Electrolux paraphernalia experts-Help please...

[charles~richard]

Hoover toy again

 

[charles~richard]

Kirby 515 Bank

 

[charles~richard]

Kirby bank again (have - 3 of 'em. Used to have more but have given a couple away)

 

[charles~richard]

Here's the "Mystery Kirby" photo I fooled people with -- would it have fooled YOU?! haha

 

[lux1521]

From the Diamond Jubilee Celebration:

 

[charles~richard]

This was the "reveal" - note the penny

 

[lux1521]

Nice trick with the kirby. Still bigger than I expected.

With a paper inside so you can see the writing better:

 

[lux1521]

Watches:

 

[lux1521]

Playing Cards:

 

[lux1521]

A very simple tie:

 

[lux1521]

And lastly (I think) the upright carrying bag. Does anyone know if they made one for the canisters? Next to the bag are a few paper bags with advertising cardboard collers.

 

[lux1521]

Nice collection Charles. Did you get that tie on ebay? I think you out bid me on it. Anyway, if I remember correctly they also made a pillow with that same pattern.

The model G ashtray is near the top of my list. It's too bad the model G does not look that good in real life. When it comes to the power nozzles on ashtrays, I too have seen them. Many seem to be broken so they are quite a bit rarer.

List of other things I remember seeing but don't have:
Super J book ends
Fountain Pen
Paper Diamond J coasters
Olympia One Olympic Medal

 

[charles~richard]

I don't remember getting any ties on eBay but due to premature senility, I won't deny it. I did get three different ties, a t-shirt, and the Izod shirt, along with a bunch of service literature in binders, from a woman who used to work at the Bristol, Virginia plant before it closed. She found me on the web and offered to basically send me everything she had taken home from her office. She wanted no memories of Electrolux, she said, because of the way her layoff (and that of her friends) had been handled. Oh, I also got a frisbee with the 1205-style Electrolux logo from her.

I have also seen the heavy book ends now that you mention them. I also have a very heavy plate, made of cast iron or some similar hard metal, the size of a small dinner plate, that's a 50th anniversary commemorative plate. It's painted gold and has the first 50 year's worth of models around the perimeter of the plate.

Electrolux REALLY made a lot of customer incentives and sales awards. A lot of it was pretty crappy stuff! But some of it, the things that big-sellers got, was nice. Pure gold rings with gems including diamonds, high-end watches, other gold jewelry, vacation trips, cars.......

 

[ian88]

When I think about it, how Masonic does that Electrolux brass coaster look? the Triangle/Prism motif etc.

 

[charles~richard]

How Masonic does that Electrolux brass coaster look?

Oh, absolutely. As I commented in a previous thread about the air-powered floor polisher, early Electrolux was rife with Masonic and other estoeric symbolism.

It would not be too much of a stretch to assume that Wenner-Gren was a high-degree Mason along with most if not all the early investors, board, founders, etc., of the company; and it's similarly likely that many of the industrial designers were Masons as well, including Lurelle Guild et al.

And surely many of the salesmen were "lodge brothers."

Even the "fraternal" nature of the company in its early days was strangely similar to the structure of a Masonic lodge.

 

[ian88]

And then there's the ELUX in a cog, which looks positively Soviet/Orwellian

 

[petek]

What a great collection of items there. I have only the one Sav a bank. I've probably bypassed more items over the years just not looking closely enough in display cabinets or knick knack shelves in flea markets etc.

 

[ian88]

I do like the Tie though, it has a certain classiness to it ;p

 

[vacuumkid3]

I have also seen a set of 4 glasses for the Air-Way 77. They were neat, but I never thought to buy them. I am more interested in the vacuums, myself, but if I came across some for much cheaper, I'd DEFINITELY go for them! They were $20, I think.

~~K~~

Charles, you have an AWESOME collection of vacuum memorabilia!! In fact, all of this stuff is SO COOL!!

 

[charles~richard]

Something else I just remembered seeing -- a "Magic Sponge." Very, very flat sponge, maybe 1/8" thick, about the size of the palm of your hand, in the shape of the G.E. Roll Easy and with a line drawing of the machine printed in turquoise ink on the sponge on one side, and printed directions on the other side. When you wet the sponge, it would expand into a full-size sponge. I have only seen a photo of this, never the real thing.