construction as keyways tend to be geographically distributed. For example, Schlage has a lock (pun intended) on the Bay Area, while Best (I think) was big in the Central Valley, etc. While it is possible to get locksets fabricated with another manufacturer’s keyways, most owners just settle into one brand and it rules.
I’m going for the Holiday Inn pin today, all the things Bu just brought up come to mind. That “hammered wire glass” shower door with the specific snap of the ball catch, the paper strip on the toilet, with the tissue ends laboriously folded into a triangle point, little bars of soap with the dimpled center, all with the same fragrance from one brand to the next. Individual bars are disappearing from the big brands due to desire and laws to reduce single-use plastics and wrappings. I doubt it makes much difference most places, but it’s all the rage. Instead you get a wall dispenser like a dormitory shower which doesn’t seem right at the prices of luxury rooms.
Thanks for the employee pin tour, Major. So many things to be interested in.
JG
Stuff From the Box,
Stuff From the Box,
It's better than the gold in Fort Knox,
Stuff From the Box,
Stuff From the Box,
Worth more than blue chip bonds and stocks,
If you've got a box with stuff in it,
Open it up and look for a minute!
Stuff From the Box,
Stuff From the Box,
It's the bees' knees (which are next to their socks).
Stuff From the Box,
Stuff From the Box,
Let's take a look at Stuff
From the Box!
I think my favorite of this bunch has to be the Holiday Inn pin. The emerald really sends it over the top, transforming the gold star that guides us weary travelers to a clean, comfortable bed into an all-seeing eye that knows our troubles. Yes, yes, Emerald Eye, that bacon burger I ate in Skeneateles IS making me sick, and I DO need to lie down! Yes, the kids ARE driving me crazy!
I know I say this every time, but I miss those Holiday Inn signs so much. The world of corporate greige has a lot to answer for.
(And Bu, my first thoughts about REO and their Speedwagon were the same as yours!)
Nanook, I’ve wondered the same thing, the key is a bit small compared to what I think of as a standard key.
JB, yeah, those Goodyear pins have nice designs, and consistent style. Ha ha, I do crosswords too, there are those filler words that pop up all the time. Obi. Ali, Ono, Sari, and I’m sure a million more. I do wish I knew when that Reo pin is from, it could be from as far back as the 1920s. I was shocked to learn that there is only a single surviving “Great Sign” from Holiday Inn, and they found that in storage. I think it’s in a sign museum now. Maybe Sears was trying to go for a more modern, hip image? No idea. Glad you liked these!
TokyoMagic!, I don’t really look for 1939 World’s Fair stuff anymore, but I think you’re right, that key blank isn’t common. Who knows, maybe the guy who designed the RCA logo also designed the REO logo!
Bu, maybe people look at you like you’re crazy for many reasons! I KID! For some reason my family stayed in Howard Johnson’s motels, not Holiday Inns. I always liked those massive signs though, so cheerful. I guess as long as those recycled soaps were not intended for guests, it would be OK. Not sure what anyone would do with them though. Yes, REO Speedwagon (everyone’s favorite band) got their name from the auto manufacturer. I agree, the Sears logo *does* feel like it should be for AMC! It’s too bad you didn’t at least take all of your awards to a thrift shop, somebody out there would have appreciated them, even if you didn’t! Maybe they had your name engraved on them, and you didn’t want that “out there”. $600 apiece, that seems excessive. They weren’t just little pins?? I can see how a huge company like Sears or Goodyear could have such things produced and make it worthwhile, since they had hundreds or thousands of employees. If the Yale company still exists, I’m sure it’s been bought and sold many times, and probably belongs to an international conglomeration now. Did brass ever go away? Now it’s expensive, like copper. I found a bag of scrap brass things at my mom’s house, I guess they have value, but where to take them. Maybe I’ll donate them to a thrift shop and somebody else can make a little money.
JG, you might be right, I’d like to believe that you could still use that Yale key. I’ll take it to Ace Hardware and see! I have a friend who lives in a building that was built on the site of an old Kwikset factory. Some of my keys are Kwikset! I hate those wall soap/shampoo dispensers, often you can’t see how much is in them. I’ve stayed in more than one hotel, only to discover that there was no soap left. ARG. I used to see lots of people on eBay selling their soaps and other stuff from Disney hotels, which makes me believe that they somehow stole lots of it, maybe from the cleaning staff carts.
Melissa, I need a “to be sung to the tune of” helper! I’m guessing the lyrics match a famous Broadway show tune. “Skeneatleles”, is that a real place? Is it near Mordor? I remember when we’d stay in hotels/motels with a pool, and not wanting to swim in a pool full of other screaming kids. I’m sure you’ve seen the current Holiday Inn signs, which are horrible and bland. TRE!
I knew REO lasted into the 60’s/70’s. One of my grandfathers was a fire chief ( in North Carolina)and his department had two REO red pick up trucks. I had a TRW calendar that featured early autos … and one page was a massive motorized wagon like “truck” at the time a competitor of MACK TRUCKS.
Oldsmobile got the “drive-shaft” in history as technically Oldsmobile was the first car company to use an assembly line in 1903 for their curved dashed tiller runabouts ( these were the cars Bob Gurr modeled his Disneyland 1901 Electric autos on) But Ford was not the first - but the first to use the assembly line on a much larger scale . But Ford didn’t invent the automated assembly line - neither did Oldsmobile… an American watch watch company did
Major-
"If the Yale company still exists..."
Oh, indeed it does. It's owned by the Assa Abloy Group of companies, headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. In total, they own 174 companies. (I'm certain their company picnics are ones for the books-!) The names of companies in their "family" which have meaning in the world of hardware and specialty door accessories, in addition to Yale are: Adams Rite; Baldwin; Corbin Russwin; HID Global; Kwikset; Medeco; Mul-T-Lock; Norton Rixson; Pemko; Sargent; Securitron and Weiser.
The other big player is Allegion, with a more 'compact' group of companies in the hardware arena, such as: Dexter; Falcon; Glynn-Johnson; Ives; LCN; Schlage; Soss; Trimco and Von Duprin.
LCN and Von Duprin are clearly the 'jewels in the crown' for Allegion (with Schlage not far behind), as both are [arguably] the undisputed leaders in each of their specialities: LCN in door closers; Von Duprin in panic hardware/exit devices.
I'm certain JG is well-acquainted with both conglomerates and most, if not all of the above-mentioned companies.
I actually misspelled Skaneateles earlier. It's a town in the Finger Lakes of Central New York - one of those out of the way places you throw into jokes because it's not pronounced how it looks. ("Skinny-atlas.")
"Stuff From the Box" doesn't have a tune; it's like one of those old Jimmy Durante songs where you just kind of bang on the piano and talk in rhythm.
I miss Sears. Have some shirts I bought there, and they're still in good shape. While I shopped at the last local stores to the end, the catalogs dropped off my radar in the 70s, aside from the occasional Christmas catalog and their short-lived 8mm movie catalog.
The movie catalog offered single-reel 8mm and Super8 titles, mostly silent, from Castle Films, Columbia, and some others you might find in camera shops and department stores. It also had genuine silent films from Blackhawk, many in two reels. In fact, much of the catalog looked like old the Blackhawk Bulletin, so I suspect Blackhawk was contracted by Sears. There were some Disney reels -- the first I'd ever seen in 8mm. Complete cartoons and some one-reel feature cutdowns, like you'd get from Castle. Still remember they were $7 for B&W and $14 for color, both silent. I'll blather about those another day.
Sometimes I regret not snapping up the Sears Exclusive WDW Town Square set. Looked it up; was only offered in 1988 when I didn't have room for it. You could people it with optional tourists and costumed characters (proportioned as humans in costumes). A flat cutout of the castle was included in lieu of the rest of Main Street, and while a train was sold separately they didn't offer a train station. Kids could play Rope Drop, Souvenir Shopping, and End of Day Meltdown.
DBenson, I remember those film catalogs. Disney used to put one out, too. I also remember when JC Penny's sold 8mm and Super 8 films in their camera department. My brother bought quite a few of the "condensed" Universal monster movies. We also had/have some Hanna-Barbera cartoons (Yogi Bear, Top Cat, and The Flintstones) in those formats, and a few of the Three Stooges shorts.
Major, my house (built in 1938) and my mom's house (built in 1941) both have their original front doors, with their original locks. Newer deadbolts have been added, but the original locks are still there and still work. The keys to those are slimmer than the newer deadbolt keys, and their overall shape is the same as your World's Fair key. So, just give me your key, I'll have it cut at Home Depot, and I'll let you know if it works! ;-)
We had a handful of those old silent movies for our Super 8 projector, but I'm guessing we would have gotten them at Montgomery Wards rather than Sears. That's where we did most of our catalog shopping back in the day.
Mike Cozart, I honestly don’t know if I’ve ever seen a REO. Probably in a car museum, of which there are two good ones nearby. I know that Ford did not invent the assembly line, but (as you said) he raised it to a whole new level. I think in WWII the Ford plant could churn out a new bomber every hour. Incredible.
Nanook, well, there you go, just as I suspected… Yale is no longer an American brand. Seems pretty common these days. Funny how I’d never heard of the Assa Abloy Group until now, and they are HUGE. Look at all those major companies that they own.
Melissa, I don’t know how you could misspell “Skaneateles”, but I will forgive you, because that’s the kind of guy I am. Ha ha, how many other blogs have Jimmy Durante references??
DBenson, I miss Sears when it was good, but my last few visits to the local store were pretty sad, and they didn’t even have basic clothing items that I was looking for. The Christmas Wishbooks were a huge part of my childhood, I think my brother and I must have spent hours going through those. We’d be lucky to get one of the many items we coveted, but looking was almost as fun. Wow, amazing that you could buy those 8mm and Super8 films for so little. I remember our school library had a bunch of 8mm Disney cartoons, you could watch them on a hand-cranked “moviola”-type device. I watched highlights from the Rite of Spring segment of “Fantasia” with the dinosaurs a LOT. And yes, I was aware of that Sears set, but there was NO WAY my parents would have ever bought that for me, an as you said, we had no room for it anyway.
TokyoMagic! it’s so crazy to think about how people really had to work if they wanted to watch certain old movies. Now you can see them in seconds on YouTube or elsewhere. A neighbor’s dad had some Chaplin short subjects, but man, the quality was so bad. Contrasty and jittery, it was a revelation to see them after the films had been restored. Ha ha, I will send you my key blank right away!
Oh, I forgot to comment about REO Speedwagon. When I was in the Christmas parade at Disneyland, there was an old-fashioned dog catcher's truck (driven by Pete!). I talked about how they used real dogs in the truck and how Pluto would release them into the street to jump on top of a guy dressed in a dogcatcher's uniform. But the truck itself had an old timey painted logo somewhere on it, which read "REO Speedwagon." At that time, I only knew of the band with that name. But I remember assuming that it must not be a joke and that an "REO Speedwagon" must have been a real thing. I never got confirmation of that until today! Now I'm wondering if it was an authentic antique vehicle, or if it was a Gurrmobile. Or maybe someone else within Disney created it. I'm also wondering if they still have it on the property somewhere, or if it was scrapped.
"I used to see lots of people on eBay selling their soaps and other stuff from Disney hotels, which makes me believe that they somehow stole lots of it, maybe from the cleaning staff carts."
Major, a few years back, Disney hotels had some excellent shampoo that they not only placed in your hotel room, but you could also buy it online from Disney. It had a delicious orange scent. I loved it and used it until they stopped making it. And when I stayed at the Disney hotels, I'd daily leave a note on my bed with a tip for the cleaning staff--asking for a couple extra shampoos. They were very generous.
"A flat cutout of the castle was included in lieu of the rest of Main Street, and while a train was sold separately they didn't offer a train station. Kids could play Rope Drop, Souvenir Shopping, and End of Day Meltdown."
DBenson, Ha!....don't forget, "Face in Phone Frenzy." :op
"....but I'm guessing we would have gotten them at Montgomery Wards rather than Sears. That's where we did most of our catalog shopping back in the day."
Melissa, my parents also shopped via the Montgomery Wards catalog, since the little store-pick-up location was close to our house. A few years back, I purchased a couple late 1960s MW catalogs from eBay, for the fun of it. I was surprised to see a number of items in those catalogs that I still have in my possession -- keepsakes from my childhood that I treasure. Christmas ornaments, a colorful scarf, a couple dolls and more. Plus many more items that I had forgotten were in our house [though long gone now]...warm, happy memories came flooding back, seeing so many familiar things.
Major, my favorite, today, is the Holiday Inn pin. The gold and emerald stone make the pin light-up. No neon lights are even needed.
Thanks, Major and all, for the fun day of reminiscing.
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