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[horrorhunter]

I bought these plastic charms (w/metal loops) from an eBay seller.



The seller identified them as Crackerjack charms/prizes but I thought they were vending machine charms from the '60s. After they arrived I discovered how small they are. The devil and skull are only about 1/2" long, and the witch is a little bigger but still less than an inch. Now I'm not exactly sure if they're vending machine items or something different such as Crackerjack prizes. I'm still glad I picked them up since I collect pretty much any monster related items, and they were inexpensive. Does anyone know anything about them?

[skully]

Hi Horrorhunter.  Neat charms here.  These are older types, with the small brass loops, probably pre-date the more common ones from the 60's, probably celluloid material.  Don't actually know where they originated from, but most probably a cracker jack prize, which is what most collectors call them, but possibly a true gumball type charm or even sold loose like that for jewelry purposes.  At one time I had thousands of these, but have scaled down to a few hundred.  Try finding a guillotine gumball charm, they're out there, kind of scarce.

[Hepcat]

I bought these plastic charms (w/metal loops) from an eBay seller.

The seller identified them as Crackerjack charms/prizes but I thought they were vending machine charms from the '60s.

Does anyone know anything about them?

Those are indeed neat! I don't know anything about them, but I agree with you about them probably being vending machine prizes. Toy Ranch may know something about them but for whatever reason he's abandoned the forum that he helped to start.

This book on Cracker Jack prizes by Alex Jaramillo might resolve the question though:



Does anyone own a copy?

[Hepcat]

Neat charms here.  These are older types, with the small brass loops, probably pre-date the more common ones from the 60's, probably celluloid material.

The witch and the skull both have an extra loop which looks like it could be brass but the loop at the top of each charm appears to be made of the same material as the rest of the charm. Horrorhunter?

The extra loop may of course also be something a kid added on later so that the charm hangs better from a chain. Have you seen such extra loops on other vending or Cracker Jack charms previously, Skully?

[horrorhunter]

The witch and the skull both have an extra loop which looks like it could be brass but the loop at the top of each charm appears to be made of the same material as the rest of the charm. Horrorhunter?

The smaller loop on each charm is metal which has been driven into the charm.

The more I think about it the more these look like parts of a charm bracelet, which may have been a vending prize pre-'60s. I could be off base with that theory but that's what they remind me of- pictures I've seen somewhere of old charm bracelets.

These are okay but as they are so small they really don't display as well as my other vending charms like rings, Rat Fink charms, pencil toppers, etc. It's a good thing I followed my rule about not spending much on something I'm not too familiar with. Next time I'll message the seller and find out the exact size of the item of interest unless that's clear from the listing. If they were about twice as big they would be much more desirable for me. I'm set in my ways with being attracted to '60s/'70s era collectibles, and that means gumball charms being larger than these. The original Rat Fink charms with the tail and painted eyes are nearly one and a half inches tall...now that's a cool charm, and displays very well. I have a few of those and one with whiskers.

[skully]

Hi Hep and Horrorhunter.  Yes, these earlier charms are a bit smaller, and the small loops were probably not added later by anybody, it's the way they were made from the start.  Actually, there's a later version of that witch on e-bay now which has a regular type molded loop like the later gumball charms in plastic.  Even though small, these charms are quite popular, and the skulls, witches, devils even more so.  Best bet would be to get yourself one of those flat square mounting box's with glass on top and display them that way.  The charms are small enough where you can put in many of them, and it's actually kind of neat to see them displayed like this.      Back in the 90's when I had one of my booth's at Renningers, I was at a local auction where they auctioned off a treasure trove of childhood toys which included more gumball charms that I have ever seen,  no one really knew anything about them, so I got them trying to figure out a way to sell them.  I had a long angled case at the antique market and placed red felt on the bottom of the case and I individually placed them on the felt and took up almost every square inch, turned out to be one of my most popular items at the time.

[BigShadow]

Those are indeed neat! I don't know anything about them, but I agree with you about them probably being vending machine prizes. Toy Ranch may know something about them but for whatever reason he's abandoned the forum that he helped to start.

This book on Cracker Jack prizes by Alex Jaramillo might resolve the question though:



Does anyone own a copy?

Hi Hep.  That book looks very interesting.  What year did it come out?  I've always wondered about the different prizes that came in those little boxes of sugary goodness.  Were any monster related items ever included as a prize?

[skully]

Hep,  I have a different book put out by Larry White by Schiffer publishing from 1997.

[Hepcat]

This one I surmise:



And here's yet another by Ravi Pina:

[Hepcat]

Hi Hep.  That book looks very interesting.  What year did it come out?

The Jaramillo book came out in 1989.

I've always wondered about the different prizes that came in those little boxes of sugary goodness.  Were any monster related items ever included as a prize?

Unfortunately I haven't yet acquired any books on Cracker Jack premiums. Perhaps skully might be kind enough to let us know if any monster related items are listed in his book.

[skully]

Not too much in the way of monsters surprisingly.  Seems like there was a Monster Mysteries small flip book from the 70's or 80's, shows a picture of it, but no inside contents pictured, along with just a very few Halloween types, and maybe a few plastic dinosaurs, but that's about it for any type of monster material.  No mention either (at least in this book) of any type of celluloid charm that is being discussed here above, there seems to be a cross-over of thought about some of the things that actually were true Cracker Jack items,  some things might be blurred with actual gum ball, or even cereal or other type of a premium from perhaps cereal. However, this book is loaded with pictures and prices.

[horrorhunter]

The smaller loop on each charm is metal which has been driven into the charm.

What I meant was that the smaller loops appear to be driven into the plastic charms. They were probably placed in the mold and the plastic molded around the lower part of the small metal loops. It would be nearly impossible to actually drive the metal loops into such small plastic pieces without seriously damaging them, and certainly not on a large scale for mass produced items. I guess everyone understood what I meant as it was implied, but I thought I'd clarify anyway.

The more I think about it the more these look like parts of a charm bracelet, which may have been a vending prize pre-'60s. I could be off base with that theory but that's what they remind me of- pictures I've seen somewhere of old charm bracelets.

Also, the fact that 2 of the 3 charms have an additional larger metal loop seems to suggest the charm bracelet theory. The devil charm is the only one that doesn't have the additional loop and that one is painted whereas the other 2 aren't. It's possible the devil charm had the extra loop originally and it was removed, or came off through the years. Or, the devil charm may have never had the extra loop which would probably disqualify it from the charm bracelet theory.

Enough. I must really be bored. 

[horrorhunter]

Finally scored a Monster Times pinback button.



I've been trying to get one for years. This one had some condition issues according to the seller. But, when I inspected it I discovered that whatever made those spots on the face of the button was removed easily. I just scraped it off with my thumbnail, some kind of goo like dried chewing gum. The button looks great after I got that stuff removed. The reason I bought it even though it looked like it had damage in the pic was because it was cheap (10 bucks +) and these things come up so infrequently. The few I've seen over the years have sold for more than I cared to pay. Another one to scratch off the want list.

BTW, I've had this happen before that sellers don't do something simple to improve an item they have for sale. Sometimes it's something stupid like not bending a corner back in place on a comic book cover and when they post the pic it looks like the corner piece is missing. Big difference in grade and value in a corner crease and a missing piece. Some people just don't pay attention.

[Hepcat]

This one had some condition issues according to the seller. But, when I inspected it I discovered that whatever made those spots on the face of the button was removed easily. I just scraped it off with my thumbnail, some kind of goo like dried chewing gum.

I would have suggested Windex.

[Mike Scott]

Finally scored a Monster Times pinback button.

I'd love to have one of those!    I created a search, at eBay, so I can stop missing them when they come up.