You Used To Be Able To Order Tombstones Through The Mail-Order Catalog Sears Issued
Sears was once the largest retailer in the world. The department store chain laid the foundation for consumer culture in America as we know it today.
But before Sears shot to popularity and became a household name across the nation, it made its start in the nineteenth century as a mail-order catalog.
Richard W. Sears founded a mail-order company that specialized in watches and jewelry. A few years later, he sold the company, and in 1893, he founded another mail-order service with Roebuck.
The company began to grow quickly and offered a wide variety of affordable products. Those in rural areas who didn’t have access to stores could order the goods they desired and have them sent to their homes.
By 1895, the catalog consisted of 532 pages. It contained almost anything you could think of–groceries, sewing machines, bicycles, electric radiators, and even medicinal cocaine.
But perhaps the most bizarre item available for sale in the catalog were tombstones. In 1906, Sears published a catalog devoted to tombstones and monuments. It was titled “Memorial Art and Granite” and included more than 200 pages of descriptions and illustrations.
Prices varied, depending on the size and material of the stone and whether it was ordered with or without engravings.
Sears’ prices were significantly more affordable than traditional funeral parlors’. It allowed consumers–particularly those living in smaller communities where there were very few skilled craftsmen–to order customized grave markers.
Previously, only the wealthy were able to participate in this practice, but Sears made it possible for families of all backgrounds to memorialize their loved ones with a high-quality stone of their choosing.
Wollwerth Imagery – stock.adobe.com- illustrative purposes only
Customers were required to pay the full amount before the tombstones were shipped. They could buy a “White Granite Marker” for the cost of $8.60 or a heart-shaped monument for as low as $4.20.
There were also headstones made from Vermont’s best barre granite. They came in five different sizes, with the smallest costing $113.87. Sears would even deliver a sample of the granite for 75 cents.
People had the option to select phrases from a list at the back of the publication to be engraved on their stones, making death a little easier to deal with.
Of course, a price was attached to each message. For example, “Gone, but not forgotten” was 47 cents, while “Budded on Earth to bloom in Heaven” was 70 cents.
As the end of the twentieth century neared, Sears fell from ranking as the nation’s largest retailer. Big box stores, such as Walmart, began to dominate the country. In 1993, Sears discontinued their catalogs, and their low-cost tombstones have not been accessible through mail-order ever since.
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