| The picture below shows a larger view of all (4) Old Cracker Jack Pop Corn Confection Miniature Pot Metal Toy Prize Carpenter or Framer Claw Hammer Tools in this lot. These prizes are not dated but they are believed to be from the 1930s and 1940s. They are not marked, but the Cracker Jack ID Number for the larger ones each are: Z-1011, from the Cosmo Manufacturing Company of Chicago, Illinois in the early 1940s. The smaller hammer charm is believed to be from the same company only earlier. One of these is painted green, and red. The other two have no finish at all, as made. The smaller one has 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 four of these miniature Carpenter or Framer Claw Hammer Tools for one price! To judge the sizes, the larger ones each measure about 2-1/8'' x 3/4'' x 1/8''. They appear to range from good to mint condition as pictured. |
