4/30/2009:
Bismarck businessman Harold Schafer is probably best remembered as the founder of the Gold Seal Company and for his restoration efforts in the town of Medora. But in the business world, he was famous for his stupendous marketing strategies. For example, in 1945, a salesman pitched Schafer an emulsion that military pilots used in WWII to clean their windshields. Schafer was reluctant, saying his business was floor wax. But that night, he couldn't sleep, so he tried out a sample in his hotel room. By morning, he had given it a name: Glass Wax. He placed an order, insisted it be colored pink and be packaged in pink cans to appeal to the modern housewife. Three years later, sales for Glass Wax hit $8.5 million dollars.
Companies eager to learn from Schafer did almost anything to get his attention. In April, 1949, the Bismarck Tribune carried a photo of Schafer talking on the telephone. In front of him, on his desk, was a full-grown porcupine, sent to him by the South Dakota Junior Chamber of Commerce. The lively gift was intended to "needle" Schafer into giving a speech at their upcoming state convention. The fate of the porcupine is unknown.
On this date in 1955, Schafer outdid himself at a Super Market convention in Cleveland, OH. He put on display the largest number of silver dollars ever shown in public. He had previously used more than 400,000 coins - or what he called "cartwheels" - in a similar manner in a Chicago ballroom, but the weight of the money started to buckle the floor.
Schafer evidently chose a more sturdy setting for his Cleveland display, because this time he had to support 36 tons of cartwheels. It took three semi-trailers trucks to transport the coins from the U.S. Treasury, a delivery made in total secrecy and guarded by armored cars.
Securing the money had been no easy task, and Schafer had to secure special permission through Senator William Langer to borrow the coins. Northwestern National Bank in Minneapolis acted as the receiver, and Schafer, in essence, "rented" the money from the bank.
The cartwheels were transported in large canvas bags - a thousand dollars per bag - and were dumped into a huge glittering pile surrounded by armed guards throughout the convention. Schafer's point was to dramatize the profits made by retailers from his third product, Snowy Bleach, the previous year.
The number of coins? One million, two hundred thousand. As one newspaper story explained, "...if piled up in one stack, [it] would reach 1368 feet into the air, or about as high as New York's Empire State Building."
Dakota Datebook written by Merry Helm
Sources:
The Bismarck Tribune. 30 Apr 1955; 20 Apr 1949.
Tweton, D. Jerome Dr. Gold Seal Strikes it Rich. The North Star Dakotan. 3 Dec 1963.