| The picture below shows a larger view of all (6) Matching Old Cracker Jack Pop Corn Confection Miniature Pot Metal Toy Prize Shovel Tools in this lot. These are the larger toll versions. These prizes are not dated but they are from between 1941 and 1946. They were originally ordered made in 1941, and again in 1942, 1943, and again in 1946. They are not marked, but the Cracker Jack ID Number for these is: Z-0729, from the Cosmo Manufacturing Company of Chicago, Illinois. These are painted in silver, blue, green, red, maroon, and purple. Many of the early pot metal or lead prizes were manufactured by Dowst (Samuel Dowst), or the Tootsietoy Company of Chicago, Illinois, but there were other companies in the United States, and including ones from Japan and Germany prior to World War II as well. Some of these type prizes were made specifically for Cracker Jack, while others were made as small novelties, bought in volume, and used as prizes by The Cracker Jack Company. Pot metal or lead prizes were some of the earliest prizes that were used in Cracker Jack boxes from the 1910s to the late 1940s. Many of these type prizes or novelties were also sold out of old Johnson Smith & Company catalog as well as some other early novelty catalogs, also used in fortune telling sets, and some were also sold and used as board game parts. Many of these can be found factory painted, inked, or with no finish at all. All six of these miniature shovel tools for one price! Each of these measure about 2-7/16'' x 11/16''. They appear to range from good to mint condition as pictured. |
