Help A Collector: Vintage Rudolph
05.17.07 By Deanna DahlsadEvery now and then a collector has questions. We find a piece that we just don’t know enough about and we seek help. A few collectors have contact me here to help them find out more about their unique vintage items, and while I’ve tried, I wasn’t able to tell them anything more. So, I’m going to offer the info and photos here and if you know anything, please post it in the comments section. (Consider your help good karma — you never know when you’ll be in similar need!)
First up, Andrew and his vintage Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer Pencil Box.
Andrew first contacted via my blog post about Rudolph. He wrote, “I assume that it is licensed because on one side of the box, it is marked ‘RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER @ R.L.M. ‘. I was told that it is from the 1950s or 60s but I can’t be sure.”
Here are more photos.
If I had to guess, I’d say circa late 40’s early 50’s as the graphics are very much like the original Rudolph (especially the sheet music) and there are no maker marks (or zip code) to make me think it’d be as late as the 60’s. But then I’m not a Rudolph expert (I’m just a decent generalist).
Hopefully, a real Rudolph expert will show up to tell us more.
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Article Tags: pencil box, reindeer, Rudolph================
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May 17th, 2007 at 7:56 am
Well, the character of ‘Rudolph’ was created by Robert L. May, which might be what the ‘RLM’ refers to, and was created for Montgomery Ward. He was created for a coloring book giveaway, so perhaps that explains the association with a pencil / art box - I’d guess that this was made by Montgomery Ward themselves in the early 40s (since they did Rudolph-related giveaways until 1946), but it’s only a guess. That’s all I got for ya.