Topsy Turvy Valentine

"He loves  me, he loves me not," says this circa 1920 German made Valentine, 5 inches tall. A topsy turvy, the character's facial expression changes when the card is flipped over.

R and L Premiums

At a weekend toy show recently, I found a whole heap of...well, very odd things. These little plastic characters, between 1 and 1 1/2 inches tall, were cereal premiums (and sometimes Cracker Jack prizes) made in the late 1960s and 1970s by an Australian company called R & L. The tiny toys were found in packages of Kellogg's cereal worldwide, although there were some country exclusives. In the late '70s, the company was sold and the owners moved the plant to Mexico, where production continued in a range of new, brighter colors.

There were many different sets of odd and imaginative characters produced by R & L, often with spacey, alien themes, and each with individual names. Fanatical collectors strive to get them all, sometimes in every color combination possible.

These, the Crater Critters, are some of my favorites. The original cereal box promotion read: "Here are the cutest creatures you have ever collected -- Kellogg's 'Crater Critters." Normally they live way down in the deepest craters on a far off planet. They are shy little people, that's why we hardly ever see them."
Click here to see an original cereal box ad for the Crater Critters. 

My favorite so far is called Gloob; 

I have him (her?) in orange and purple:

Next are the AstroNits: "Round and round they go in lunar orbit, in their rockets and flying saucers, the mad, crazy Kellogg's 'Astro-Nits.' With retro rockets firing they zoom into Earth orbit to land on your breakfast table. So you can recognize them we have stamped a dotty name on every one of them." Some of the AstroNits shown below include Knot-Nit, Clown-Nit, Goof-Nit, and Yak-Nit.

My favorite is Goof-Nit:

Then there are the Funny Fringes: "Way out fun creatures from a make-believe land on the fringe of outer space." They all have names ending in "inge."

Here are some of my favorites:

Spinge and Fringe.

Sniffinge, Puddinge, and Nuttinge.

These are the far-out Toolie Birds: bird figures with tool-shaped beaks:

 

One of my favorite R & L lines comprises the Stretch Pets, funny animals with accordion bodies. These, and one of the Funny Fringes, I actually remember from childhood:

Collecting R & L premiums can be both a lot of fun (finding figures in cases full of unrelated items at shows) and a lot of frustration (trying to get that elusive last Crater Critter to complete your set), but regardless, they bring a smile to my face every time I look at them.

Collector Mike Speth has written a great guide to these toys, "Collecting Crazy Colored Plastic Weird-Things," that appeared in issue #12 of Freakie Magnet, a cereal collector's zine. It can also be read online, and is chock-full of photos and helpful info. The company history, figure identifications, cereal box quotations, and original ad linked above were all found at his site. Go check it out!

The Addams Family Goes On A Sleigh Ride

We experienced our biggest snowfall of the season yesterday evening, just in time for rush hour. As I sat completely stopped in traffic on the expressway, stuck in the snow for an hour and 15 minutes, I looked through a box of old photographs and postcards I'd found at the local antique mall on my lunch hour earlier in the day. I thought, well, this is rather unpleasant, but it could be worse: at least I'm not stuck in a sleigh behind a taxidermied deer with these people:

Early 1900s studio portrait with prop sleigh and taxidermy deer.

(Click to enlarge)

I really try not to be judgmental, but this antique photograph broke my resolve. These people remind me of the Addams Family. Especially the giant guy on the far right with the Frankenstein shoulderpads and the stunned expression. He could easily be Lurch's cousin, while the equally tall man second from left has the largest chin I've ever seen outside of a Dick Tracy comic. And the two men in the back just have something...unsettling...about their expressions. The one on the left in particular looks like he has some dark secret, doesn't he? The two ladies squashed in the middle of the sleigh remind me of the siamese twin sisters who once dated Gomez, before he married Morticia. 

(Actually, the more I look at this odd photo, the more I wonder if the ladies are, in fact, siamese twins; the big guy on the right and the man with the huge chin are, in fact, giants; and these might be circus performers???)

Antique Photo: Tea Party with Mother (and Dollies)

I'm constantly on the lookout for old photos of children with toys, and it's always exciting to discover another one. I found this one last week in a box of rather forlorn scrapbook pages at an antique mall. Two sisters have been invited into mother's parlor for a little tea party, and they've brought their dollies:

The photo looks to be from the late 19teens to the early '20s, and has lots of interesting details: the mother's vintage dress and shoes, the girls' giant hair bows, the Arts & Crafts/Mission style furniture, the silver tea set, and, in the lower right corner, a miniature baby carriage full of dolls. Plus, if you look closely under the table, you'll see a crate that was set on end for the littlest girl's feet!

What Was In Tracy's Stocking?

Stocking stuffers are one of my very favorite Christmas traditions. The sight of a Christmas stocking bulging with mysterious small objects just makes my heart go pitter-patter. As miniature collectors know, very great things indeed can come in small packages, and this year Santa outdid himself.

My stocking held a couple of vintage 1940s MinToy dollhouse miniatures in their original packaging (a set of kitchen knives and a box of silverware); old dollhouse cakes; a 1920s-'30s Austrian-made celluloid dolly in a peanut; part of an antique miniature German teaset; a 1920s-'30s Old Maid card game; and a huge assortment of 1920s and '30s joke boxes. If you were reading the blog back on last April Fool's Day, you'll know that I have a passion for vintage pranks and jokes. I'm going to wait until this April to post the joke boxes properly, but here's everything else:

MinToy was a Chicago based manufacturer of dollhouse miniatures in the 1940s-'50s. Their motto was "The Big House of Little Things," and they made very nice things indeed. This carded set of kitchen utensils measures  4 1/2 inches, while the itty bitty box of silverware is just 2 1/8  inches.

Little dollies in peanut shaped molded cardboard containers were a mini-fad in the 1920s and '30s. This Austrian-made version features a celluloid doll with her original glass baby bottle. The peanut is 4 inches long.

This partial German dolly's tea set just delighted me. I love the colorful stripes, reminiscent of a circus tent. Circa the early 1900s-'20s, the teacups are 1 inch in diameter.

This Old Maid card game dates from the 1920s-'30s. It features fantastic caricature art: click on the photo to see the cards in more detail.

Lastly, a lot of wonderful old dollhouse cakes, dating between 1920-1960. Why all these dollhouse cakes? Because my biggest gift this year was an 1890s German dollhouse pastry shop or confectioner's. It needs a complete restoration, and then these cakes will fill its empty shelves...pictures to follow once it's all done!

Antique German Santa Postcards

Ooooh: look what I found today while poking around at the local antique mall: two gorgeous German Christmas postcards, circa the early 1900s, featuring their rather stern and forbidding-looking version of Santa:

How different these are from our modern Santa! These guys are tall, skinny, their coats are blue, and they appear to be most definitely un-jolly. If you're wondering what's up with the sticks, well, according to my German friends, these Santas typically came bearing not only toys, but switches to beat the bad children with! (As if Santa wasn't already scary enough to most little kids...)

Antique Children's Christmas Book

Christmas books for children comprised a very popular publishing niche in the Victorian and Edwardian eras. One of the loveliest I've ever found is this, Christmas Joys for Girls and Boys, printed in Bavaria by Ernest Nister Condon, and released in America by E.P. Dutton and Company, New York, around 1908.

(click on the images to see them in greater detail)

The large format picture book, 12 by 10 inches, was printed on an "Untearable" material which was unfortunately not "Unchewable", as little mousies have nibbled away at its edges (see upper right corner...)

Thankfully the illustrations remain undamaged. The gorgeous, richly colored full page spreads depict classic scenes of Christmas, with a profusion of toys.

A beautiful dapple grey rocking horse and his teddy bear rider can be seen on the left side of this image:

In the next illustration, children conduct their Christmas shopping by sled. Check out their haul of wonderful toys!

On page three, happy children have just unloaded their stockings. The blond girl on the left has received a beautiful doll:

The center of the book features a two page spread of a children's holiday "Fancy Dress Party." I think they're playing the old game of "Blind Man's Bluff". My favorite costumer is the boy in the middle, dressed as a teddy bear:

"Presents for the Poor" highlights a little rich girl's Christmas charity efforts. Note the vintage limousine and chauffeur visible through the open doorway:

Page seven features "The Christmas Basket," a cornucopia of antique toy treasures to make the collector's heart flutter. I spy several dollies, a tin litho automobile and steamship, a train, and a platform horse!

"The Christmas Tree" is loaded with toy presents, and on the floor sits a beautiful bear-on-wheels:

The book ends with an image of Christmas crackers being pulled at a sumptuous holiday dinner:

Kitschmas Decorating

Kitschmastime is in full swing at my place...kitschy holiday decorations from the 1950s and '60s currently cover every available surface. It's my belief that you can't possibly ever have enough of this fabulous stuff...

Kitschmasland.

A funky-looking Santa in his equally funky red house,
under an aluminum tabletop tree.

Is this the Cutest Little Snowman Ever? Yes.

And these are the Cutest-Ever Gnomey/Elfy Guys.

  Glass balls: the latest roofing trend, circa 1950.

A close runner-up for Cutest Snowman Ever 
resides on this vintage package trim.

This little gnome/elf guy has unfortunately been afflicted with Pinecone Body Disorder,
commonly seen in many mid-century Christmas decorations. 
His friend below has the same affliction. 

These two adorable snowperson shoppers may be 
Holt Howard Company products.

The "Yuletide Electrified Santa Chimney House"
features some remarkably colorful packaging.

 This bizarre feature of the "Yuletide Electrified Santa Chimney House" was apparently its big selling point. Unlit, the viewer sees Santa's molded plastic head protruding from the chimney. He looks a bit worried to me, like he's afraid he's stuck. When lit, our worst fears are confirmed: the cellophaned image of Santa in the chimney becomes visible through the cut-out window.

Vintage Carousel Photo

I found this wonderful vintage photograph at an antique show last weekend. Stamped "July 30 1940" on the back, it shows several women in their "Sunday best" gleefully riding an American traveling carousel at a fair.

What a joyful moment this photographer captured, during what were difficult and fearful times for so many.

Antique Cracker Jack Bears Postcard

I've collected antique and vintage Cracker Jack prizes for several years, but I didn't have one of their iconic pieces, a Cracker Jack Bears postcard, until we found one this weekend at an antique show, buried deep within a tray of old postcards and photographs.

The Cracker Jack Bears were a couple of characters, probably inspired by the contemporary Roosevelt Bears and the concurrent teddy bear fad, used to promote the company's product back at the turn of the 20th century. They appeared in a series of 16 beautifully lithographed full-size postcards, and children were urged to collect them all.

This is number 14, with a copyright date of 1907, measuring 3 by 5 1/2 inches:

The back of the card reads:

"Sixteen Beautiful Post Cards, No Two Alike, (without this printing), sent Free to anyone who will mail us ten sides from Cracker Jack packages, reading, 'The more you eat, the more you want,' or mail us 10 c in silver or stamps and the side of one package. A 2 c stamp is enough to mail ten sides. Rueckheim Bros. & Eckstein, Chicago, U.S.A."

Vintage Jack O' Lantern Decoration

One of my favorite vintage Halloween die-cut decorations is this jack o' lantern, made of embossed cardboard circa the 1940s by H. E. Luhrs. 12 inches wide, it sports a fantastic, toothy grin.

Hi! I'm Jack!

Vintage Halloween Cupcake Picks

Circa the 1940s-50s, these pulp paper cupcake picks, 2 3/4 inches tall, include two jack 'o lanterns, a black cat, and a grinning skull. It always amazes me to find such fragile, tiny pieces of ephemera have survived for so long...

A Haunted Portrait

Well, I don't know if it's really haunted, but it seems a distinct possibility...

My favorite antique dealer decided this year that she was ready to part with this portrait of her family ancestor. (I know what you're thinking: how could she bear to give up such an heirloom?! I wondered too.)

The tinted photograph is in its original, 21 inch tall domed-glass frame, and dates from the early 1900s. The green miasma in the background really heightens the spooky mood, I think. I'm not sure what effect the photo tinters were going for there, but I can't imagine they intended the "ghoulish vapour" look they unwittingly achieved.

Isn't he a delightfully creepy looking kid?

Several observers have said he looks rather like a young Uncle Fester, of Addams Family fame. I haven't mentioned this to the antique dealer, as I believe the little boy was actually a relative of her husband's, and I'm not sure how flattered she'd be by that comparison....