Harold von Braunhut

Common card · No. 219507

Harold von Braunhut (born Harold Nathan Braunhut; March 31, 1926 – November 28, 2003), also known as Hendrik von Braun, was an American mail-order marketer, inventor, and white supremacist. He was most famous as the creator and seller of various novelty products marketed towards children, most notably Sea-Monkeys. Von Braunhut held 195 patents and his products were regularly and aggressively marketed in comic books; his products were often misleadingly advertised. Products he marketed included Amazing Hair-Raising Monsters, Crazy Crabs, and Invisible Goldfish. Some of his most well-known inventions were the X-ray specs, glasses which create an optical distortion, but which were falsely marketed as letting wearers see through flesh and clothes, and Sea-Monkeys, which were brine shrimp, but were advertised as humanoid figures; Sea-Monkeys became very popular and sold well, though von Braunhut was at one point sued over their marketing. Von Braunhut also gained notoriety for his racial and...

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