I was looking over some Marks Brothers invoices and found an interesting connection between them and Jacrim in the early 1930’s. It appears that as well as sharing a location and some management these companies shared a sale force. Being that Keystone was also at the same location I can assume that the same salesmen also sold Keystone as well. It is going to be interesting to pull these three companies apart and find out who was who, when they started, when the merges happened and when the Marks Brothers Company separated from Keystone Manufacturing. I know by invoices that Keystone Manufacturing and Marks Brothers Company were still located together at 288 A Street at least through 1938. By this point Jacrim Manufacturing had been dissolved and was part of Keystone Manufacturing. I am finding that invoices are such valuable source of information that the catalogs just do not have. These scrapes of paper that meant so little after the bill was paid are helping to bring life to the company that made the toys I so enjoy. It gives me pause before I throw anything out that is collected from the daily interactions of our lives. We never know what a collector fifty years from now would be amazed to find!
I am still photographing my collection and adding a few things to the site as time permits. I just did my annual dusting of the collection and it was a very long dusty day. What I wouldn’t give for a large room full of glass cases to house everything in. I think I’ll put that on my wish list for the next house.