Pull over and stay awhile Midcentury roadside motels offer personality, vintage charm

Pull over and stay awhile Midcentury roadside motels offer personality, vintage charm

 Artist Norman Rockwell’s illustration “Marble Champ” beautifully depicts the intense competition of marble play. (Image courtesy of Etsy)

June 2026

Cover Story

Pull over and stay awhile

Midcentury roadside motels offer personality, vintage charm

by Corbin Crable

While you’re preparing for your annual summer road trip, it’s best to remember that sometimes, the best parts of the journey are those little surprises along the way.

Enter the vintage roadside motel (a combination of the words ‘motor’ and ‘hotel’; the descriptors ‘motel’ and ‘motor lodge’ are usually used interchangeably). Once a staple for American motorists, they began to fall out of favor with the rise of larger hotel and motel chains. However, according to travel experts, they’ve been enjoying a sort of renaissance these past few years, offering cost-effective convenience and delightful surprises that one can only find in these midcentury marvels.

The best part of the trip is getting there

“Surely I’m not the only traveler who, when driving around the USA, spends most of the time staring out the car window on the lookout for cool, old motels – bonus points for an impressive sign,” says travel writer Ellie Seymour, whose 2025 photography book “Vintage Motels” chronicles her journeys across the country in search for the retro treasures.

Roadrunner Lodge on Route 66

Roadrunner Lodge on Route 66

A stay at the Roadrunner Lodge on Route 66 in Tucumcari, NM, is “a step back to the 1960s,” according to the motel’s website. “This refurbished Route 66 motel is a classic piece of Americana.” (Image courtesy of the Roadrunner Lodge)

Indeed, Forbes’ John Oseid writes in his review of Seymour’s book, in a decade that’s seen fascination with vintage motels only increase thanks to media like the TV show “Schitt’s Creek,” these colorful architectural delights stand out in a landscape dotted with dull, lifeless hotels designed for the modern business traveler.

“Anyone of a certain age remembers—fondly, no doubt—those interminable hot summer drives across America to the grandparents. You know, when you were just dying to finally spot a ‘Vacancy’ sign ahead ... and, please ... the added promise of TV and Air Con flashing in bright neon, too. Soon, it would be time to escape your sizzling station wagon prison to dive bomb into the motel pool,” Oseid writes. “Back then you didn’t realize that the universal motel aesthetics of the age were the highest forms of kitsch, nor that someday that would be exactly the charm that attracts a new generation tired of generic business-y chain hotels that have sprouted off every interstate and surround our airports and suburban office parks.”

Green Lantern Motel and Restaurant on U.S. 50

Green Lantern Motel and Restaurant on U.S. 50

The now-demolished Green Lantern Motel and Restaurant on U.S. 50 near Capon Bridge, W.VA. (Image courtesy of Tumblr)

From cabin to court

 

Before the motel, weary travelers would lay their head in tourist homes, which offered a cheaper, more laid-back alternative to expensive, stuffy hotels. These tourist homes were a bit out of the way for motorists, located often closer to the middle of a city. In the early years of the Great Depression, these homes became eclipsed by cabin camps – individual cabins at which a traveler could rent a mattress for a dollar and blankets and pillows for a quarter apiece. As the 1930s continued, these camps were replaced by cottage courts, individual bungalows situated on a well-manicured public lawn. These cottages were a much-needed upgrade from their cabin precursors. They began to spring up throughout the country, boasting such features as “rooms built to resemble a country cottage and adorned with plastic flowers; snapping photos of a neon cactus glowing through half-drawn window shades; sleeping in a concrete tepee appropriated from Native American culture,” Andrew Wood wrote for The Smith-sonian Magazine in 2017.

Boots Court Motel in Carthage, MO,

Boots Court Motel in Carthage, MO,

Built in 1939, the Boots Court Motel in Carthage, MO, is one of the oldest motels still operating on Route 66. (Image courtesy of Midwest Living)

The Starlite Motel in Cocoa Beach, FL

The Starlite Motel in Cocoa Beach, FL,

This postcard shows not just The Starlite Motel in Cocoa Beach, FL, but also that you could enjoy a bit of live entertainment with your dinner. (Image courtesy of Tumblr)

Sleeping under the neon

 

Finally, the new roadside motels and motor lodges, now multiple rooms under a single roof, replaced those quaint cottages of the ‘30s and ‘40s. Their roadside neon signs hummed and beckoned travelers with promises of amenities such as television and air conditioning. Modern conveniences, on-site eateries, a swimming pool, coupled with affordable rates – the motel had arrived.

“While motel rooms were plain and functional, the facades took advantage of regional styles (and, occasionally, stereotypes). Owners employed stucco, adobe, stone, brick – whatever was handy – to attract guests,” Wood writes. “With families swarming to and from the rest stops that multiplied along the highways of postwar America, many of the owners settled in for a life’s work.”

These motels quickly became the standard in comfort for American families out on their road trip adventure, enjoying decades of dominance in the booming hospitality industry. But as chain motels were being constructed with speed, these smaller, family-owned motels struggled to keep Americans’ favor – and their dollars.

Wood writes that as recently as a decade ago, classic roads such as Route 66 and the Las Vegas Strip suffered from a shockingly steep decline in these smaller mom-and-pop businesses, each of them unique and too many replaced with staid, soulless multi-level buildings that are the same regardless of the city in which you find yourself. In fact, as of 2012, only 16,000 of these small motels remained open and in business, a dramatic drop from the roadside motel’s peak of 61,000 in 1964.

Shangri-La Motel in Dodge City, KS

Shangri-La Motel in Dodge City, KS

The long-abandoned Shangri-La Motel in Dodge City, KS, its parking lot slowly being reclaimed by nature, is a testament to the beauty and simplicity of mid-century design. “The building’s facade, though weathered, still showcases elements of its original design. Bold angles and large windows reflect a time when motels were more than mere stopovers,” according to the blog My Family Travels. “Despite its abandonment, the architectural integrity remains largely intact. For enthusiasts of mid-century design, it offers a glimpse into a period when motels were designed to be both functional and aesthetically pleasing, embodying the optimism of post-war America.” (Image courtesy of My Family Travels)

Their place in history (and our memories)

Still, efforts remain to preserve some of the structures that remain, according to the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

“For someone who was a kid in the 1950s, ‘60s, or ‘70s, motels capture the way Americans traveled. Many motels have that Howard Johnson feel to them, and Midcentury Modern is becoming so popular again it is easy to reimagine these structures as swanky motels with farm-to-table restaurants and nice rooms,” architect Ashley Wilson told the organization in 2015.

Wilson said that although the motels themselves aren’t architecturally significant, their significance is cultural – many of them catered to African-American clientele during Segregation and were the only place such individuals could stay overnight, at least in the American South.

Besides their link to the Civil Rights movement, the motels will always hold distinct nostalgic appeal for the Baby Boomer generation.

“They represent the family vacation of the mid-20th century,” Wilson said. “All of us remember getting to the motel and then the kids all race to fill up the ice bucket. We remember the pool and ice cream in the restaurant. They trigger memories of parenting, being a child, and road trips in the un-air-conditioned station wagon.”

For others still, according to travel writer Hannah Henderson, these motels of decades past mean so much more.

“There is an inextricable connection between roadside motels and that sense of hope and opportunity that we chase on a cross-country road trip,” Henderson writes. “Some of our favourite memories involve sitting out on mismatched chairs on shared motel porches or stoops, watching traffic and people roll on by. Where are they heading? What are their stories? And do they have the same dreams as us?”

Lorraine Motel

Lorraine Motel

The Lorraine Motel, built in 1925 and located in Memphis, TN, was the site of the April 4, 1968, assassination of civil rights icon Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In 1991, the motel was converted into the National Civil Rights Museum. (Image courtesy of The National Park Service)

In the 1950s

In the 1950s

In the 1950s, if you were lucky, your hotel room came with both a poolside view and salmon-colored everything. (Image courtesy of Click Americana)

route 66
Ohio’s Lincoln Motel

Ohio’s Lincoln Motel

Have $15? Then you could spend a night in Ohio’s Lincoln Motel. (Image courtesy of X)

Knuckle Down Marbles remain the small wonder of the toy world

Knuckle Down Marbles remain the small wonder of the toy world

 Artist Norman Rockwell’s illustration “Marble Champ” beautifully depicts the intense competition of marble play. (Image courtesy of Etsy)

 

May 2026

Cover Story

Knuckle Down

Marbles remain the small wonder of the toy world

by Corbin Crable

There’s plenty of debate surrounding exactly where the marble originated, but one thing is certain – whether you’re 8 or 80, these tiny toys still seem to amaze us.

Game of the pharaohs

Though games of marbles have been played for at least 3,000 years (Egypt’s boy pharaoh King Tutankhamen was even buried with his), we at least know that the name “marble” came from Nurem-berg, Germany, in the early 16th century. In those days, marbles were made primarily of stone like agate or limestone (and, wonder of wonders, even marble itself). Ceramic marbles began to be mass produced in the late 19th century.
Around that time, glass, too, was being handcrafted into marbles, and we can also credit the Germans with the invention of marble scissors (“The orb began at the end of a rod of semi-molten glass, and after a blob was formed, those special scissors sliced it off,” according to The Art of Toys website). The first glass marbles made by machine rolled off the line in 1903.

antique clay marbles

Antique clay marbles

A set of antique clay marbles. (Image courtesy of Samson Historical)

“Glass marbles quickly dominated the market, particularly after industrial mach-ines made them more efficiently, lowering the price,” according to the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, NY. “Valued as much for their beauty as the games played with them, marbles inspired one 19th-century enthusiast to describe the ‘twisted spiral of colored filament’ in glass marbles as ‘thin music translated into colored glass.’”

Marbles made by machine

Handmade marbles began to be produced in smaller quantities as machine-made marbles began to dominate the market.

“American companies like Akro, Agate, Peltier Glass and Master Made Marbles began to really churn them out. They were made out of all sorts of materials: baked clay, glass, steel, plastic, onyx, and agate,” according to The Art of Toys. “The machines also meant better shooting marbles, because there were no nicks or misshapes like there were with the handmades. Their names were based on a marble’s particular use (a Shooter, for instance), the material it was made of (Steelies from steel, Allys from alabaster), or its appearance (Flints, Cloudies, Corkscrews, Peerless Patches, etc.).”

marbles at Moon Marbe Co

Marbles at Moon Marbe Co

A selection of loose marbles at Moon Marbe Co. (Image courtesy of Facebook)

The Cat’s (Eye) meow

One of the most popular types of marbles, the Cat’s Eye, were first made in Japan in the years immediately following World War II and soared in popularity throughout the 1950s and ‘60s (In the 1970s, during the arts and crafts movement, handmade marbles became popular once more). Cat’s Eyes are marbles that contain eye-shaped colored cores that have been injected into the inside of the marble.

“Cat’s Eyes have been so much a predominant marble in more recent decades that many people not versed in marble jargon refer to most any marble generically as a Cat’s Eye,” David Chamber-lain of West Virginia’s American Museum of Glass writes in a post on the museum’s blog. “I’ve heard this over and over again, hundreds of times out there in non-marble venues shops, antique and collectible shows, and flea markets. I like to refer to it as being in the marble trenches! And 80 percent of those people when mentioning Cat’s Eyes do so with great affection.”

Though many glass marble companies hit the market beginning in the early 1900s, only one exists today in the U.S. – Marble King, based in West Virginia.

a well-loved pastime,

A well-loved pastime

Though marble collecting remains a well-loved pastime, retired Geography professor Malcom Comeaux says the last time he saw kids play marbles was in the early 1960s. He marvels that “something with such a deep historical footprint should experience such a quick demise.” (Image courtesy of Facebook)

making marbles

Marble-making demonstration

An employee of Moon Marble Co. leads a marble-making demonstration. Demonstrations take place at the store every Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday.
(Image courtesy of Moon Marble Co.)

“An absolute step back into childhood”

Closer to home, those living in the Kansas City metro area are familiar with the Moon Marble Co. in Bonner Springs, KS. The shop, which sells handmade marbles, bulk marbles, game marbles, art glass marbles, and a collection of other games, celebrates its 30th anniversary next year.

Moon Marble Co.’s owner, artisan Bruce Breslow, does regular demonstrations of marble making, taking the time to explain the process of glass working and marble history throughout his presentations.

“An absolute step back into childhood. A great reminder to stop and enjoy the little things. Pure nostalgia around every corner,” one commenter wrote in a review on the company’s Facebook page.

If you played marbles throughout your own childhood, you’ll recognize the terminology used during a game of marbles, everything from “knuckle down” (starting play with your knuckle against the ground) to “taw” (a larger marble with which to shoot smaller marbles, referred to as “ducks”) to “keepsies” (the player gets to keep all of the marbles he or she wins). Types of marbles, meanwhile, include the Onionskin (antique marbles with swirls and closely packed surface streaks), Turtle (a marble with wavy streaks containing green and yellow), and Clambroth (a marble with equally spaced opaque lines on a milk-white opaque base; rare versions may have blue or black base glass)

Marbles aren’t just toys

Marbles aren’t just toys

Marbles aren’t just toys – in many cases, they make fabulous decorations.
(Image courtesy of Facebook)

Discerning the old from the new

 

Like most all other vintage toys, marbles have a loyal following of collectors (In cyberspace, one of the largest marble collectors groups boasts 27,000 members, while another, Marble Show Mania, features listings for marble shows across the world. One of the most recent took place late last month in Decatur, IL.

These collectors, of course, take into consideration a multitude of factors when adding to their collection. Type, size, and condition are the most highly considered factors when appraising a marble. Surface damage such as chipped areas significantly lower the piece’s value. Websites such as marblebuyer.com appraises marbles and offers advice on identifying modern versus vintage pieces as well.

 

eye catching marbles

Eye-catching marbles

Although marbles are made with an array of colors, sometimes the simplest ones are just as eye-catching. (Image courtesy of marblebuyer.com)

Early machine-made marbles include faint seams where the molten glass joined together. Other identifiers of older machine-mades are color layering (color blends made by feeding separate glass streams into the mach-ines), surface quality (early machine-made marbles are smooth and glossy), and pattern signatures (swirls and twists may help identify the company or maker).

Common modern or toy marbles are made of uniform glass without layers, the colors are bright and even, they are smooth and perfect and will lack the bubbles you would find in handmade pieces. Handmade marbles, meanwhile, have pontil marks (small rough spots made when the the marble was formed at the end of a glass rod and detached while molten), contain subtle imperfections, and contain tiny air bubbles, faint ripples, or layered glass.
For more information about the history of marbles or the process for making handmade marbles, call the Moon Marble Co. at 913-441-1432 or visit www.moonmarble.com.

If you lose your marbles

If you lose your marbles

 If you lose your marbles, you’ll find plenty of options for replacements at Moon Marble Co. in Bonner Springs, KS. (Image courtesy of Facebook)

Making dinner delightful Fiestaware brings color to the party

Making dinner delightful Fiestaware brings color to the party

 Soup, salad, cereals, salsa, snacks! There is a perfect bowl for everything, according to Fiestaware Factory Direct. (Image courtesy of fiestafactorydirect.com)

 

April 2026

Cover Story

Making dinner delightful

Fiestaware brings color to the party

by Corbin Crable

For nearly a century, Fiesta dinnerware has added a splash of bold color to America’s meals, with their product line as diverse as the rainbow of hues in which you can find them.

Fiesta debuts with Art Deco

Often referred to as “Fiestaware,” the West Virginia-based Fiesta Tableware Co. (which, until a few years ago, was known as the Homer Laughlin China Co.) launched the line of ceramic glazed tableware in 1936. Immediately recognizable by its Art Deco style, the original pieces were designed by Homer Laughlin’s art director, Frederick Hurten Rhead. Rhead, a ceramicist, worked for the company for 15 years, from 1927 until his death in 1942.

Fiesta backmark

Fiesta backmark

A Fiesta backmark can be found on each piece of Fiestaware; the Homer Laughlin China Co. designed several throughout the original Fiestaware’s run. (Image courtesy of eBay)

(Rhead) eventually came up with Fiestaware’s pattern of concentric circles, imprinted on every item, that gives pieces the look of having been handcrafted on a pottery wheel and then hand-fired in a kiln,” according to a 2002 New York Times article by Kelly Alexander. “But Rhead’s stroke of genius came when he decided to glaze his china in brilliant color -- a departure from the English all-white tradition.” Currently, Fiestaware comes in a lineup of 12 colors; early advertisements for Fiesta tableware stated that the product line’s colors were inspired by “the colorful festivals of Mexico.”
Our national attraction to Fiesta can be attributed to not only its colors and design, but its affordability, too. Whether buying in sets or mixing and matching pieces, from the very beginning, Fiestaware could make any dinner party pop, and its variety make the brand highly collectible still. In fact, it remains the most often-requested casual dinnerware on bridal registries, according to an article by Wayne Curtis in American Heritage.

 

Fiestaware hit its peak in 1948

Fiestaware hit its peak in 1948

Fiestaware hit its peak in 1948, when 10 million pieces were shipped. (Image courtesy of Reminisce)

More than just dishes

In Fiesta’s early days, the line included not only dishes, but other occasional items like candlestick holders, vases, and ash trays. By 1940, just four years into its existence, the Fiesta line expanded to include items like relish trays and tea pots; at one point, the Fiesta line included a total of 64 different pieces, many of them now discontinued.

Throughout World War II, like so many other industries, Homer Laughlin was forced to scale back its production on all products to focus their production on war efforts. And, like so many other companies, public demand for their products – Fiestaware included – saw a decline. By the end of the war, the number of items offered in the line fell by a third.

Demand for the line’s more traditional pieces, however, remained strong, with sales hitting a peak in 1948. The Fiesta name, thanks to years of strong mass marketing efforts, was known for its vibrant color and Art Deco style, and ownership of Fiesta pieces became a status symbol for middle-class Americans.

contemporary Fiesta relish tray

Contemporary Fiesta relish tray

This contemporary Fiesta relish tray, widely available online, will be the talk of your next dinner party. (Image courtesy of Facebook)

Pastel collection Fiestaware

Pastel collection Fiestaware

Pastel collection, auctioned by Mebane Antique Auction in 2023 for undisclosed price, est. up to $10,000 - 20/21st Century; Original, (78) matching pieces to include; (11) 10.5” diameter plates, (13) 9” plates, (15)7.25” plates, (12) 7” flat bowls, (2) 6” bowls, (12) 5.25” bowls, 4.5” height gravy boat, 11.5” platter, (11) 3.5” coffee mugs in excellent, unused condition. (Image courtesy of invaluable.com)

The return of Red

By 1950, Fiesta’s original colors were Blue (cobalt), Green (light green), Yellow (deep golden), Old Ivory (yellowish cream), and Turquoise (robin’s egg blue). The original Red (orange red) had been discontinued in 1944 – perhaps another reason for Fiesta’s sales slump in the mid-1940s). New colors introduced throughout the 1950s included Rose (dark brownish pink), Gray, Forest Green, and Chartreuse.

Fiesta sales jumped again in 1959, when the line’s original Red was reintroduced. This color was created using uranium, and the American government’s lifting of federal regulations on uranium with the Atomic Energy Act cleared Homer Laughlin to resume production of items made with a radioactive glaze.
Fiesta sales slumped throughout the 1960s, and the line’s vintage era concluded in 1969, when the company restyled the tableware to keep in step with changing home décor trends. Fiestaware’s look was changed to look more modern, and colors were added to the product line that reflected more popular hues at the time – colors such as Turf Green (avocado) and Antique Gold (brownish yellow). For a brief period, the name of the line was even changed to “Fiesta Ironstone.” The changes that Homer Laughlin believed would revive the line, however, didn’t find favor with the public, and the Fiesta line was discontinued in 1973.

Fiesta dinnerware, 1936-1973

Fiesta dinnerware, 1936-1973

The Homer Laughlin China Co., Newell, West Virginia (established 1871-), Frederick Hurten Rhead, designer (b. England, 1880-1942), Fiesta dinnerware, 1936-1973, earthenware, glazed, IMoDD, Gifts of Walter and Nesta Spink, Eric and Robin Highum, Victoria Matranga and Margaret Carney and Bill Walker (Image courtesy of dinnerwaremusum.org)

Baby Boomers give second life to brand

Baby Boomers, establishing their own homes, renewed interest in Fiestaware, with collectors snatching up pieces in secondhand stores and garage sales. The interest in Fiesta surged only shortly after the line was discontinued, with some of the rarer items sold for hundreds of dollars. The Homer Laughlin China Co. responded in kind, reintroducing Fiesta in 1986 for the line’s 50th anniversary. Though these newer pieces were noticeably smaller than their vintage counterparts, they came in different shapes and the glaze in which they were coated was glossier, and new colors were added – Rose (pink), Black, Cobalt (dark navy blue), White, and Apricot (pale pinkish tan). Altogether, newer Fiesta pieces come in 39 different colors.

In 2020, the Homer Laughlin China Co. was partially sold, and the company was rebranded the Fiesta Tableware Co.
Of course, differences exist between the vintage and contemporary Fiestaware.

 

A vintage Fiesta catalogue

A vintage Fiesta catalogue

A vintage Fiesta catalogue from the Homer Laughlin China Co. The company rebranded itself as the Fiesta Tableware Co. in 2020. (Image courtesy of Etsy)

“Thankfully, the manufacturers used distinctive stamps for the old and new collections. The old inkstamp says “GENUINE fiesta (fiesta will be in a stylized text and all lower-cased words) HLCo USA. This marking will be in a straight line. In contrast, the new collection will have Fiesta with a capital “F” and the marks will be in a circular/curved format,” according to vintage lifestyle blog Cause a Frockus. “In addition to this inkstamp on the bottom, you will find a mold marking on practically every original piece created. You may or may not find rings around the wording. The variations in text include: Fiesta HLC USA, Fiesta MADE IN USA HLC, HLC fiesta MADE IN USA, fiesta MADE IN USA (with a trident-like logo above it).”

Since the reintroduction of Fiesta in 1986, collectors groups have popped up. One of the largest is the Homer Laughlin China Collectors Association (www.hlcca.org). The organization hosts an annual conference every July and even publishes its own quarterly newsletter titled The Dish. And on Facebook, the Fiestaware Collectors Group boasts nearly 12,000 members.

And, according to Collector’s Weekly (and countless collectors worldwide), though other tableware lines have tried to match Fiesta in both color and popularity, there’s nothing quite like the original.

“All of these have their followings,” the publication’s website notes, “but Fiesta remains king.”

Collecting Coca-Cola Coke antiques chronicle company’s history

Collecting Coca-Cola Coke antiques chronicle company’s history

 Retro advertising poster shows Coke hawker at girl’s ballgame. (Image courtesy of pinterest.com)

March 2026

Cover Story

Collecting Coca-Cola

Coke antiques chronicle company’s history

by Corbin Crable

When it comes to collectibles, nobody beats Coca-Cola.

The fizzy beverage that has been a household name for nearly 150 years is much, much more than a product that helps quench your thirst. Its brand recognition has garnered generations of fans across the globe. It’s said that 94% of the world’s population can identify the brand’s red and white logo, and that the phrase “Coca-Cola” is the second most understood phrase in the world, right after ‘okay.’ Currently, Coca-Cola can be found in more than 200 countries. The brand hasn’t only influenced the food and beverage industry, but pop culture as well (no pun intended).

A refreshing brand

Coca-Cola has long also been a giant in the antiques industry. Coca-Cola collectibles of every type have spread the word about “the Pause That Refreshes” in the form of coolers, bottles, calendars, clothing, stuffed animals, serving trays, and more. Collectors clubs have brought collectors together around the world, too, with regular conventions allowing collectors to buy, sell, and trade every item imaginable. Regionally, the Mid-America Chapter serves Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Iowa (its 50th anniversary show is coming up, from April 17-18 in Independence, MO); the city of St. Louis alone has its very own chapter, the Gateway to the West Chapter.

logo on collectibles

Coca-Cola logo on collectibles

The Coca-Cola logo can be found on collectibles at just about any price point, including this higher-end carousel toy. (Image courtesy of The Antiques Almanac)

According to one historian, Coca-Cola’s logo began to appear on regular, everyday items you might find around the house.

“The marketers were tremendously creative in producing things that you’d carry on your person, things like wallets, purses, cufflinks, pocket mirrors for the ladies, bookmarks, stamp holders, and notebooks. Let’s say your wallet has a Coca-Cola emblem on it,” Phil Mooney, former archivist for the Coca-Cola Co. told Collectors Weekly in 2009. “Well, every time you pull out that wallet to pay a bill, it was a reminder to try a Coca-Cola. Or say you had a lady’s pocket mirror. Every time you adjusted your make-up, you’d get that reminder as well. All of these items had a very utilitarian element—they were things that you used every day in the course of living your daily life. Yet each was an invitation for you to try a glass or a bottle of Coca-Cola.” 

 

vintage Coca-Cola collectibles

Vintage Coca-Cola collectibles

This lot of vintage Coca-Cola collectibles, which included a syrup barrel from the 1920s, a metal cooler from the 1950s, and crate with bottles. A note on the syrup barrel’s ingredient list notes “cocaine removed.” (Image courtesy of Thomaston Auction)

The soda with a place in history

Until its invention, Mooney explains, beverages were usually fruit flavored. Cola itself was a new product, and the company pulled out all the proverbial stops to get consumers to give it a try. That meant putting the logo on items such as clocks in drug stores and on scales at the pharmacist’s desk. It was a strategy that worked, and the advertising found its way to even more items as the 19th century ended and the 20th century began. Mooney said he especially enjoys Coca-Cola antiques made during two specific periods.

“I like the turn-of-the-century Coca-Cola antiques. They have that wonderful Victorian quality to them. The very ornate trays with those fashionably dressed women on them immediately take you back to that period in our history,” Mooney said. “I also like the advertising that we did in the 1920s. If you read history and literature, you probably already have a picture in your mind of what people looked like in the 1920s. … Well, advertisements for Coke in the 1920s capture all of that perfectly. If you want to know what a flapper looked like, just take a look at a Coca-Cola tray. Coca-Cola advertising from that period captured the lifestyle perfectly. It’s almost like a photographic record.”

According to Mooney, Coca-Cola’s brand recognition reached new levels in the post-World War II era, thanks to American soldiers being dispatched throughout the world and introducing local populations to the drink. For those GIs, Mooney said, “Coca-Cola was a strong reminder of home.”

Hallmark Keepsake Ornament features Kermit the Frog

Coke’s original collectibles serving trays

Coke’s original collectibles included serving trays that prominently featured beautiful, stylish women enjoying a bottle of the beverage. (Image courtesy of Collectibles with Causes)

The Coca-Cola polar bears

The Coca-Cola polar bears

The Coca-Cola polar bears proved to be a hit with customers and collectibles alike. Pictured: A polar bear figurine from 1994. (Image courtesy of Etsy)

This vintage Coca-Cola display

This vintage Coca-Cola display

This vintage Coca-Cola display is incredibly rare, having been produced in Canada in 1938. It is pictured with an original 1940s display bottle made in Arkansas. These bottles almost never contained any actual liquid, instead being painted on the inside to make them appear full of Coca-Cola. (Image courtesy of the Cedartown (GA) Coke Museum and Instagram)

largest collection of Coca-Cola items

The largest collection of Coca-Cola items

The largest collection of Coca-Cola items belongs to a collector in Oregon, OH, with a staggering 5,237 items. (Image courtesy of worldrecordacademy.org)

That set the stage for a sort of renaissance for Coca-Cola collectibles, which enjoyed a surge of popularity in the 1960s and ‘70s (it was at this time that Coca-Cola collectors clubs began to pop up across the globe).

“There are two categories (of memorabilia): vintage Coca-Cola collectibles and more recent items. The vintage pieces are difficult for young collectors and new collectors on a budget because they tend to be pricey,” Mooney told Collectors Weekly. “It’s a lot easier to get into collecting bottles or cans or pins because they tend not to be expensive. You can develop a pretty nice collection without spending a lot of money. The vintage stuff is out there, but it’s not cheap.”

Jolly St. Nick dons the red and white

Another of Coca-Cola’s significant contribution to pop culture came in 1931, when an illustrator for the company, Haddon Sundblom, created the image of Santa Claus that has become our default imagining of the jolly old elf; in older depictions, Santa was portrayed as wearing green or blue. Sundblom’s Santa introduced the world to a Santa festooned in red and white (the colors associated with Coca-Cola, of course), and the image lives in our collective consciousness still. Mooney, meanwhile, wrote that Coca-Cola Santa Claus collectibles are among the company’s most popular items.

“We began creating Santa Claus imagery in 1931, and Sundblom did all of it through 1964,” Mooney wrote. “So for more than three decades, we had one artist working on creating an image of what Santa Claus ought to be. Today his Coca-Cola Santa Clauses are part of our collective DNA.”

Santa and coke

Santa and Coke

We have Coca-Cola to thank for our present-day imagining of Santa Claus. Do the colors of his suit look familiar together? (Image courtesy of Amazon)

Although the Coca-Cola name could be found on everyday household items since the product’s inception, Mooney said the logo could be found in the most unusual of places.

“At one point, somebody created a sandwich press that had a Coca-Cola logo on it. It was sort of like a Panini press today for sandwiches, but this one put a Coca-Cola logo on the bread. That was unusual. There were a couple of hatchets that were produced. They had logos on them. Why they did it, I have no idea, but somebody apparently decided that would be a cool idea to advertise on an axe or a hatchet,” Mooney said. “So I guess when somebody went to chop a tree down, if you got thirsty, you would go and buy a Coke. … They had little dishes that were created with our logo on them. There were things like flyswatters that had the logo. There were knives and forks and spoons that had the logo. Cufflinks and cow bells, wash gloves and thimbles, just about anything you can think of.”

It’s like an old friend

Unlike many antiques, Coca-Cola is finding a new life with younger collectors, Mooney added, even if those younger collectors aren’t snatching up the bigger, more expensive items and instead opting for smaller, more cost-effective options.

unopened Coca-Cola cans and bottles

Unopened Coca-Cola cans and bottles

John Burley of the United Kingdom boasts the world’s largest collection of unopened Coca-Cola cans and bottles. More than 600 unopened Cokes sit on shelves in his house. (Image courtesy of worldrecordacademy.org)

“The biggest change that I’ve noticed is a movement on the part of young people away from vintage collectibles. They are just not that available, and if they are, the pieces are so expensive that they can’t afford to participate,” Mooney said. “The trend is toward what I call the secondary collectible categories, things like bottles, cans, pins, and small collectibles.”

Mooney said that though attending a collectors convention is a wonderful way to network with other collectors, receive appraisals, and hunt for coveted treasures, sites like eBay and Etsy “are fantastic places to gauge the market.” Still, he noted, there’s nothing like the feeling of finding that special item at a brick-and-mortar antique store or flea market.

Coca-Cola collectibles continue to rise in popularity due in large part to what the brand itself represents – something that is nostalgic, familiar and ever-present, both in small moments and big celebrations. No matter what happens in our lives, Coca-Cola is there.

“People are comfortable with Coca-Cola memorabilia. It brings back memories. It may remind them of a simpler time in our history. There are all-American girls on the trays and calendars, suggesting a more innocent age, if you will. That’s kind of the appeal of the product: Coke is a brand that people associate with happy times—a birthday, a football game, the prom, graduation. It’s a product that people have around when they are with friends and family,” Mooney said. “I think that that’s what makes Coke so comfortable for people. It’s like an old friend. So if you collect this stuff and you put it in your rec room or living room, every time you walk into that room, you probably smile a little bit because it seems like you’re rekindling something that you once had as a part of your life.”

Start or add to your own Coca-Cola collection at the 50th Anniversary Coca-Cola Collectors Show & Sale, APRIL 17-18 at the Hilton Garden Inn in Independence, MO. For more information, contact Joanie Shover at jshover50@aol.com or 816-229-8920, or visit www.mid-americatcccc.com. To book a room, call the hotel at 816-350-3000.

Adorable Keepsakes Hummel figurines come from religious background

Adorable Keepsakes Hummel figurines come from religious background

“Sister’s Children” limited edition figurine, created to celebrate Hummel’s 100th Anniversary, sold at auction for $3,750 in 2021. (Image courtesy of invaluable.com)

Jan/Feb 2026

Cover Story

Adorable Keepsakes

Hummel figurines come from religious background

by Corbin Crable

You might know someone who collects Hummel figurines – those figurines of cherubic children at play or dutifully marching off to school, satchel in hand. Or perhaps you’re a collector yourself, boasting a sizable group of figurines displayed prominently in an antique cabinet or on a bookshelf or table. You’re certainly not alone; those precious porcelain treasures have enjoyed a cultlike following for decades.

An idea created in a convent

The figurines come from the most humble of beginnings. Sister Maria Innocentia, born Berta Hummel in Bavaria in 1909, possessed an artistic talent from a young age. The young Berta would tap into her blossoming imagination to sketch and paint idyllic scenes on postcards. In 1927, she moved to nearby Munich, Germany, in order to fine-tune her talent; however, a higher calling from God would lead Berta to a convent in the early 1930s, where she would take the name Sister Maria Innocentia Hummel.

Apple Tree Girl

“Apple Tree Girl”

“Apple Tree Girl,” HUM 141, was designed in 1940. (Image courtesy of Antique Trader)

“Within the walls and the beautiful surroundings of the centuries-old convent, she created the paintings and drawings that were to make her famous. Within these sacred confines, her artistic desires enjoyed unbounded impetus,” according to a 2021 article by Hummel expert Heidi Ann von Recklinghausen in Antique Trader. “As she adjusted to convent life, Maria Innocentia found fulfillment in teaching art to kindergarteners and leading the convent’s Vestments Department, designing clerical robes, church altar cloths and banners. She also began to sketch the endearing pictures of children that would someday make her famous.”

The children depicted in Sister Innocentia’s drawings all shared a distinct look, helping her work stand out among others, von Recklinghausen writes.
“These were stylized images of country children going to school, making music, playing simple games. The colors were muted, the style loose and sketchy. And the children were enchanting. Cheeks were plump, hair windswept,” she writes. “Shoes were too big, and socks sagged. The artwork was published in a variety of forms, including postcards, and Sister Maria Innocentia Hummel began to develop a reputation as a fresh talent in the world of religious art.”

 

“Benjamin and Luisa”

“Benjamin and Luisa”

“Benjamin and Luisa,” one of many figurines sold through Hummel’s website. This figurine is priced at $333. (Image courtesy of hummelgifts.com)

Hummel figurines take shape

Though Sister Innocentia died of tuberculosis in 1946, she would live to see the children depicted in her postcards come to life as figurines, all thanks to a German company that specialized in porcelain and fine earthenware. The company, W. Goebel Porzellanfabrik, had been founded in 1871. By the time he gained control of the company in 1929, the owner, Franz Goebel, had decades of experience in the industry, crafting a name for himself and his company throughout Europe. Goebel first learned of Sister Innocentia’s popular postcards in December 1933, and the Sisters at her convent asked Goebel himself to reproduce the cards in some form; Goebel decided they would be best created as a series of figurines.

From their introduction in 1935, the figures were a hit, and though production was paused throughout World War II, it quickly resumed immediately following the war.

“During the American Occupation, the United States Military Occupation Government allowed Goebel to resume operation. This included the production of Hummel figurines,” von Recklinghausen writes. “During this period, the figurines became quite popular among U.S. servicemen in the occupation forces, and upon their return to the United States, many brought them home as gifts. This activity engendered a new popularity for Hummel figurines.”

Hallmark Keepsake Ornament features Kermit the Frog

Schoolboy

“Schoolboy,” originally crafted in 1938. Each authentic Hummel figurine is made with a numbered mold; the mold number is also known as the HUM number. (Image courtesy of Antique Trader)

The Little Fiddler

The Little Fiddler

“The Little Fiddler,” HUM2, was among the very first figurines created in 1935. (Image courtesy of Antique Trader)

Valentine Gift

Valentine Gift

Many figurines, such as the “Valentine Gift” were also featured on collectible plates. (Image courtesy of Antique Trader)

Adventurebound

Adventurebound

The most valuable Hummel figurine is “Adventurebound,” created as a limited edition piece in 1957. Experts price the piece in pristine condition between $4,900 and around $10,000. (Image courtesy of littlethings.com)

Rising popularity, rising prices

Throughout the mid-20th century, Hummel figurines continued to climb in both price and popularity, with other items being produced bearing the Hummel name, including collectors plates. The figurines’ popularity reached its zenith in the 1970s as prices spiked. Limited special edition figurines have been produced since then, with the pieces becoming more intricate in design. Today, even 90 years after they first hit the market, all Hummel figurine designs must be approved by the leadership of Sister Innocentia’s convent.

Demand for Hummel figurines waned in the late 20th century, and the production company declared bankruptcy in 2017, axing the number of figurines produced annually from 55,000 to only 20,000.

Still, communities of collectors continue to keep their zeal for the figurines alive through both in-person and online groups, the most prominent being the company’s original M.I. Hummel Club. Museums paying tribute to the figurines have opened to the public as well. The Hummel family home – the birthplace of Sister Innocentia – is operated by her nephew. Meanwhile, the late Donald Stephens, a longtime mayor of Rosemont, IL, donated his extensive Hummel collection to a museum that would eventually bear his name.

“The unique Donald E. Stephens Museum of Hummels is the largest display of M.I. Hummels in the world. Here you can take a close look at more than 1,000 rare M.I. Hummel figurines and ANRI woodcarvings,” according to the City of Rosemont’s website. “The late Mayor shared his love of the figurines with millions of national and international Rosemont visitors. The establishment of the museum ensures not only that his collection will remain intact, but that it will continue to grow.”

Sister Maria Innocentia Hummel

Sister Maria Innocentia Hummel

Sister Maria Innocentia Hummel. (Image courtesy of hummelgifts.com)

Hummel Dealers

Hummel dealer’s plaque

A Hummel dealer’s plaque, sold at auction for $2,100 in 2021. (Image courtesy of invaluable.com)

A mark of authenticity

Though original Hummels are plentiful, imitators still exist. To ensure yours is an authentic Hummel figurine, check for the trademarks. The original Crown Mark, for instance, was used in the earliest figures produced; it displays an image of a crown with the initials “WG” (for William Goebel) directly below it. An illustrated guide to this and other Hummel trademarks can be found at https://www.antiquetrader.com/collectibles/hummel-trademarks-identified.
In addition, according to Antique Trader, the signature “M.I. Hummel” at the base of the piece, along with a mold number, will both appear on authentic Hummels. Fake figurines will be missing those marks and lack detail in general.

Pricing for Hummels can vary significantly, but it is important to note that their value has declined over the years due to market saturation and decreasing popularity. Most are worth less than $100, but pieces that are both larger and rare, as well as those in perfect conditions with original box can fetch several thousand. It always helps to check sites such as eBay and Etsy – or one of the several Hummel price guides – for more specific numbers.
Of course, like so many other antique and vintage collectibles, Hummels’ value lies in their sentimentality or nostalgia, which is simply priceless.
“(Hummel figurines) have become symbols of carefree childhood – to the enjoyment of millions,” according to hummelgifts.com. “Collectors and admirers from all over the world agree that the artistic perfection and quality of an M.I. Hummel product are unique in the world.”

trademark

Trademark and Mold

Trademark and mold

umbrella kids

Umbrella Kids

Umbrella Kids