Colorful Feed Sacks Provided Needed Fabric

BOOK REVIEW

Anything can become a collection. And proving this point once again is Susan Miller’s book, Vintage Feed Sacks - Fabric From the Farm.

Those useful and colorful bags that were once turned in to a variety of other useful and colorful items are illustrated with over 500 photographs in this recent Schiffer publication.           

A man named Richard Peek, a salesman for the Percy Kent Feed Company, supposedly originated the idea of printed feed sacks. It’s certainly true that Kent Feed sold feed in millions of printed sacks. Eventually, there were about 30 cloth mills that made the sacks for the feed companies, and thousands of elevators and feed stores that sold them.

The author’s favorite type of bag, and the basis of her collection, is the chicken feed sack. They were made of a soft and absorbent cotton, and comfortable enough to be turned into everything from underwear to pillowcases. The bags were sewn closed with a string  that could also be reused by a thrifty housewife, to make such things as doilies.

Not all bags were made of this soft cotton, of course. The burlap or gunny sacks were also used for some products. Many of them had interesting graphics, but they didn’t lend themselves as well for turning into other useful products.

There were a lot of different items that were sold in cloth bags. Food products such as potatoes, peanuts, beans and sugar came in these bags. So did lead shot. And a collector might even add one of the cloth bags used by banks to hold money to a collection.

In addition to seeing the photo of the many different prints used for the bags, anyone who lived on a farm or visited one during the earlier years of the 20th century will enjoy the author’s reminiscences of growing up on her family farm.

Vintage Feed Sacks, Fabric From the Farm (ISBN: 0-7643-2611-2) is a Schiffer Publication. It is priced at $29.95 and includes a price guide. Contact Schiffer at (610) 593-1777 or online at schifferbooks.com.

Donna Miller

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Another Look At Disney’s ‘Fab Five’

New from Collector Books is Collecting Disneyana, an Identi­ fication and Value Guide. The author, David Longest, has been a collector himself for over 30 years, and shares the joy he has found in all things Disneyana in this book.

Most collectors prefer those items  related to what they call the “Fab Five” - Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Pluto and Goofy. Mickey and Minnie are about to turn 80 and the other three aren’t far behind. And there have been a lot of items produced featuring them over those years.

These “Fab Five” are responsible for making Disney marketing the successful business enterprise that it has been for seven decades now. They are featured in the first chapter of the book, ”The Golden Years of Early Disneyana.” These are also the most expensive of the collectibles. You’ll find a wide mixture of items pictured, from 1930s shovel picturing Mickey and made by Ohio Art ($300-$450,) to a Donald Duck toothbrush holder from Japan ($375-$500.)

The following chapter deals with feature films, here you’ll find examples of the Three Little Pigs, Snow White, Pinocchio, Little Red Riding Hood, Bambi and others. Most items pictured in this group are from the 1930s and early 1940s.

The last chapters of the book include more recent items, from the 1940s through to recent collectibles. Since there are hundreds of thousands of Disney items that have been made in the last 60 years, only a small percentage is shown, but it should be enough to give a collector a general idea of values.

The author includes advice on maintaining and preserving a collection, what to pay for toys in the current marketplace, suggestions on displaying them and where the future of Disneyana collecting is headed in general.

Collecting Disneyana is priced at $29.95. Check with your local bookseller of visit www.collectorbooks.com online.

Donna Miller

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