The TRUTH be told... The 1961 Sears All-Star Football Catalog

49er's Sears 1961 All star Catalog

Ok, this is pretty cool.  I don't own this (I saw this too late on Ebay, but wouldn't have bought it for the price it sold for) but, it's content is what the "Cool" part is.  I love finding out about the history of a 49er item (memorabilia) that I've bought.  Some of the important things I like to figure out about each item is;

1. The Date.
2. The Manufacture.
3. Was it sold as part of a set? 
4. What did it first sell for?
5. And, any additional detail.

So, when I saw this little catalog, I felt I uncovered the Holy Grail of information about a few of the collector pieces I have in my collection.  

The football Uniform

Inside the 49ers 1961 Sears All Star Catalog - Pages 1-4

As a kid growing up, as soon as I was hooked watching the 49ers every Sunday morning, I wanted to be like my football heroes; John Brodie, Gene Washington, Dave Wilcox, etc..., and I wanted a full uniform like they had.  Every Christmas a 49ers Uniform was on my Christmas list.  I wanted the entire set, the Helmet with the SF logo, the shoulder pads, pants and shoes and of course a Jersey with the number 12.  

I never received a uniform because my mom was the sole provider for 7 kids, but as an adult I now have a full uniform set just like in the ads above, I'll share that in future posts.  But, it's so great to see the uniforms and other clothing from that era.  

I LOVE the sweatshirt shown on the 2nd page in the center section. I especially love the classic "Shootin' 49er" logo they used on those sweatshirts.  I want one of those.

I would also go for the jacket on page 3.  That kid looks like a lineman from the 60's too. 

The 49er Bobber & The Roko Doll

49er's Sears 1961 All star Catalog - Bobbleheads & Roko Doll

I have several Bobblehead figures, but I love how the bobble on the left side sold for what looks to be $1.99, oh bring back those days. 

In seeing this catalog I was shocked to see a few items that they sold at Sears, like the doll on the right side, known as a Roko Doll by Columbia Toy Products. 

1961 Roko (Gund) Doll from Columbia Toy Products

Close Up of the 1961 Roko (Gund) Doll 49ers emblem

First I was shocked by the $3.95 price..."OH I WISH", these dolls in the pristine shape of my guy go into the hundreds.  I have 3 of these, but only this one is in the great shape and with the 49ers "Shootin' 49er" logo like the rest of the 1961 catalog items.  Also, the back of his neck has the date stamp so I knew he was a product from 1961 before I looked at the catalog.

The Fred Kail Statues

49er's Sears 1961 All star Catalog - Fred Kail Statues

One of those items I was shocked to see in the catalog was the Fred Kail statues.  If you're a sports collector you know the story and cost of these statues.  Look at the price these originally sold for...WOW!  Plus, I didn't know they had cutesy names like "Big Joe Jolter" and "Big Bruce Bruiser" for the 10" high figures and "Little" in the name for the 5" high figures.  Pretty cool.  Boy, if I knew back then what I know now, I would have bought Kail Statues as an investment.

I would love to find the original Thermos picnic kit on the left side and the binocular set.  How cool that would be, but I haven't seen anything like it before.

The Weico & Hedy Glassware

49er's Sears 1961 All star Catalog - Weico & Hedy Glassware

The part I was most intrigued with was this page from the catalog.  I have both of these items in my collection.  The Weico 49ers ceramic stadium ashtray is a standard collector piece (I think I have two) and again I love the original price, $3.98

But the true kicker was to see the "Ashtray" and a "Martini Set" for sale in a boys catalog, REALLY!... Classic!  

New Info: I didn't realize that this Hedy set from Daycor, Inc. was a Martini set.  I have a collection started and I'm missing pieces to it.  And from the ad in the catalog, now I realize I'm missing another piece, a metal football shaped swizzle stick/stirrer.

1960's Hedy Glassware collection

1960's Hedy shot glass collection sizes

So the collection of the Daycor, Inc. distributed,  Martini Set designed by Hedy should now consist of;

9 3/4" Carafe
9" Flask with plastic/metal handle Metal football shaped swizzle stick/stirrer

5" Round Glass Ice Bucket
Large Whiskey Glass - 4"
Medium Whiskey Glass - 3.5"
Small Shot Glass - 3"
Mini Shot Glass - 2 3/8"
5.5" Drinking Glass - Tumbler
4"x4"Ashtray w/ dual football shaped metal cigarette holder
6"x6" Candy dish - Single
6"x12" Candy tray - Double
8"x8" Snack plate - Single
8"x16" Double Snack tray - Double
10 3/4" Large plate - Single
10 3/4"x21 1/4" Double Large tray - Double

Man, I hope this is it.  I'm feeling like a hamster in a spinning wheel, the closer I think I'm getting in completing this collection, the more I find I'm missing more pieces...uggghhhh!  This is a true challenge.

The Sears 1961 All Star Catalog - OPPS!

I am stunned that Sears didn't put one of it's own NFL products into the catalog though.

1961 Sears-Roebuck San Francisco Team NFL Helmet Display

Sears sold these helmet displays (in back of the bobbles, plates & balls) for each NFL team and this is dated and noted to be a Sears-Roebuck product in the back.  I'm sure they caught the problem for the 1962 catalog.   

Still it so fun looking into the past Niner collectables.  
 

Go Niners ! ! !

1961 Columbia Toy Products ROKO 49ers Dolls

Twin 1961 49er ROKO Dolls

These are 1961 ROKO 49er Dolls 

Some folks call these "Gund" dolls as well, but I'm not sure if they're Gund.

I don't know much about these dolls other than the obvious things. They're constructed of hard rubber heads and hands with plush fuzzy material for the torso and any other parts with color. And there is canvas type material for the legs and shoe area. The colors of the helmets are the early 1960's Silver with red stripes and no SF logo yet, that came in 1962.

CU of Roko Doll 49ers Shield

There's supposed to be a NFL Team shield on the chest of each doll, one has the 49er's shield but it's really faded and hand sewn to keep it from falling off.  The material of the shield is super fine cotton material.  It's hard to see, but there's the classic 1960s shooting 49er with '49'ers' in bold lettering over him.

1961 & Roko head sta

At the back of the rubber head or neck area it's been stamped with "1961" and below that "ROKO".  Thus the ROKO name I've given it.  Now if this is a "Gund" I would love to hear from anyone about that information, but until then, it's a "ROKO" to me.

(this is the best picture I could take of the stamp)

Columbia Toy Products tag on the 1961 Roko 49ers doll

 There's a product tag on the side of the each doll that reads "Columbia Toy Products" the other side is so faded, I couldn't read it.  There's not much history to read up on them, other than they made all the NFL teams dolls and other character dolls like Popeye and such, so they must have done this for a while during the 60's.

UPDATE: August 1, 2013
 I was able to purchase a 3rd Roko Doll, in near perfect shape and shocked at the condition of this 52 and a half year old doll.  It's amazing it still has this much detail.  I'll for sure be sending this one up to San Francisco for the new museum.  I would say that this is a true HARD TO FIND collectable.