During WWII advertising exec John Stover was looking for a way to furnish a dollhouse for his three daughters. Because of the war, imports of German miniatures (where most of them were made) were halted and materials and resources at home were being diverted to the war effort. As a result, Stover founded Grandma Stover's, named after his mother. The kitchen-table business grew and soon he hired more people to make doll-house miniatures out of materials he was able to scrap together.
Business boomed, but then dropped off in the 1950's. Stover got the idea to expand the line into party favors and marketed them to gift and stationary stores. Each cardboard-back blister pack contained a number of miniature items, such as champagne bottles, tiny babies, milk bottles, food and other items combined into themed packages.
He also introduced the "Fun Miniatures", a line of gag gifts, including the ones shown here today. My guess is they were sold in the 60's.
I love these things. Never seen them before.
ReplyDeleteVery innovative for Stover to re-package his miniatures into these. Apparently there was quite a line of them.
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