Amscan Spider Honeycomb Die Cut

This honeycomb spider die cut is made by Amscan and is probably dates from the 1970's to '80's, given its "Made in Taiwan" marking.

Amscan's corporate site hasn't been updated much in the way of history since the last time I wrote about it, however, I found additional information on the company and its founder from other sites.

Despite the corporate site's "About Us" stating "Our founders were American and Scandinavian…hence AMSCAN", the only founder I was able to identify was Elvera Svenningsen who started the business with $1,000 out of the family garage.  Elvera was married to Anders Svenningsen, clearly a Scandinavian name. Maybe Elvera was "American", although no mention is made of Anders playing a role in the company.  Elvera was an importer of honeycomb party decorations and "expendable turkeys"; I'm assuming the paper kind.

Amscan was eventually taken over by Elvera's son John who operated it until his passing in 1996.  John's children were not interested in the company, so it was taken over by employees who took the company public.  It has since expanded and even purchased Party City in 2005, the company that was once it's biggest customer.