| The picture below shows larger front and back views of both (2) Scarce Old Cracker Jack Pop Corn Confection Owl Bird on a Perch Pot Metal or Lead Toy Prize Figurine Charms in this lot. These prizes are not dated but they are believed to be from the 1910s to the 1930s. They are made of very thin and fragile pot metal or lead, and they have a charm loop at the top. One has some red ink, and the other has red and blue ink. They are marked “JAPAN” on the perch, but the manufacturer is unknown. 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. Both of these toy prize owl figure charms measure about 1'' x 1-3/16''. They appear to be in mint condition, as pictured. |
