Crayoncollecting.com - Craft House Corp Crayons & History

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Craft House Corporation
Toledo, OH
1951 - Current

Aliases

Palmer Paint Co. 1951-1953
Craft Master 1953-1955
Craft Master (subsidiary of Donfrio Bros.) 1955-1965

Craft Master (subsidiary of General Mills Fun Group Inc.) 1965-1985

Craft Master (subsidiary of Kenner Parker Toys Inc,) 1985-1987

Craft Master (subsidiary of Tonka Corporation), 1987-1991
Craft Master (subsidiary of Hasbro), 1991-1994
Craft House Corporation, (subsidiary of International Assemblix) 1994-1996

Craft House Corporation (subsidiary of RPM Inc.) 1996 - 1997

Craft House Corporation (subsidiary of Brynwood Partners LP) 1997 - 2006

Craft House Corporation (subsidiary of Chartpak Inc.), 2006-Current

Locations

Detroit, MI

Toledo, OH

History

The story of Craft Master that morphed into Craft House is a long one of multiple ownerships. But through it all, the familiar logo can be found on countless products. And whether that logo says Craft Master or Craft House just determines the age of the product as it went through its metamorphosis. The original idea of Craft Master came from Dan Robbins who was employed at Palmer Paint Co. out of Detroit, MI. Dan remembered that even Michelangelo pre-assigned colors for his students to color on specific paintings and he wondered if that could be adapted into an art product to sell.

Pitching it to Palmer Paint Co. took some time. It wasn’t until 1951 that the first paint-by-number showed at the New York Toy Show. The first prototype was not the famous “boat in the water” one most of us are familiar with (called “The Fisherman”). The first one was rejected by Palmer Paint as “not only not sellable but ugly as well.”

The kits weren’t an immediate success though. It took them two years to go from not being able to give them away to being the era’s equivalent of a viral product. At first it was Palmer Paint Co. itself that created problems by mixing up the paints for various kits causing a bad quality reputation. Eventually Dan Robbins resolved the issues and morphed the business into Craft House. Their first turning point was a successful demonstration at the New York Toy Fair in 1951 and getting Macy’s on board at the same time. They even paid people to buy the sets at the fair to ensure a success!

Their only competitor was a company called Picture Craft, who sold similar kits even before they started with their idea. However, the end result was a surprise with the Picture Craft product and by 1953 they were out of business giving sole focus to Craft House. There were still problems though. They didn’t price the kits high enough and took a financial hit during their first two years. By 1955 though, they had converted from canvas kits to their more familiar board containing light blue outlines. They switched from oil paint to acrylic paint and brought their cost of production down. Even though they were selling a lot of kits, the financial woes of the previous few years put them in so much debt that they ended up having to sell out to the Donofrio brothers of Toledo, Ohio, whose company had been supplying the containers for Palmer paints and the Craft Master kits. As they didn’t want the kits to go away and impact their own business, they just bought the company.

By 1965 General Mills convinced them to sell out the business and run it under their new General Mills Fun Group nonfood company they were forming. General Mills climb to the top of U.S. toy production began in a short span. General Mills went on a buying spree from 1961 to 1969, purchasing 37 companies – mostly nonfood companies. Its formidable toy business began in 1965 with the acquisition of Rainbow Crafts, makers of Play-Doh modeling compound. They bought Kenner Products in 1967, and Parker Brothers, makers of the board game Monopoly, in 1968. That created a bit of an ongoing problem though in that they spent the better of 9 years in court for Parker Brothers against the Anti-Monopoly game. It went all the way to the Supreme Court who ultimately said they did not have a “monopoly” on the word monopoly! Craft Master was run under their Fundimensions subsidiary company.

Ultimately, General Mills divested their toy division in 1985 which then created Kenner Parker Toys Inc. as a separate company. This was the start of a succession of buyouts. Tonka Corporation bought them out in 1987 and then Hasbro bought them in 1991. Craft Master ended up with International Assemblix, now called Craft House. Craft House is currently run by Chartpak, Inc., and doesn’t use the Craft Master name anymore. Instead, they use the Craft House with the old Craft Master logo.

Along the way with all of these owners, many crayon products were produced under the Craft Master and Craft House names. Everything from crayon boxes to crayon-by-number set to various art kits got made. The Hot Wheels figure crayon sets are a particularly difficult line to document. They offered up eight different cars. There were two different configurations on what cars were in the package and then there were six different colors that any one of the cars can have. They didn’t use any uniformity to which cars were in which positions either. If a collector wanted, they could identify dozens of configurations between all these attributes. What I have done here is to include sets that offer up a unique color of the cars and a unique set. I don’t have all possible color combinations for each set documented yet but I am only missing two car colors. Perhaps over time they will all surface. For now, here is a breakdown of documented colors:

Sol-Aire CX4: Black, Blue, Green, Orange, Red, Purple (missing yellow)

Shadow Jet: Black, Blue, Green, Orange, Purple, Red, Yellow

Fangster: Black, Blue, Orange, Purple, Red, Yellow (missing green)

Sharkruiser: Black, Blue, Brown, Green, Orange, Purple, Yellow

Camaro: Black, Blue, Green, Orange, Purple, Red, Yellow

Classic Cobra: Black, Blue, Green, Orange, Purple, Red, Yellow

Corvette: Black, Blue, Green, Orange, Purple, Red, Yellow

Bywayman: Black, Blue, Green, Orange, Purple, Red, Yellow

Known Crayon Boxes

Product Name	ID	Box	Colors	Crayons	Box Color	Design	Variation	Years	Rarity	Value
Barbie	CH0005	HPP	6	6	Red	Barbie logo angled	Fanned shaped crayon, car shaped below	1990	4	$5
Barbie Crayon By Number	CH0002	TBH	8	8	Pink	6 overlapping cards	Big hair Barbie upper right	1991	7	$7
Barbie Crayon By Number	CH0028	TBH	8	8	Pink	6 overlapping cards	Barbie in Circle upper right	1992	7	$7
Batman	CH0006	HPP	6	6	Red	Batman logo angled	Fanned shaped crayon, car shaped below	1990	7	$7
Batman Crayon By Number	CH0023	TT	8	8	Red	6 overlapping cards	Batman wing logo	1989	5	$7
Batman Crayon By Number	CH0024	TBH	8	8	Yellow	6 cards	Batman	1990	8	$12
Batman Forever Crayon By Number	CH0026	TBH	8	8	Black	6 sets of cards	Batman logo	1995	5	$7
Batman the Animated Series Crayon By Number	CH0025	TBH	8	8	Blue	6 sets of cards	Batman	1992	6	$7
Cabbage Patch Kids	CH0004	HPP	5	5	Cream,Green	Arched Cabbage Patch logo	Five character shaped crayons	1984	5	$5
Color Me Super Powers Coloring Set	CH0015	HPP	6	6	Blue	Large crayon shaped tube	Contents at left	1985	5	$5
<The> Dukes of Hazzard Coloring Posters	CH0013	HPP	8	8	Orange	The General Car	Circle with stars, posters below	1981	7	$50
Empire Strikes Back Color n’ Clean Machine	CH0020	LID	4	4	Black/Blue	Empire Strikes Back logo	Boy with machine	1980	7	$30
Flintstones Crayon By Number	CH0061	TBH	8	8	Purple	6 sets overlapping cards	Flintstones on cards	1990s	7	$10
Godzilla Crayon By Number	CH0008	TBH	8	8	Purple	Godzilla head	6 sets of colorings	1995	6	$5
Hook Crayon By Number	CH0022	TBH	8	8	Brown	6 overlapping cards	Hook	1991	7	$7
Hot Wheels	CH0034	HPP	4	4	Yellow,Black	Bywayman Set	Bywayman Black, Cobra Blue, Corvette Purple, Camaro Orange	1990s	4	$7
Hot Wheels	CH0035	HPP	4	4	Blue,Black	Fangster Set	Fangster Yellow, Sol-AIre Black, Sharkruiser Green, Shadow Jet Red	1990s	4	$7
Hot Wheels	CH0036	HPP	4	4	White,Black	Bywayman Set	Bywayman Purple, Cobra Black, Corvette Orange, Camaro Blue	1990s	4	$7
Hot Wheels	CH0037	HPP	4	4	Blue,Black	Bywayman Set	Bywayman Blue, Cobra Orange, Corvette Black, Camaro Purple	1990s	4	$7
Hot Wheels	CH0038	HPP	4	4	Blue,Black	Fangster Set	Fangster Black, Sol-AIre Red, Sharkruiser Yellow, Shadow Jet Green	1990s	4	$7
Hot Wheels	CH0039	HPP	4	4	White,Black	Fangster Set	Fangster Blue, Sol-AIre Black, Sharkruiser Orange, Shadow Jet Purple	1990s	4	$7
Hot Wheels	CH0040	HPP	4	4	White,Black	Bywayman Set	Bywayman Black, Cobra Yellow, Corvette Red, Camaro Green	1990s	4	$7
Hot Wheels	CH0041	HPP	4	4	White,Black	Fangster Set	Fangster Purple, Sol-AIre Orange, Sharkruiser Black, Shadow Jet Blue	1990s	4	$7
Hot Wheels	CH0042	HPP	4	4	White,Black	Fangster Set	Fangster Yellow, Sol-AIre Black, Sharkruiser Green, Shadow Jet Red	1990s	4	$7
Hot Wheels	CH0043	HPP	4	4	White,Black	Fangster Set	Fangster Orange, Sol-AIre Blue, Sharkruiser Purple, Shadow Jet Black	1990s	4	$7
Hot Wheels	CH0044	HPP	4	4	White,Black	Fangster Set	Fangster Black, Sol-AIre Purple, Sharkruiser Blue, Shadow Jet Orange	1990s	4	$7
Hot Wheels	CH0045	HPP	4	4	Blue,Black	Fangster Set	Fangster Red, Sol-AIre Green, Sharkruiser Black, Shadow Jet Yellow	1990s	4	$7
Hot Wheels	CH0046	HPP	4	4	White,Black	Bywayman Set	Bywayman Orange, Cobra Purple, Corvette Blue, Camaro Black	1990s	4	$7
Hot Wheels	CH0047	HPP	4	4	White,Black	Bywayman Set	Bywayman Green, Cobra Red, Corvette Yellow, Camaro Black	1990s	4	$7
Hot Wheels	CH0048	HPP	4	4	White,Black	Bywayman Set	Bywayman Yellow, Cobra Green, Corvette Black, Camaro Orange	1990s	4	$7
Hot Wheels	CH0049	HPP	4	4	Blue,Black	Bywayman Set	Bywayman Red, Cobra Black, Corvette Green, Camaro Yellow	1990s	4	$7
Hot Wheels	CH0050	HPP	4	4	Blue,Black	Fangster Set	Fangster Black, Sol-AIre Purple, Sharkruiser Blue, Shadow Jet Orange	1990s	4	$7
Hot Wheels Crayon By Number	CH0057	TBH	8	8	Blue	Hot Wheels Logo	5 crayon cars, 6 overlapping cards	1990s	5	$7
Hot Wheels Poster Crayon Set	CH0051	HPP	5	5	Blue	Visible Crayon Cars in Row	2 Posters, Drawing	1990s	6	$15
Lambchop Crayon By Number	CH0058	TBH	8	8	Purple	Lambchop Banner	Lambchop with sun	1990s	6	$7
Little Mermaid	CH0001	HPP	5	5	Blue,Green	Arial upper left	Five character shaped crayons	1989	5	$7
Little Mermaid Crayon By Number	CH0055	TBH	8	8	Blue	Red Angled Banner	6 overlapping cards	1989	5	$7
Little Mermaid Crayon By Number	CH0056	TBH	8	8	Blue	Ariel	4 overlapping cards	1989	5	$7
Looney Tunes Crayon By Number	CH0009	TT	9	9	Green,Red	Scene	Characters in disc, overlapping drawings	1990s	6	$7
Marsupilami Crayon By Number	CH0012	TBH	8	8	Orange	Scene	Marsupilami laughing, 2 crayon pics	1990s	5	$7
Mickey’s Crayon By Number	CH0027	TBH	8	8	Red	6 overlapping card	Mickey’s Stuff logo	1990s	6	$7
Mickey's Gallery	CH0003	HPP	5	5	White	Mickey	Mock window, number lower left	1984	6	$5
Mickey’s Gallery Crayon By Number	CH0054	TBH	8	8	White	Red Border	2 sets of 4 overlapping cards, Mickey	1980s	6	$7
Minnie ‘n Me Crayon By Number	CH0053	TBH	8	8	White	Blue Border	6 overlapping cards, Minnie	1980s	7	$10
NASA Apollo Crayon by Number	CH0028	TBH	8	8	Blue	6 Overlapping cards	Stars, astronaught	1990s	5	$5
NASA Pathfinder Crayon by Number	CH0011	TBH	8	8	Red,Blue	Craft House Logo	Pathfinder launching, overlapping drawings	1990s	5	$5
NASA Space Shuttle Crayon by Number	CH0052	TBH	8	8	Blue	8 Overlapping cards	Space Shuttle launching	1990s	5	$5
<The> Peril of Mickey Double Pop-Out Crayon By Number	CH0030	TT	8	8	Green,Blue	Mickey’s Stuff Logo	2 posters, Mickey swinging	1990s	8	$10
Return of the Jedi Clip-A-Long Crayon Holder	CH0016	HPP	1	1	Gray	Visible Product	R2D2	1983	6	$7
Rub ‘n Color	CH0033	HPP	8	8	Blue,Purple	Visible Product	Blue & Green tablet	1990s	7	$5
Spider-Man Crayon By Number	CH0060	TBH	8	8	Black	6 sets overlapping cards	Spider-Man top	1990s	6	$7
Star Wars Poster Art	CH0007	HPP	8	8	Black	2 Posters	Yoda	1980	7	$20
Strawberry Shortcake Clip-A-Long Crayon Holder	CH0017	HPP	1	1	Red,Green	Red border	Outdoor path, visible product	1980	7	$5
Strawberry Shortcake Color n’ Clean Machine	CH0021	LID	4	4	Red	Arched text	Girl with machine	1980	7	$15
Strawberry Shortcake Fun Maker Activity Set	CH0018	LID	4	4	Red	Arched text	Contents of kit	1980	7	$20
Strawberry Shortcake Coloring Posters	CH0019	TT	8	8	Red	Strawberry	2 posters	1981	7	$7
Terminator 2 Crayon By Number	CH0031	TBH	8	8	Blue,Gray	Terminator	Try Me Window	1991	6	$7
Terminator 2 Crayon By Number	CH0032	TBH	8	8	Blue	6 Overlapping cards	Terminator	1991	5	$7
Willow Crayon By Number Set	CH0014	TT	8	8	Black	6 overlapping cards	Willow above	1988	5	$7
WCW Wrestling	CH0059	TBH	8	8	Blue	6 overlapping cards	2 Wrestlers	1990s	4	$5
World Wrestling Federation Crayon By Number	CH0010	TBH	8	8	Black	Blue Line Border	Wrestler above overlapping drawings	1990	5	$5