Button 088: Krupp Mail Order 1971-1981: Anniversary V.I.P. (Denis Kitchen Art)

88. Krupp Mail Order 1971-1981: Anniversary V.I.P.

Krupp Mail Order began as a modest backroom operation in Krupp's Strickly Uppa Crust retail store in Milwaukee (see button #3A). It steadily grew as advertising in Kitchen Sink's comix line, Rolling Stone, High Times and other publications expanded the mailing list. KMO was essentially a "head shop by mail," offering a full line of underground comix, pipes, bongs, counterculture T-shirts and the like to an audience that either had no access to a head shop or was too embarrassed to be seen going inside. By 1981 it was a Boulder CO based spin-off of the Krupp Comic Works "conglomerate," operated by Denis Kitchen's one-time partner Tyler Lantzy and his wife Terre.

The slick KMO catalogs frequently featured custom color covers by underground cartoonists like Kitchen, Peter Poplaski, Peter Loft, Howard Cruse, Bill Griffith, Justin Green and John Pound. On the occasion of the company's 10th anniversary, three buttons were commissioned and a large party was thrown in Boulder. KMO co-founder Kitchen designed this button for "V.I.P"'s (all guests) attending the bash. The white stripe was hand-lettered with each guest's name. The image shows Krupp's "founder" Steve Krupp displaying a rare smile and dancing with his seldom-seen wife Veronica. A better version of the same image appeared on Wisconsin-based Krupp Distribution's last magazine-format catalog (No. 42) in 1982. The #88 buttons we have for sale have blank name stripes or "specimen" written on the stripe.

Diameter 2.25 inches. $3.00

One note, for serious button collectors, you may want to read the KSP BUTTON TEXT which explains the numbering systems for identifying the various buttons produced over the last 30 years, or see the COMPLETE KSP BUTTON LIST. The list is VERY long, so be patient while it loads.