Kage Co. Glitter Plaque, undated

Historical/Biographical Note

Historical/Biographical Note

The Kage Company was founded by Hyman Gerstein in Manchester, Connecticut in the 1930s. The company operated in the historic Cheney Brothers silk mills and originally made wooden clothes pins and doll furniture. During WWII, Kage turned to manufacturing plastic envelopes and protective plastic packaging to prevent silver goods from tarnishing.

In the early 1950s, the mainstay of the Kage Company became "Glitter Plaques" which were plastic pellets melted into decorative designs. Gerstein's grand-daughter, coming upon a box of colorful plastic chips left for her father by a salesman, assembled the pieces onto the shape of an image in a coloring book. Her father, wanting to preserve her artwork, placed her creation on a cookie sheet and baked it.

When Mr. Gerstein's son, Kibbe Gerstein, brought the designs to New York City, W.T. Grant Co. and Woolworth Company ordered thousands of them.

The colorful melted decorations were made for Christmas, Halloween, Easter, Thanksgiving and Valentines Day. Other themes included animated characters such as Betty Boop, Snoopy, Raggedy Ann and Tweety Bird. These were ubiquitous home decorations from the 1950s through the mid-1970s and were made until 2008.

Although the Glitter Plaques are no longer manufactured by Kage Company, the company is still operating under the name Preferred Poly Products in Chaplin, Connecticut.

Sources

Barlow, Susan, (n.d.). The Cheney Silk Mills. Manchester Historical Society, www.manchesterhistory.org
Brown, J Gordon, (1988, April 29) Yankee ingenuity comes into play at Kage Co.. Manchester Herald.www. cdn.manchesterhistory.org/News/Manchester
Do You Remember the 50s Fan Club. Retro Staff. (n.d.). The Story of Melted Popcorn Plastic Vintage Christmas Decoration (Glitter Plaques) [Facebook.com].
Partain, Dorri, (2019, November 27). Remember This: Holiday Glitter Plaques. Northeast News. www.northeastnews.net