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When you could order fish... or a burro...from the Sears Catalog


PineSong
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As much as I don't want to think about monkeys or puppies being shipped in the mail from Sears, and I don't know who was raising masses of guinea pigs in Greenville, Ohio (!) I love this page:

https://christmas.musetechnical.com/ShowCatalogPage/1959-Sears-Fall-Winter-Catalog/1554

$32.95 for a squirrel monkey

$125 for a poodle

and 35 fish for $15

Imagine all the kids saving up their paper route money for a squirrel monkey!

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On 12/28/2021 at 11:35 PM, GameCzar said:

Their hodge podge of fish crammed into small spaces reminds me of when I was a kid trying to keep fish. 

Right. We had a 10 gallon with an angel fish, a kissing gourami, a silver dollar, some tiger barbs, tadpoles and ditch fish from the (south Florida) yard. Why not just detonate a bomb in the tank and call it a day?

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On 12/28/2021 at 10:52 PM, PineSong said:

Right. We had a 10 gallon with an angel fish, a kissing gourami, a silver dollar, some tiger barbs, tadpoles and ditch fish from the (south Florida) yard. Why not just detonate a bomb in the tank and call it a day?

I thought MY childhood 10 gallon was bad! You SO win! 🤣

Edit: I just noticed that paper was selling alligators. I take back my previous statement. Whoever bought the alligator wins. 🙄

Edited by CalmedByFish
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On 12/28/2021 at 9:16 PM, Struggle said:

Monkey here as well.

Yes, but do you want a Spider Monkey or a Squirrel Monkey or an "organ grinder's monkey"? There were OPTIONS!

On 12/29/2021 at 12:08 AM, CalmedByFish said:

I thought MY childhood 10 gallon was bad! You SO win! 🤣

Edit: I just noticed that paper was selling alligators. I take back my previous statement. Whoever bought the alligator wins. 🙄

Hey, it says they are "Harmless when small". Oh, no problem then!

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On 12/30/2021 at 8:50 AM, Tanked said:

Right now I would go for the Burro to compete with my neighbor(s) barking dogs! Sears also offered kit houses and kit wooden boats you could build in your garage or basement. 

I want a burro too. Great LGD substitutes if you have coyotes.

On 12/30/2021 at 11:11 AM, sudofish said:

According to inflation calculators that shepherd puppy would be ~$700 today.

Probably what you'd pay a reputable breeder today? Mine are all rescue mutts, but I've seen 4-figure purebred puppy prices on social media.

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On 12/30/2021 at 11:02 AM, Jawjagrrl said:

I want a burro too. Great LGD substitutes if you have coyotes.

Probably what you'd pay a reputable breeder today? Mine are all rescue mutts, but I've seen 4-figure purebred puppy prices on social media.

oh yeah, german shepherds can be quite spendy. i like they listed mature weights, and see how they've changed over the years due to breeding. 60-85#. its rare to find a male shep now days that wont break 100#, even my female is 90, and she is not fat.

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On 12/30/2021 at 12:41 PM, sudofish said:

@JawjagrrlProbably is what you'd spend today I dunno for sure. I like big dogs but if I was to get one I'd want to go the rescue route. I just find old prices fascinating for some reason lol. Like back when you could get a new car for $2k or so.

An average car was not much more than that when I was a kid (LOL). But I can relate. Old fish equipment pricing is interesting too. 

I live on a farm, so we have three rescue big boys and one little sh!t entitled indoor one 😉 We were able to do dna testing this year when Chewy had a big sale on kits, and those reveals sure were fun! Perhaps the most interesting mix is Great Pyrenees, GSD, Chow Chow, Pitt and just for fun... boxer. She is a total goober around people, but ever watchful of our pastures (think of the old Wylie Coyote cartoons), and deadly around any small game like rabbits.

I encourage anyone to rescue! Two of our boys had been in a shelter over a YEAR. Our frenchie was once owned by someone that shows dogs (other people's) for a living and decided when she turned 5yo that she had "too many dogs". Happy to say she is spoiled rotten and napping on the good pillow in front of the bowl game as I post.

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@Jawjagrrl @lefty oMom always wanted a burro, but living in the city, was willing to settle for German Shepherds.  The last 4, all rescues were great companions.  Caesar weighed in at 131 pounds.  Caesar actually had papers, but I can't imagine what he would cost from a breeder today.

@sudofish I also find old prices fascinating.  Today of course, the cost of a new car is similar to what our parents paid for their first house.  In 1959 the average cost of a new house was only 12 iphones and most of those houses are still usable today.

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On 12/31/2021 at 10:47 AM, Taco Playz said:

Monkey definitely. Also, a Pomeranian would be nice. 😍

Sounds like someone who has never lived with a Pomeranian 😉

I have Pomeranian PTSD so I'm thinking I would have ordered a nice wire haired terrier. So 1950's!

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Funny how all the fish collections are too many fish for the tank. I mean, 2 gouramis in a 5 gallon with a bunch of other fish? I’d put that in at least a 15 gallon, as well as add some cories to the tank. At least they didn’t ship during the Christmas season.

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  • 2 months later...

Yes those prices in days long ago seem unreal now. When I was a kid you could mail order rifles and shotguns, many cost much less than $25. I pumped gas at a station when in high school for $0.24 a gallon, unless there was a price war with the station across the street. Then it went down to $0.19 a gallon. I bought a new Ford pu with a 6 cylinder for $1999. I couldn’t afford the one with chrome trim, v8, and a/c. It was$2495. 

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