help id this medal/fob

[teverly]

A friend at work found this while digging out a floor in his barn.
around the top it International ASSN.
On the bottom from left to right it says OF DISPLAY MEN
The letters in the circle are IADM.The banner below that says Cincinnati and below that is the date 1936.
Any help is much appreciated.

 

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[PBK]

Oddly enough, this item has a connection to The Wizard of Oz.

Haven't been able to get much info on it, but it seems that the International Association of Display Men was originally known as the National Association of Window Trimmers, an organization founded in 1897 by L. Frank Baum, author of the Oz books. The IADM name kicked in sometime before WWI.

 

[DCMatt]

Before 1885, most merchants, if they chose to display anything, simply piled goods haphazardly in their front windows. It took an impresario named L. Frank Baum - who later indulged another kind of American fairy tale when he wrote The Wizard of Oz - to change that.

In 1897 Baum began publishing a trade journal called The Show Window and a year later founded the National Association of Window Trimmers.

The goal of any good store-display designer, according to Baum, was to "arouse in the observer the cupidity and longing to possess the goods." Under his example, department store merchants began to use glass, light, and color to create street-corner crowds and stimulate their audiences in ways previously unknown.

In other words... the beginning of modern advertising.

DCMatt

 

[teverly]

Thanks guys..i knew someone would find out!!!!!

 

[Rob66]

Cool find...Teverly
Rob