Sears Catalog facts

While investigating facts about Sears Catalogue and Sears Catalog Homes, I found out little known, but curios details like:

Early Sears catalogs were made smaller than Montgomery Ward catalogs so that neatnik housewives would stack them on top

how much is a 1909 sears and roebuck catalog worth?

In order to stand out from competing catalogs, Sears simply printed their's on smaller paper so when a stack of catalogs were delivered, their's would always be on top

What year was the last sears catalog?

In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across answering what year was the first sears catalog. Here are 23 of the best facts about Sears Catalog 1975 and Sears Catalog House I managed to collect.

what did catalogs from companies such as sears and roebuck?

1. In 1917 you could order a belt-fed machine gun from a Sears catalog: "Machine guns are used largely by police organizations, home guards and municipalities in case of riots."

2. The game Twister was nearly killed in its crib when the Sears catalog rejected it for being too sexy. But just as the makers were about to give up, the game was saved by Johnny Carson, who played Twister with blonde bombshell Eva Gabor on The Tonight Show, and sales soared into the millions.

3. The widely distributed Sears Roebuck catalog was also used as a popular substitute for toilet paper until it began to be printed on glossy paper (at which point some people wrote to the company to complain).

4. In the late 19th century, the Sears catalog used to offer a heroin kit, two vials of heroin included, for only $1.50 - slightly less than 50 2019 dollars.

5. In the '60s, the C.I.A. paid Vietnamese spies with merchandise from mail-order Sears catalogs, since they had little use for paper money

6. While working at a railway, Richard Sears' station received a shipment of gold watches but the jeweler refused the shipment. Sears got the watches at a reduced rate (a common scam) and sold them to his coworkers who needed to keep accurate time. The success lead to his first mail-order catalog.

7. Between 1909 and 1940 Sears catalog sold more than 70,000 kit homes. In 1909 the average kit contained 30,000 pieces, weighed 25 tons and cost between $360–$2,890

8. People wrote to Sears and complained about the company's shift to using glossy paper on their catalogs, since they couldn't use it to wipe their ass after defacation.

9. In 1902 the Sears Catalog sold items such as Opium, Arsenic Wafers meant to help a person's complexion, Turpentine that was meant to be ingested in order to kill parasites and a rubber beauty mask that was coated with acid in order to cure blemishes, freckles and liver spots

Why was the sears roebuck catalog important?

You can easily fact check why did sears discontinue the catalog by examining the linked well-known sources.

Richard Sears began selling pocket watches to railroad conductors and farmers along the railroad. To sell more products he began printing a catalog of what he could get.

The company Sears use to sell homes out of a catalog. - source

Gothic Arch Barns were available by mail order from around 1905 to the 1940s in the catalog published by Sears Roebuck

Sears and Roebuck used to sell heroin and cocaine in their catalog along with hypodermic syringes prior to the FDA - source

When did the sears catalog start?

The CIA once paid spies with items from Sears catalogs. Twenty days in the field were worth one boys’ red velvet blazer.

How much is the last sears catalog worth?

Sears didn't have a physical store location for its first 19 years as a retailer. Its first general catalog was published in 1906, and its first store was established in 1925.

Fast Times at Ridgemont High Hottie Phoebe Cates used to be a Sears Catalog Model

The 1975 Sears catalog went "viral" when it became apparent that the photo of a male modeling boxer shorts included the tip of his penis poking out from the bottom. A few months later, a song about the man and his penis (titled "The Man on Page 602") reached #1 on the country singles chart.