| The picture below shows larger front and back views of this Old Cracker Jack Pop Corn Confection Pot Metal or Lead G Man Badge Toy Prize Lapel Stud Button. The lapel stud button is not dated but it is believed to be from the 1920s or 1930s. This is the smaller version of the G-Man lapel stud. The Cracker Jack ID numbers for this prize are SP-003 and ZP-044, both by The Cosmo Manufacturing Company of Chicago, Illinois. The front of the lapel button has a badge with an eagle, a small shield at the bottom, and “G MAN” in the center. It has no finish. Many of the pot metal or lead prizes were manufactured by the Tootsietoy Company of Chicago, Illinois. There were other companies, including from Japan prior to World War II. Some of these type prizes were made specifically for Cracker Jack, while others were made as novelties, bought in volume, and used as prizes by The Cracker Jack Company. Pot metal or lead prizes were some of the earliest prizes that were used in Cracker Jack boxes from the 1910s to the 1940s. Many of these type prizes or novelties were also sold out of old Johnson Smith & Company catalog as well as some other early novelty catalogs, also used in fortune telling sets, and some were also sold and used as board game parts. Many of these can be found factory painted, inked, or with no finish at all. The toy lapel button badge measures about 1/2'' x 11/16'' x 1/4''. It appears to be in excellent or better condition as pictured. |
