Elwar Button Mystery

[Jim Bertges]

Elwar Ltd.

Limited partnership?  Between Warren and some dude with button making gear?

Later Warren bought the equipment?

Lots of possibilities

I know less than nothing about the buttons, but maybe there's a clue in the company name about something. But I love a mystery.

Frist I thought of the Walt Disney company that was created to look after the interestes of the Disney family and the use of the Disney name, it was called RETLAW or Walter spelled backward. Is there any meaning in the name RAWLE?

Or perhaps the Elwar name is a combination of the names of two partners, someone whose name starts with EL and James WARren.

Just some food for thought as you button detectives continue to dig into this very mysterious mystery.

[Monster Bob]

..or like The Beatles and SELTAEB (merchandising end of The Beatles- of which Brian Epstein was directly involved).

I still don't see that it is any kind of a stretch that Warren was behind the first set of pins, and that the WAR in Elwar stands for Warren. Who else would have put the money up to mfr. them, anyway?

And why didn't they sell the little buttons in FM? Not enough profit. They were penny buttons-buttons made to sell gum in machines. The buttons were the incentive to pump your penny into the machine, the same way a slot machine does-the hope of a "payout".  If they just wanted to sell the little buttons, a better question is why didn't they just sell them for 5c each in a dump box in candy stores? Because they were manufactured to sell gum. That's why the ratio in the machines was one button for 30 gumballs! And if they were going to concentrate on direct button sales, it is much more profitable to sell a large, 39c color button.

[Mike Scott]

Or perhaps the Elwar name is a combination of the names of two partners, someone whose name starts with EL and James WARren.

I thought of that, too, but since there are people named Elwar, it seemed the simplest explanation.

[Mike Scott]

And why didn't they sell the little buttons in FM? Not enough profit.

Then what is warren's incentive to make the small buttons? What other gumball machine items did Warren make?

BTW I have nothing against Warren being the maker of the buttons, but somebody has to be the Devil's Advocate.

[Toy Ranch]

The flicker rings probably came out in 1963 or 1964.



Casper got his own show in 1963, and this is the display card for the rings.  I believe that was the first licensed gumball item.

There were 6 monster rings in 3 colors, and 2 Casper rings in 3 colors. Those proved the market.  The rings were made by Vari-Vue

[Monster Bob]

Then what is warren's incentive to make the small buttons?

The incentive was money, using the name of a very popular kids' magazine. As far as the big buttons go, they were in the printing business already. It's not a far stretch to believe they could have made buttons, which are easy to make, don't cost much to manufacture, and sell for 39c- more than a single issue of the magazine they were promoting.

Considering a magazine today is what...$8.95 or something, would you spend $8.95 in today's dollars on a button?

What other gumball machine items did Warren make?

They made similar tin buttons for Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, which wasn't even a kid's show. What other gumball items did Romart manufacture?

More importantly,what doe it prove?

[Monster Bob]

I thought of that, too, but since there are people named Elwar, it seemed the simplest explanation.

I gotta ask- how many 'Elwars' have you known, heard of, or come up in a Google search?





(BTW, after searching the top 3 'baby names' search engines, Elwar did not come up on any of them...!)

[Toy Ranch]

These flicker rings were sold by Captain Company.


Besides the images show, there were some other styles made too. 

As noted on the Frankenstina Blog  (http://frankensteinia.blogspot.com/2008/08/frankenstein-monster-ring.html)

"You could buy two issues of FM for 75 cents, and even have enough left over for some candy."

These rings were not made by Vari-Vue, they were made in Japan.  I'm not sure when the ring ad first appeared in FM, but I think it's likely that they didn't sell a lot of them through FM and they also hit the gum machine market.

I only have a couple of them.  The Frankenstein and one that isn't on the ad, the Shock Monster.


I believe these were commissioned by Warren and distributed by them. 

[Toy Ranch]

Anyone have these buttons?

[Monster Bob]

Keep in mind, too, that the powers that be at Captain Company were basically "jobbers", which is why they sold war surplus, monkeys, venus flytraps, and incubators. There were alot of jobbers in the NE part of the country, and two that immediately came to mind (and you will recognize if you've been in vintage toys for any length of time) are the Eisensteins (aka Larry and Grace) and Sandra "robot" Kessler of PA. Both were families of jobbers, and specialized in old store stock for resale, and capitalized when collector prices started skyrocketing.

Alot of these type companies (like Captain Co)would run the ads before they even bought or manufactured the merchandise- which is why it usually took 2-3 months (or sometimes never) to get your stuff.

[Monster Bob]

Anyone have these buttons?

I've had them many times, but never kept them. They are made of vacuform plastic, not tin, or paper/tin.


I think most of the merchandise Warren was hawking was "jobber" merchandise (similar to the China stuff flea marketeers sell today), junk they could buy by the box (like the flicker rings- unlicensed Made In Japan crap).

Bobby- also notice on the same page you pictured the "photo stamps". Now tell me Warren wasn't milking their printing abilities to manufacture cheap crap they could make a buck on!

Speaking of which, here is one of the rarest monster collectibles you will see from 1962...Monster Bob book matches...



Yes, they are real, and yes, they were ordered off an ad similar to the photo stamps!

[Mike Scott]

I gotta ask- how many 'Elwars' have you known, heard of, or come up in a Google search?

Alice Elwar
Clara Elwar
George Elwar
Isabella Elwar
Joseph Elwar
Osburn Elwar
Stanley Elwar
Sydney Elwar
Catharine Elwar
Baptiste Elwar
Elizabeth Elwar
Henry Elwar
Ellen Elwar
Emma Elwar
Louis Elwar
Mary Elwar
Anna Elwar
Hedvige Elwar
Jacobum Elwar
Petrus Elwar

[Mike Scott]

It's not a far stretch to believe they could have made buttons

Especially since they did. (The various fan club buttons, etc.) But I still have to wonder why set up a separate company just for these sets?

[Monster Bob]

Tax purposes? A write off when the idea fails?

[poseablemonster]

Or a way to involve estranged relatives Hedvige, Jacobum and Petrus Elwar into the family biz?  Sorry, I had to do that.