Paint by numbers

People are already thinking about Christmas now that Halloween is over. Poor Thanksgiving, the forgotten holiday! If you were a kid in the 1950’s and 1960’s you may have got a paint by number kit by Craft Master. Before Adult coloring books helped you channel your inner artist and relieve stress, the paint by numbers craze helped the baby boomer generation do the same thing.

Dan Robbins of Palmer Paint company heard a story about Leonardo Da Vinci teaching an apprentice to paint by numbering parts of a canvas with numbers that corresponded to a list of paint colors. Mr. Robbins was able to persuade five and dime store S. S. Kresge to place an order for his paint by numbers kits. Customers did not seem interested and the few that did purchase ended up demanding their money back after the two painting kits released had a production mix-up and put the wrong color sets of paint in the wrong boxes!

Robbins didn’t give up however and pulled off one of perhaps the dishonest marketing tricks in the book but it worked! He and another worker persuaded Macy’s to order two hundred kits and if they didn’t sell, the company would buy them back. Macy’s decided that was a great deal so they put the paint by numbers sets in the toy department. Little did they know that the company reps had given out hundreds of dollars to people to go to Macy’s and “buy” the kits. They also allowed the gentlemen to set up at the stores and “demonstrate” how to paint these “works of art”.

Word got out that these “new” paint kits were flying off the shelves and everyone wanted one! Craft Master wouldn’t get stuck with all those unsold kits from the previous debacle. Toy fairs heard about this new sensation and sales

skyrocketed.

Craft Master ended up selling over $20 million of these kits and had over one thousand employees in its hey day in 1954. Several other companies jumped on the bandwagon and started making their own

versions as well.

The amazing thing is that collectors now look for those cheezy paintings at flea markets and thrift shops. Last month’s Country Living Magazine actually showed people how to make copies of these paintings and put them on a pumpkin! There are so many genres to choose from; big-eyed children, florals, landscapes, wildlife and much more. Puppies and

horses were popular subjects.

If you are lucky, you can pick these up cheaply at yard sales or thrift stores for around $5 but take a look at eBay and you will find them as high at $75 to $150! Of course the ones I did as a kid didn’t look as good as the ones I saw on the internet! Happy Collecting!

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