my first glove was my dads,, he was righty and i was a lefty,,, but i worked and got a system worked out where i caught with my left and slipped the glove under my arm and threw the ball in with my left..
i did this until i saved up enough to buy me a lefty glove for the right hand. seems like it cost  $9.00.  but 9 bucks was a lot for a kid mowing yards and cleaning stalls and putting up hay.

I probably could have wound up owning Sears if my mother had not been such a quick thinker and a man with a brand new crowbar had not been nearby. When I was about eight or nine I had been to Sears with my mother and had been on the second floor. I had on a pair of fairly new tennis shoes and as we were coming down the escalator to the first floor headed right to where the candy counter was, I guess my left shoe was too close to the side of the step and that slight gap between the escalator step and side wall decided to gobble up my shoe (with foot attached). When it happened my mother yelled, calmly as I remember, for the escalator to be shut off and apparently the emergency cut0off was in the candy department. Almost immediately the escalator stopped and a gentleman with a crow bar he had just bought extricated by shoe and foot. It tore up my shoe, but my foot was not hurt as it had not yet been pulled into the crack.

A few seconds later it would have when it hit the bottom. Although it would have ruined by Little League baseball and football career, I would have survived and with a good lawyer I would have never had to work another day in my life ....... and under my leadership we would not have gone bankrupt.

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Originally posted by 1935tb-11

who on here had a TED WILLIAMS baseball glove or bat ???

sears store brands included j c higgins,,  ted williams  ,, and ranger

 

I had a jc Higgins double barrel 20 ga.  I put it in my father in laws gun safe ,Went to get it out and it was  gone,Never saw it again, nice shot gun

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I think my Harmony Reso-tone came from Sears. It was a gift in April of 1972. My parents either got it there or Montgomery Wards.

Since Sears closed I haven't needed a warranty claim on any of my Craftsman tools. I'm not sure how the exchanges work out at the current Craftsman retailers.

There was nothing more magical when I was a kid than Toyland at Christmas at Sears.

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Originally posted by Kevin B

I think my Harmony Reso-tone came from Sears. It was a gift in April of 1972. My parents either got it there or Montgomery Wards.

Since Sears closed I haven't needed a warranty claim on any of my Craftsman tools. I'm not sure how the exchanges work out at the current Craftsman retailers.

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According to the catalogs, between 1969 and 1970 they switched from the glue and sawdust rim banjos (which they advertised as "maple shell", I suppose the dust was from sawing maple) which were sold under the private label of "Silvertone" (made by Kay) to Japanese made aluminum rim banjos with the "space dot" logo.   So after 1969 it seems that all their offerings were from Japan. 

Mine was the brown molded (phenolic?) rim and resonator.

My dad had a Silvertone branded Kay with sawdust and glue rim that he once told me he got when he was 16 from his father for Christmas in 1961. I believe my dad was mistaken and he actually got it for Christmas in 1963. He specifically described the infamous Nat Winston instruction record which is first listed in the 1963 catalog (but I suppose could have been offered earlier for winter of 62).

The 62 listing includes a "book and pick" and a calfskin head. I wonder what that book was?

My dad's came with a opaque white smooth mylar head per the listing in 1963 (along with the record).

The cost was $36.95, and if one trusts the online calculators, that comes out to $403 in today's money. That seems like a lot for the quality of those Silvertone glue dust rims.

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Originally posted by Kevin B

Mine was the brown molded (phenolic?) rim and resonator.

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I don't think it came from Sears.  It would have been branded "Silvertone" also. 

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Originally posted by Kevin B

Mine was the brown molded (phenolic?) rim and resonator.

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Looks like Wards had gone to Japan by 1970 as well.

I had a J.C. Higgins bike -- a three-speed as I recall: slow, slower, slowest.

My first electric guitar was a Silvertone Jupiter. It was designed to look similar to a Les Paul. I bought it used from a local music store for $60 - a fair chunk of change for a 13-year-old-kid.

In those days, I lusted after a Strat, but that Silvertone was all I could afford. And it was actually a pretty good guitar, recognized as same nowadays; a vintage Jupiter in excellent condition now fetches north of $1500, and the brand has been revived. Other Silvertone guitars were made by Danelectro, with the famous "lipstick" pickup, and those are still revered, particularly in punk/garage band settings.

Did you good folks know that Sears also once sold houses? They did indeed - I've seen some of them. They came as kits - basically, boxes of pre-cut lumber and other materials, along with precise instructions on putting them together. Think about that with regard to modern building materials... go to Home Depot and try to find a 2X4 that isn't warped. The Sears building materials were shipped straight, true and perfectly cut. Many Sears homes are still standing and in good shape generations later.

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Originally posted by banjo bill-e

There was nothing more magical when I was a kid than Toyland at Christmas at Sears.

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You are exactly right.  At our Sears Santa sat in his throne at the end of a closed off aisle, so you had to walk to the end of the aisle to sit in his lap and tell him what you wanted.  I remember being afraid to walk down the aisle by myself, but as I got older I was delighted to do it.  

I also remember the smell of going into the department that had leather goods such as saddle and other horse gear.  I guess it was part of the farm department.

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Originally posted by eagleisland

My first electric guitar was a Silvertone Jupiter. It was designed to look similar to a Les Paul. I bought it used from a local music store for $60 - a fair chunk of change for a 13-year-old-kid.

In those days, I lusted after a Strat, but that Silvertone was all I could afford. And it was actually a pretty good guitar, recognized as same nowadays; a vintage Jupiter in excellent condition now fetches north of $1500, and the brand has been revived. Other Silvertone guitars were made by Danelectro, with the famous "lipstick" pickup, and those are still revered, particularly in punk/garage band settings.

Did you good folks know that Sears also once sold houses? They did indeed - I've seen some of them. They came as kits - basically, boxes of pre-cut lumber and other materials, along with precise instructions on putting them together. Think about that with regard to modern building materials... go to Home Depot and try to find a 2X4 that isn't warped. The Sears building materials were shipped straight, true and perfectly cut. Many Sears homes are still standing and in good shape generations later.

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Yes.  I knew that about houses.  Basically a mail order house kit!

EATON’S , the Canadian retail giant, also had house kits which could be ordered from their catalogue.

When I was in carpentry back in the 80s -- mostly rehab and repair -- my boss and I worked on a couple of kit houses, most likely from Sears. Basic, solid construction, and nothing wrong with them that we couldn't fix.

Something else that Sears marketed:

uncle had a silvertone electric guitar grandpa got from sears with amp in the case,,, coolest thing on the block.....

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Originally posted by 1935tb-11

uncle had a silvertone electric guitar grandpa got from sears with amp in the case,,, coolest thing on the block.....

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This is one of the Silvertones made by Danelectro that I mentioned above. The lipstick pickup is the tell.

Us 12- and 13-year-old soon-to-be rock stars didn't think much of the Silvertone amp-in-the-case. They were loud enough to annoy your parents, but nowhere near loud enough to annoy the neighborhood.

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Originally posted by eagleisland

quote:

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Originally posted by 1935tb-11

uncle had a silvertone electric guitar grandpa got from sears with amp in the case,,, coolest thing on the block.....

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This is one of the Silvertones made by Danelectro that I mentioned above. The lipstick pickup is the tell.

Us 12- and 13-year-old soon-to-be rock stars didn't think much of the Silvertone amp-in-the-case. They were loud enough to annoy your parents, but nowhere near loud enough to annoy the neighborhood.

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i lived with my grandma  at that time and when he would play that thing in the living room he had to put the amp/case out on the porch   LOL.

but those danelctro lipstick pickup guitars make killer slide guitars.