| The picture below shows a larger view of all (9) Old Cracker Jack Pop Corn Confection Miniature Pot Metal Toy Prize Ax & Hatchet Tools in this lot. These prizes are not dated but they are believed to be from the 1920s to the 1940s. They are not marked. There are different versions or varieties included here. The Cracker Jack ID Number for these the three on the left is: Z-1069, which were from the Cosmo Manufacturing Company of Chicago, Illinois in 1946. These varieties could have been made by other makers. There are two larger axes. One is silver and the other is painted blue. The style on the left is painted in green, blue, and red. Another of these has a silvered finish, and three have no finish at all, as made. Six of these have a charm loop on the handle to use on a charm bracelet, earrings, or as a necklace pendant. Many of the early pot metal or lead prizes were manufactured by Dowst (Samuel Dowst), or the Tootsietoy Company of Chicago, Illinois, but there were other companies in the United States, and including ones from Japan and Germany prior to World War II as well. Some of these type prizes were made specifically for Cracker Jack, while others were made as small 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 late 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. All nine of these miniature ax and hatchet charms for one price! To judge the sizes, the larger axes each measure about 2-1/4'' x 5/8''. They appear to range from excellent to mint condition as pictured. |
