Today we will talk about one of our favorite ways for dating vintage eyeglass frames. Namely, vintage catalog's.
We recently came across an old American Optical Catalog. This was a catalog from 1963 meant for opticians and salesmen of vintage eyeglasses. It showcases their current inventory of 1960's glasses and the sizes they come in, available colors, as well as a short piece describing the frames. Browsing through such catalog's one can glean much information about sizing for vintage frames, styles in that given era, as well as seeing how the company saw and marketed their product in that era.
Most of the men's 1960's frames in this catalog are the models you'd expect from a 1960's or 1950's eyeglasses catalog: Ticker tape, Checkmate, Jaguar, Times, Sirmont and Influential. These American Optical Vintage eyeglass frames are very popular today and are harder to come by in good condition. Another reason they are harder to find: vintage combination frames did not hold up that well with age. The plastic often bends due to age while the metal stays straight, which can sometimes cause the top part to disconnect from the chassis and the frames unwearable. Looking through a 1963 catalog most of the women's eyeglasses frames are, not surprisingly, cat eye glasses. Cat eye glasses were popular starting in the 1950's and going strong in the 1960's.
We have sold many of the 1960's eyeglass frames found in the catalog. One of our favorites had been the American Optical Influential. About a year ago we got a lot of 8 of those 1950's eyeglasses. Needless to say they sold out pretty quickly. We have also sold many , Sllek, Vivid, Showtime and Overture frames. Our favorite by far are the Gaymont frames which are just fabulous 1960s eyeglasses. Much of the way things were marketed back in the day would be unacceptable today. To market 1960's eyeglasses you have a man posing with a cigarette in hand, a child posing shooting a cap gun. Both a cigarette and a cap gun would likely not be found in any ad today, due to both the sensitivity of the ad men as well as the fact that it would just not be good business practice. Another interesting thing you see is the sizes of vintage cat eye glasses. People often ask us for frames in size 53. As you can see here in the catalog most frames came in size 42, 44, 46, and sometimes 48. There is no such thing as 1950's cat eye glasses in size 53. Many came only in the most popular sizes in the 1950's and 1960's, 44 and 46. It would seem that for the really popular vintage frames they would make them in all sizes while the less popular ones would come onl,y in the popular sizes though it is hard to say with certainty that this is the case.