ABSTRACT
Pet rocks grew out of a barroom joke in 1975. The rocks approximately the size and shape of large eggs were framed in excelsior inside cardboard carrying cases and retailed for four dollars apiece. Gary Dahl purchased two and one-half tons of them from a Mexican beach and by November 1975 was sending 3,000 to 6,000 units daily to prestigious outlets throughout the US, including Macy's, Lord & Taylor, Liberty House, and Bloomingdale's. According to Newsweek, the rocks' success owed much to the witty care-and-training manual which Dahl wrote and included in each package. Excerpts included: If the rock seems excited on first being introduced to a new home, "place it on some old newspapers. The rock will know what the paper is for and will require no further instruction". Advice that rocks are particularly good at sitting, lying, and playing dead, but that shaking hands is out. Rocks can be given attack training.
