Popular-Brand Name Woolworth “Exclusives”
Herald Square and Woolco were brand-names exclusive to F. W. Woolworth Co.
The second type of Woolworth’s exclusives are those items manufactured by established, popular (non-Woolworth-related) companies and sold as limited run or limited editions through F. W. Woolworth stores. Two highly collectible examples of these would be Mattel’s “Special Expressions” Barbie dolls and the Topps Baseball Card packs. A variety of Disney items, as well as comic book character items, were also sold in limited edition through Woolworth’s over the years. One of the hottest traded contemporary products are the Hot Wheels limited editions, which came in an assortment of colors. They were offered in two-packs, featuring a Hot Wheels car and a red-and-white Woolworth’s truck. Popular brand Woolworth’s exclusives can be easily identified because the box or package clearly states that the item is a Woolworth’s exclusive or limited edition.
The third type of Woolworth’s exclusive includes those items designed to promote a specific Woolworth’s store. These were usually given out during a store’s grand opening or a store reopening, or to commemorate a special sales event. Hundreds of different store promotions were issued through the decades. They ranged from simple match books listing a particular store, to record brushes (these brushes were used to keep 78 RPM records free of dust and grime) imprinted with the image of a famous celebrity, such as the Andrew Sisters along with an F. W. Woolworth store’s address. This particular type of promotion collectible is prevalent among Woolworth’s specialist collectors because of the large range of items to be had in the marketplace—sometimes for under $20.00 a piece. These items often appear unexpectedly at garage sales and flea markets.
More contemporary “Special Expressions Barbie Doll” in original box runs between $25 to $50 apiece.
TOPPS collectible cards.
In some instances, several different stores shared the same store promotional item, and in such cases, you will only see the “F. W. Woolworth” name and not an individual store name. These items are trickier to identify as store promotions, and it takes a bit of sleuthing to determine their origin. For example, the Woolworth’s multicolored yardstick only stated “Woolworth’s” but I was told that it was given out by several stores in the Midwest as part of grand reopening sales. These were also many similar yardsticks that were distributed throughout Woolworth’s history.
The general rule of thumb is to try to accumulate products that actually state “Woolworth’s” or “F. W. Woolworth” if you are trying to acquire a varied and colorful cache of exclusive Woolworth’s collectibles. You might also want to be on the lookout for overseas Woolworth’s store promotional items, such as the Woolworth’s thimble. This particular thimble came from a London store and includes the phrase: “Right Up Your Street For Value.”
“Celebrity” record brushes like this Guy Lombardo item advertised regional F. W. Woolworth stores during the 1940s. Record brushes range in value from $25-$50.
This multicolored yardstick (red, yellow, and blue) is on example of a Woolworth’s store promotional item.
The fourth major category of Woolworth exclusives is Woolworth specialty memorabilia. This category is made up of paper memorabilia which relate directly to the company’s history (such as anniversary booklets and vintage stock reports), or the life of its founder, Frank Winfield Woolworth. It also includes material products issued specifically as souvenirs (such as Woolworth Building curios) and actual fixtures and signs from Woolworth’s five-and-dime stores. Of related significance are Woolworth’s advertising posters, and all manner of magazine and print ads.
This category is so vast, and so broad, that it is easiest to assign each of these specialty memorabilia their own sub-divisions.
Woolworth Building Collectibles
The Woolworth Building in New York on Broadway, reigned as the tallest building in the world from 1913 to 1930. Not surprisingly, the F. W. Woolworth Company took advantage of this acclaim, issuing hundreds of different Woolworth Building-related mementos. Most were officially licensed by the F. W. Woolworth Company, but there were also assorted postcards, for instance, that were printed up by ambitious entrepreneurs and sold for a tidy profit to tourists.
Woolworth Building Needle Book, c. 1925. These colorful needle books designed in red, white, and blue, range in value from $5 to $25.
Woolworth Building stereograph, c. 1913.
The earliest Woolworth Building collectibles are among those given out to visitors and sightseers who trekked to the observation tower near top of the building, beginning in 1913. Some of these mementos were also available in the Manhattan-based Woolworth’s stores, as well as through local non-Woolworth gift shops. One of the most prized mementos of all is a jeweled powder case. This was given out during the first few days the Woolworth Building was opened, and it is extremely rare. The lion’s share of Woolworth Building collectibles date from 1913 to the mid-1940s, at which time the tower was closed to visitors—but one can still find a few miscellaneous items dating from 1945 to 1997.
Woolworth Building collectibles can be found in the form of postcards, salt and pepper shakers, commemorative coins, posters, wooden boxes, hand mirrors, needle books, and more. Those issued between 1913 and 1930 often include the phrase: “Tallest Building In The World.” This helps to date the item. In cases where this phrase is omitted, it becomes more time-consuming and challenging to date and value the piece.
The one thing that all of these souvenirs have in common is the image of that regal sixty-story edifice, printed or embedded somewhere on the item.
Another pricey collectible is the Woolworth Building cast-iron bank. These banks routinely sell for $50 to $250, and are much sought after by Woolworth’s specialty collectors and general novelty bank collectors. I have seen at least three different versions of this bank, and one can presume there are several more versions of varying detail and size.
One of the rarest of all Woolworth Building collectibles is this “jeweled” powder set issued in 1913. In excellent condition, it sells for between $250 and $350. This is the ad that one dealer used to sell the item on an online auction.
Example of a Woolworth Building cast-iron bank, c. 1930s. It came in a variety of styles and sizes through the decades. Prices range drastically, based on age and condition, from $25 to $300.
Examples of Woolworth Building pewter salt & pepper shakers.
“Silver Shoe,” one of the most unique Woolworth Building collectibles, measures only about 4 inches long and has the Woolworth Building etched into the tongue of the shoe. The marks on the sole read: “J.B. 515.”
In the realm of most unusual Woolworth Building collectibles, one would have to include the polished silver shoe, which features the building cast into the tongue of a ladies high-heeled shoe!
Postcards of the Woolworth Building have been in plentiful supply for eighty-five years, and these are also popular with collectors. The postcards run the gamut from simple black-and-white sketches to colorized drawings to photos, and can be purchased from anywhere from $5.00 to $30.00 apiece. Most Woolworth Building postcards are found in the standard 3x5-inch size, but at least one was issued which measured three feet tall.
Souvenir booklets and pamphlets are yet another category of Woolworth Building collectibles. These were given out to visitors of the building, and range from the more contemporary trifold paper flyer to elaborate full-color booklets.
One of the most attractive and informative of these booklets is “Above the Clouds and Old New York,” with text by H. Addington Bruce, which was published in 1913 specifically for distribution among the visitors to the Woolworth Building. It includes a detailed history of the actual site of the building in Old Manhattan, as well as information about the building’s many architectural wonders. It is lavishly illustrated and a must-buy for serious aficionados of Woolworth’s history.
Perhaps most unique of all Woolworth Building memorabilia are the paintings an
d sketches rendered by artists, famous and obscure, who sat outside the building to capture the beauty of the structure for posterity. Countless sketches no doubt still lie gathering dust in basements and storage rooms across the world, but several have made it to the marketplace. In the realm of noteworthy artistic collectibles one should also include the preliminary sketches of the Woolworth Building as rendered by its architect Cass Gilbert. Several of these have been reprinted in Woolworth Building booklets, but the originals are worth many thousands of dollars and are rare indeed.
Souvenir coin, 1925.
Souvenir coin (solid brass) issued during 1988. A similar coin was issued during the company’s 100th anniversary in 1979.
Lucky treasure hunters might also stumble upon the limited edition hardcover book called, The Dinner Given to Cass Gilbert by Frank W. Woolworth, April 24, MCMXIII. This beautiful red leather-bound hardback contains the speeches and addresses of key players in the construction of the building, as well as those men who paid glowing tribute to architect and financier that memorable evening. The book offers a wealth of data, with everything from the guest list (800 male dignitaries) to the seating arrangements and menu. Photographs of Woolworth, Gilbert, and Louis Horowitz (the builder), are interspersed throughout. It is believed that this was produced after the dinner and presented only to the 800 attendees, plus additional select executives. The book is extremely rare and has been sold upwards of $200 per volume.
F. W. Woolworth Company Anniversary and Commemorative Publications: 1919—1979
Some of the most entertaining and most available Woolworth specialty collectibles are the anniversary books that were issued by the company beginning in 1919. These were top-quality publications, using only the finest of then-modern printing methods. They all include a brief history of the company and its founders, and pages of illustrations which capture the Woolworth’s five-and-dime of a particular era. Some are hardcover with color illustrations; others are paperbound with primarily black-and-white or sepia-toned illustrations.
Souvenir booklets were issued during the company’s fortieth (1919), fiftieth (1929), sixtieth (1939), seventy-fifth (1954), and one–hundredth (1979) anniversaries. The fiftieth anniversary booklet had two parts. The first was an undersized “Golden Book” concentrating on Frank Woolworth and his fellow founders, while the second was a small 6x4-inch red-covered companion, the Home Shopping Guide, which listed many of the company’s most popular five-and-dime products of the late 1920s. The Home Shopping Guide was freely distributed among Woolworth’s stores throughout the country.
The sixtieth-anniversary booklet from 1939 was also issued in a limited edition of 100 red leather-bound copies, stamped in gold, which were personally signed by Charles Sumner Woolworth, who was still an active member of the board of directors at that time. My personal copy of this rare edition includes a typed note from E. C. Mauchley of the executive office in New York City, which indicates that the general distribution of the sixtieth-anniversary (non-leather bound) booklet was scheduled to begin October 21, 1939.
An authentic autograph of Frank W. Woolworth is worth about $150.
By the time of the centennial in 1979, the anniversary booklets were not as elaborate as their vintage predecessors had been, but they still offered a wealth of historical and contemporary information about the company. There was also a special paper supplement issued during the eightieth-anniversary year, titled “The Woolworth Story: 80 Years of Progress.” This was an 8x10-inch, green fold-out which featured excerpts from a Christian Science Monitor newspaper series about F. W. Woolworth Co. It also includes interesting photos and facts about the British Ltd. Woolworth’s.
Another source of company history are the annual stock reports. These are most valuable to researchers seeking financial information, or pictures of the largest or most productive Woolworth’s stores.
Company promotional booklets, such as the “Fortieth Anniversary Souvenir 1879-1919,” are popular collectibles.
Original sketch of the Woolworth Building by artist A. E. Poore.
These F. W. Woolworth Co. anniversary booklets and stock reports are affordable collectibles that range anywhere from $5 to $60 per item. Autographed copies of Woolworth booklets bring in even more. A Frank Woolworth autograph alone is worth $150—a fact that would have surely tickled the chief.
Lunch Counter Memorabilia
Do you still have the apron and cap that you wore as a Woolworth’s lunch counter girl in the 1950s? Did you pick up a dozen authentic root beer glasses when your local Woolworth’s went out of business? Is there a tin “Coca Cola 10¢” poster hanging in your rec room? Do you own a portion of the F. W. Woolworth lunch counter that was used in the Broadway show, Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean? if so, then you already have a jump on the lucrative Woolworth’s lunch counter collectibles market.
As of this printing, the most popular and actively trading articles were vintage advertising signs promoting everything from banana splits to grilled cheese sandwiches. Some are constructed of tin, some of cardboard or plastic; some are faded, some have catsup stains on them, some look like new—but they are all extremely popular among collectors.
Authentic Woolworth’s lunch menus are also enjoying a brisk trade. The pre-1940 menus are rare, in part because they weren’t designed for longevity. But beginning in the early 1950s, the menus were often laminated or coated with a protective material, allowing them to last through ensuing decades. There were many different types of Woolworth’s menus. An ambitious search will uncover Woolworth’s cafeteria menus, luncheonette menus, take-out bakery menus, and those wonderful “special of the day” flyers and cards that were used in conjunction with the regular menu. There are menus from the standard F. W. Woolworth eateries, as well as from Harvest House Restaurants, Woolworth’s Grille’s, Chuck Wagons, and other variations the company tested out over the years.
One of my favorite finds was a poster that appeared in the Havana, Cuba, Woolworth’s in the mid-1950s. Loosely translated it reads: “Why cook? Visit our new deli department and buy your meals. The list is for take-out to your home.” In general, European or South American luncheonette memorabilia commands higher prices in the American market. American Woolworth’s menus run between $10 to $60, and considerably more for pre-World War I menus in good condition.
This menu came from an F. W. Woolworth’s lunch counter in Kentucky.
Not everyone is satisfied with a simple menu, however. I once saw an entire lunch counter, intact, with a row of red stools and a bevy of soda and ice cream dispensers, for sale on the Internet during an online auction! The minimum bid was $2,000 and the buyer was responsible for shipping.
Of course, most people cannot easily splurge on the cost of buying, shipping, and installing an entire Woolworth’s lunch counter in their homes, and so they often settle for the less expensive items. Utensils, glassware, silver and glass ice cream dishes, and Woolworth’s-themed paper placemats are all popular. If you’re lucky, you can find the pre-1920 china plates that were used in the larger Woolworth’s Refreshment Rooms. Some of these have surfaced bearing the Woolworth’s name or logo lining the rim, or along the back of the plate. Woolworth’s lunch counter memorabilia continues to be the most sought after of all the Woolworth’s specialty collectibles.
Store Signs, Fixtures, and Carry-Alls
If you happen to have an authentic “F. W. Woolworth 5 & 10¢” store sign hanging over your family bar, then you are fortunate indeed. You might also consider getting it insured, considering that the prices for these vintage gems can go as high as $3,000. Among the rarest and most coveted are the c. 1890–1915 mahogany signs that once decorated the outside of the stores, many of which include Tiffany glass highlights and gold leaf lettering. Frank Winfield Woolworth spared no expense when he came to placing his name on a masthead. In the beginning, he settled for simple, pine hand-painted signs, but as soon as he made his first million, he pulled out all the stops.
Vi
ntage Woolworth’s signs are truly a piece of Americana. They are available in a wide assortment of sizes and styles. The company went through several transitions over its 118-year history, each transition spawning a different type of sign. To help you date these gems of popular culture, here are a few guidelines.
The earliest signs (c. 1879–1885) were usually constructed of simple pine and hand-lettered by local artisans. They bear the phrase “5 and 10¢ store” or “5 & 10 CENT STORE” and either below that, above that, or before that, one would see the phrase, “F. W. Woolworth.” Some were square, some rectangular, and some had rounded edges. Because Frank commissioned these signs to be made in the town he was presently infiltrating, there was no standard use of materials or lettering. These early signs are so rare that the odds of finding one intact are very low. If you do stumble upon one in good condition, then you can safely presume it is worth several thousand dollars.
During this period, Frank also went into partnership with other men (including his brother, Charles) the better to defray the cost of his overhead and expand into more cities. Therefore, there were also signs which read, “Woolworth Bros.,” “Woolworth and McBrier,” “Woolworth & Knox,” etc. Frank Woolworth discontinued his practice of “partner-managers” around 1886, so most signs bearing two names would be dated before that time period.
Remembering Woolworth’s Page 30
