Vintage 1960s Teacher Decal 🍎 Embla Crest Torch Foil Sticker, Unopened

Remember Teacher Decals? 🍎 1960s TEACHER Decal, Embla Crest, Sealed on Its Card

Size: 3" ~ Factory sealed, little to no wear. ~ It is unknown if the adhesive still works, as that is usually the first thing to fail.

Embla Crest, a rare vintage 1960s Teacher Decal, is a highly collectible Item. Factory sealed. These are likely the last of their kind in the world, serving as a poignant reminder of a time when we celebrated our community and their contributions. It's a round decal with a hand holding a flaming torch high, and TEACHER across the band at the bottom.

It may require assistance, also known as glue, to affix. Like everything I keep, it lives in the dark at under 40% relative humidity and a steady 72°F, climate controlled, so any age it shows, it had before it came to me.

It comes on an Embla Crest header card printed EMBLA CREST, EASY TO APPLY-SELF-STICK, 69¢, sealed in its clear hang bag. The card color can vary, coral or pale green.

🔥 The Torch

The torch symbol often represents knowledge, learning, and enlightenment, making it a fitting emblem for teachers. The design, with its bold colors and geometric shapes, is characteristic of the mid-century modern aesthetic.

The idea is an old one. A torch held up has stood for life and truth since the Greeks and Romans, who carved torches pointed down on their tombs for death and held up for life. The Statue of Liberty's formal name is Liberty Enlightening the World, and that is why she lifts one. A teacher carrying the torch is the same picture: somebody holding the light up so everybody else can see.

And a teacher is exactly who people wanted to honor in these years. The story the National Education Association tells is that a teacher named Mattye Whyte Woodridge wrote to political and education leaders in 1944 asking for a national day to honor teachers, and that Eleanor Roosevelt took the idea to Congress in 1953. In 1980 the NEA made the first full week of May Teacher Appreciation Week, with the Tuesday as National Teacher Day.

🏷️ Embla Crest

Embla Crest decals were put out by the Atlantic Emblem Company of Walterboro, South Carolina: one of the Embla Crest cards prints the company's Walterboro name right under the Embla Crest banner, with a five-digit ZIP code that means 1963 or later. These decals, often elaborate, reflective, and self-adhesive, are not just collectible items but also pieces of art.

🌲 Walterboro, South Carolina

Walterboro, the county seat of Colleton County, started out in 1783 as a summer retreat for Lowcountry planters trying to get away from the malaria on their rice plantations. Two of the first settlers were the brothers Paul and Jacob Walter, and the story goes that when Paul's little daughter Mary came down with malaria, the brothers went looking for healthier high ground and found a hill of pine and hickory trees called Hickory Valley. The town was named for them. It became the county seat in 1817, and its courthouse was designed by the architect Robert Mills.

During World War II the Walterboro Army Airfield ran the largest camouflage school in the country, and from April 1944 to October 1945 more than 500 of the famed Tuskegee Airmen trained there. Then in the 1960s Interstate 95 came through, and Walterboro became a favorite overnight stop on the road between New York and Florida.

🍎 A Great Gift for a Teacher

It's a perfect gift for a teacher, a retiring teacher, or a new one just starting out, and it looks great framed on its card in a classroom. There's only a limited supply of these sealed ones, nobody's printing them again, and once they're gone they will be very difficult to acquire. Make this vintage piece of memorabilia a stunning addition to your room!