RewindTime1929

07/28/2020

Coca Cola produced a number of the serving and tip trays in the twentieth century. Starting in 1897, the original trays can be worth thousands of dollars if in proper condition.

However, the originals now more than 100 years old are difficult to find. I’ve never seen one in my travels.

In the 1970s, Coca Cola starting reproducing their original designs. So while they are indeed made by Coke, they are reproductions produced much later.
The repos from the 70’s are quite common in antique stores and homes alike.

There are also a lot of knockoffs and fakes made by scammers.
How do you tell them apart, originals from fakes? Some reproductions will simply state it on the back, plain and simple, with a Coca Cola label and date. Authentic trays from Coca Cola will have strictly black on the backside. Fakes will come in green, white, or some fakes are even painted black to fool you. A truly black backside, not painted, is a good sign.
And on front, in the “Coca Cola”, Coke itself would put a capital “C” in the Coca as a nice trademark.

You can find Coke’s reproductions made by Coke easily. I have a few myself from the 1970’s. They are still cool. They are based on original designs. And you should only pay $10-$20 for those 70s trays.

As far as the true originals, going back 100 years, well please let me know if you see one. Pretty rare! I’m still waiting to get my hands on one.

07/27/2020

Jaws released in the summer of 1975 was the first summer blockbuster as we know them today. Today big movies are purposely released at the start of summer with massive anticipation. Thank the Jaws classic for that.

07/25/2020

07/25/2020

Here we have the Rubik’s Cube of course. Nearly everyone had one. I’m sure you did. The object was to solve the puzzle by aligning nine yellow squares, nine blue squares, nine, white squares etc etc. You had to get each single side of the cube to be all one color.

The cube was invented by a Hungarian teacher, Erno Rubik as early as 1974 actually. It it really took off in 1980 when Rubik sold the license to a toy company, Ideal Toy Corp.

Did you know the original name was the Magic Cube.

The World Cube Association is an international governing body of the cube that hosts competitions and tracks world records. And you thought you were good.

The fastest recorded time to solve the cube is only 3.47 seconds.

People have solved it with their feet.

And speedcubing is very much a thing. Think ultra fast and Rubik’s cube.

Did you ever solve it?

Below is the original Rubik’s Cube of course. And photos of a life size Cube I made for an 80’s party. If you are hosting an 80’s party, you have to have gangbuster props.

07/25/2020

You may remember this department store. Zayre was founded way back in 1919 by two brothers in Boston, Massachusetts as the New England Trading Company. About 1956, the first Zayre storefront (as we would come to know it) opened in Hyannis Massachusetts (Cape Code). This storefront was in partnership with the Stop and Shop Supermarket that we know today. Expansion took hold, and they boomed in the 60’s across the Eastern United States from Chicago to Miami.

Did you know that TJ Maxx, the store we love today, was initially a subsidiary of the larger Zayre corporation? This came about because Zayre initially tried to buy Marshall’s. That attempt was unsuccessful and TJ Maxx was born. Ironic because today, Marshall’s and TJ Maxx are part of the same parent company.

By the late 1980s, Zayre started to decline. They sold all of their stores to Ames Department stores. And they closed for good in 1990.

In a measly 36 years, from the first storefront in Hyannis Massachusetts, Zayre was at one time in the top five of largest retailers in the nation. This was the 1960s after all before Target and Walmart boomed.

And by the way, Zayre the name was derived from the brothers naturally.
Zayre is Yiddish for “very good”. Although they did adapt the spelling for a catchier title.