Mint in Bag 1960s Dam Troll

Toy trolls were usually sold loose during their original 1960s craze, but a few were packaged in clear acrylic cylindrical containers or, more rarely, plastic bags. This example, a seldom seen 5 1/2 inch Dam, is in beautiful, minty condition, with her red felt jumper and bright blue mohair in perfect shape. The bag labels her a "Danish Good Luck Mascot," an appellation sometimes given to early Dam trolls, particularly those sold in Europe, as this one was. She is my Absolutely Most Favorite Troll. I think she's beautiful, in her own homely way...

Troll Shanty Shack House

Here's another of the troll houses that were made for the little characters back in the 1960s. This one is the Wishnik Troll Shanty Shack, made by Ideal for Uneeda's Wishnik trolls. This was the house of choice for rural and mountain dwelling trolls who enjoyed banjo strumming.

Here's the inside, which features a cozy fire, bunk beds, and twin shotguns hanging on the wall, useful for chasing off the feuding  hillbilly neighbor trolls:

 Although I'm not really partial to hillbilly decor, the Shanty Shack does have some nice touches, like this ancestral painting on the bedroom wall:

Gumball Machine Trolls

I love vintage gumball machine prizes as much as I love trolls, so these next few items, tiny trolls sold in 1960s gumball machines, are some of my favorites.

First up are these 2 inch tall pencil toppers with yarn hair and rather frightening expressions. I keep one on my favorite pen at work, and everyone leaves it alone.

Next are my tiniest trolls: just 1 inch tall. They're cuties.

Here are a couple of interesting gumball machine troll rings, the perfect fashion accessory for the troll-inclined:

And here's my greatest gumball troll find ever: a hard-to-find-style with its original vending machine display card:

Cheerleader Trolls

Trolls dressed as cheerleaders comprised a hugely popular subset of the 1960s troll output. Some wore customized outfits for particular colleges and universities, while others sported generic "State U" costumes like these. Made by Uneeda, these Wishniks are ready to rah-rah. The larger, 8 inch version is a hard to find size.

Troll Car

Here's one of the most rarely-seen vintage troll accessories: the Troll Car made by Irwin Toys in 1965.

The 10 inch long car, sized to fit a standard 3 inch troll, is made of molded plastic in a lovely "fake log" design. It originally had a gold foil "grill" sticker on the front of the hood, that read "Irwin Wishnik REG'D T.M. of Uneeda Doll Company Incorporated c. 1965 by Uneeda Doll Company Incorporated." (Whew!) This lengthy declaration was the only such identification on the car, and unfortunately, the stickers invariably fell off. When the troll car is found today, it is almost always missing the sticker. For this reason, remaining troll cars are often misidentified as Flintstones toys (there's an eBay search hint for you).