Cashing In

We don’t associate the 1950s with crass commercialism. Surely this is a part of the modern age.  Cashing in on something that really has nothing to do with your company feels like a modern invention, perhaps belonging in the 1980s when making money on the back of someone else was positively encouraged.  

So, it has surprised me just how many Festival “commemorative” items it is possible to buy.  It is understandable that the organisers would produce some souvenirs to sell on site. The construction bill for the Festival was enormous and as much money as possible needed to be recouped in these austere times.  People would probably want a small item to take away with them too.  A badge or a keyring might be a badge of honour or a mark of sophistication among provincial neighbours.

 

My Festival of Britain souvenir compact

There are many such items available to buy on eBay. There are several styles of brooch and badge (sometimes still attached to an official card) as well as keyrings, bookmarks and letter openers.  There are also often glass dishes – an ashtray or a pin dish depending on your point of view. I presume that these are official merchandise, considering that there seems to be so many of them out there. But it is also possible to buy all kinds of ephemera which can be nothing else but a wily attempt to cash in on a national good mood. I keep an eye out on eBay for Festival related items.  I rarely buy any of them because there are often multiple bidders pushing up the price – people love this stuff! But I have a special board on Pinterest, where I keep a gallery of all the wonderful yet sometimes not entirely relevant items that you can buy. Some of the oddest include:

An advert for Woppa Processed Peas (“The Dome of Discovery – what a Woppa”!)

A jam pot

A celery jar

A jigsaw

A chocolate wrapper

A matchbox

A teapot

A biscuit tin

A playing card

It’s getting like The Generation Game this…anyway all of this just goes to show you, we were a much more commercial people than I originally thought.

One of my own favourite possessions is an old Needlecraft and Needlewoman magazine which advertises a set of Festival embroidery patterns by Penelope of Manchester. Can’t go to the South Bank?  Never mind, cross stitch a scene for yourself instead!

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