Monday, December 10, 2012

Mark Jewelers

Among the more obscure chapters in comic book collecting are the special advertising inserts included in comics shipped to overseas military PXs. I have several books with Mark Jewelers inserts myself, and didn't know what to make of them for the longest time. Like a lot of ads in the 1970s, they were geared toward adults, and not the children that are stereotypically the audience for comics. I eventually had them pegged as military base exclusives, but the "outside of the U.S." aspect was a wrinkle I hadn't considered until recently. It does make perfect sense.

In looking into Mark Jewelers, I discovered Military Insert Mania via this message board thread. I learned a whole lot more about these inserts from those two sources than I had in all my years of collecting and stumbling across them by accident. But there are still plenty more mysteries about these shadowy, hidden "variants." Chief among them for me is how the military insert arrangement came about in the first place. I'm also curious as to why it was Mark Jewelers that carried the banner for something like 20 years.

Mark Jewelers (also H & R Sales, but apparently the same company) was located at 9041 West Pico Boulevard in Los Angeles, California. I stress "was" here because it looks as if that location has been swallowed up by Bais Chana Chabad High School, a private, Jewish, girls-only school. I can't find any record of "the" Mark Jewelers still existing, though it's certainly possible that they do. Considering the ads disappeared in the early 1990s, I wouldn't be surprised if they gave up the ghost around that time.

Regrettably, that's all I know for now. I'll probably be making further inquiries as time and interest permit. I can't speak for anyone else, but I'd love to know more about Mark Jewelers and why they considered comic books an effective tool for reaching their customers for two decades.

3 comments:

  1. It's funny I found a few old comic books made from gold key promoting Looney tunes comic books from 1961 and I found the ad of Mark jewelers I am interested in finding out if they still exist and how they got into comic books because I'm seeing rings for $100 pendants for $49 I went online and I cannot find them if you can find them please let me know I would like to know more about this company

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  2. I just come across this while going threw old paper works from when I was in Vietnam.I bought a Vietnam ring from Marks Jewelers (H&R sales)in 1971 while I was in Vietnam. I still have the paper work and rec. I have two pamplets of what they sold also

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  3. I just come across this while going threw old paper works from when I was in Vietnam.I bought a Vietnam ring from Marks Jewelers (H&R sales)in 1971 while I was in Vietnam. I still have the paper work and rec. I have two pamplets of what they sold also

    ReplyDelete