| The picture below shows two larger side views of this Small Old Cracker Jack Pop Corn Confection Miniature Pot Metal Toy Prize Doll House Telephone. This prize is not dated but it is believed to be from the 1920s or 1930s. It looks like it may be a French design, but we do not know for sure. It is not marked, and the maker is unknown. It still has much of the original pink paint. It could be easily re-painted, but that will be left up to the buyer to decide. 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. This miniature telephone measures about 7/8'' x 1/2'' x 9/16''. It appears to be in good condition besides the chipped or flaked paint as pictured. |
