Hallmark May Baskets

Starting in 1954 and continuing through at least 1957, Hallmark marketed three sets of paper May baskets designed by Vivian Trillow Smith, each with 5 flowery basket designs. The first year they were packaged in 8.5 by 10.5 inch envelopes with space for an address on the back, as shown in the center image above. At some point (I suspect in the third year, because I have two envelope designs for that center set) they switched to being staple-bound with a cardstock cover, as in the two outside images above. The interior pages with the baskets did not change.

The ad shown here ran in the April 12, 1954 issue of LIFE magazine, emulating an article on trends. Some of the baskets appearing in the ad appear to be prototypes that differ from the baskets that were sold.

Clicking on any cover image above will take you to a page with printable images of the baskets for that set. Clicking on the ad images will open a new blank window with a large version of that page, so that you can read the ad text. (You will need to zoom in order to see the image full size.)