Vintage Glasses Are So Geek!!!

American Optical, now known as "AO", can date its beginning back to 1826 at which time William Beecher, the companies founder, began an apprenticeship in Providence, Rhode Island, in the jeweler's trade. When he came across a pair of crudely made spectacles he decided that he could make much better ones and put his sights on what he would achieve in his future.
In 1958 American Optical introduced the Flight Goggle 58, now known as the Original Pilot Sunglass was produced for the US military to provide pilots with maximum protection, optical performance and comfort. In 1969 these same glasses were worn by Commander Neil Armstrong and the crew of Apollo 11 in the first moon landing. The glasses now reside on permanent display in the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.
Another fun tidbit of info is that their Sunvogue sunglasses were worn on the cool bikers in the 1969 movie, Easy Rider, and the hotshot aviators in "Top Gun" wore aviator shaped frames as well.
A pretty cool real American company with their manufacturing facilities in Southbridge, Massachusetts.

This is a May 24,1948 advertisement from Bachman Bros. Inc. of Philadelphia, manufacturer of Solarex sunglasses. The attractive movie star is Ann Sheridan co-star of ""Silver River' A Warner Bros. film also starring Errol Flynn. The Hollywood image helped spur on sales of eyeglasses. Large department stores were introducing full lines of "off the shelf" sunglasses for the first time.

Starting in the 1950' big name designers including Christian Dior, Oleg Cassini, and Elsa Schiaparelli, were jumping on the band wagon to introduce new glass frames into the marketplace. Today these high-end glasses are particularly valuable, with prices starting at $150. Vintage models by unknown makers are not as expensive with prices ranging from $25 to $100. The condition of the glass frames is very important, since most collectors want to wear the glasses. Good finds can be found on ebay, vintage glass shops, and Etsy. For remade vintage and retro spectacles Amazon has a large selection.

The Foster-Grant Company was founded in 1919 in Leominster, Massachusetts by Sam Foster and Bill Grant. Their initial business was manufacturing womens' hair accessories which quickly became financially successful until the mid-1920's when women cut their locks for the more famous short "roaring 20's bob styles". In 1929 they sold half of the interest in their company to the Goody company, then began manufacturing sunglasses with their first pair being sold at Woolworth's on the famous Boardwalk of Atlantic City. These were the first sunglasses sold as an over-the-counter consumer item.
Their sunglasses quickly became popular among the fun seekers in Atlantic City, then the fad spread quickly across the land. Suddenly movie stars like Greta Garbo were wearing Foster-Grants and even the king of Egypt sported a pair. The image of sunglasses changed completely. You didn't have to have weak vision to wear them, they became "sexy" and mysterious with a touch of intrigue. They had an air of luxury in a time when people had little, it was during the Great Depression that Foster-Grant began their claim to fame.