Elwar Button Mystery

[Mike Scott]

I think we're pretty much at a dead end on whether or not Warren made these buttons. If anybody wants to contact JW and ask him about them, I'll send you his address and ph#.

[Monster Bob]

Ah, yes...Petrus Elwar...that bastard still owes me money. 

[Richard]

1st appearence of the the large marked-on-the-curl Elwar buttons in Famous Monsters:
Issue 95, which would make their production 1972.
large unmarked = 60s
small tin litho Elwar = 60s
large Elwar = 70s

In revisiting FM, there was a ton of neat crap in the Captain Company! I quit buying FM regularly at issue 68 and started up again at issue #120. I've obtained the fill in issues over the years but need to spend some free time really paging through them all (free time ~ Hah! that'll never happen). I know there were quite a few repeat articles.

[poseablemonster]

Here's my button display:

You are right, Richard.  There is some really neat stuff in those ads.  One of the coolest Captain Company items...the Werewolf Siren Ring!  Not sure if this is an actual werewolf siren ring or not, but it looks like one...

[Toy Ranch]

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

Ah, OK.  Thought those might be another clue.

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).

Definitely so. 

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!

Yep, whatever they could do to capitalize on the monster craze they started.  No reason to sit there and watch these other companies get all the monster kid money when they had the best access to monster kids of anyone.

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!

Very cool!

Who made the monster photo printing kit?

[Toy Ranch]

One of the coolest Captain Company items...the Werewolf Siren Ring!  Not sure if this is an actual werewolf siren ring or not, but it looks like one...

Siren rings have been a staple of the toy ring world for years.  Made of vinyl, hard plastic, pot metal, stainless, etc.  There are a hundred variations, but that one sure looks like the one in the photo and might as well be..   very cool!

[The Phantom Creep]

Bobby, I have some of those buttons and a counter display box for them. I'll try to post a photo tonight after we do our Thanksgiving stuff.

[Toy Ranch]

Bobby, I have some of those buttons and a counter display box for them. I'll try to post a photo tonight after we do our Thanksgiving stuff.

Great!  If you can manage a photo of the back of one, that might be helpful too.

[Monster Bob]

Who made the monster photo printing kit?

Yankee Photo Products, Inc.

[Toy Ranch]

Thanks Bob.

From HH's thread....







I think this is pretty good evidence that Elwar = Warren.

[Mike Scott]

I think this is pretty good evidence that Elwar = Warren.

In what way?

[Toy Ranch]

In what way?

Same size, same materials, same date for starters.

[Toy Ranch]

Mike, given the information gathered in this thread, tell me why you believe Elwar and Warren aren't related businesses.

[raycastile]

That's the hottest image of Lilly Munster I've ever seen.

[poseablemonster]

That's the hottest image of Lilly Munster I've ever seen.

Yvonne DeCarlo was so sexy back then...