| The picture below shows larger top and bottom views of this Old Cracker Jack Pop Corn Confection Pot Metal or Lead Toy Prize Basket. This miniature basket is not dated but it is old. We do not have a Cracker Jack ID number for these prizes. The earliest prizes do not have one. The rectangular shaped basket is painted in red. There are no markings on it, and the maker is unknown. 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 miniature basket prize measure about 1-1/2'' x 7/8'' x 1/4''. It appears to be in excellent condition with some light paint wear as pictured. |
