| The picture below show a larger view of the (2) Early Scarce Cracker Jack Pop Corn Confection Miniature Pot Metal Toy Prize Birds with Bird Cages in this lot. The prizes are not dated but they are believed to be from the 1920s or the 1930s. These scarce fragile prizes were made in Japan, but the maker is unknown. They are made of pot metal or lead and have a bird on top of a bird cage. One has red ink and the other has a silvered finish. PLEASE NOTE: It is difficult to see in the picture, but the red cage on the left has parts of four cage bars that were not fully molded (side showing) when it was made. The other side, not showing, was molded well. 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. Both of these miniature bird cages for one price! They each measure about 7/8'' x 5/8'' x 3/16''. The silvered one appears to be in mint as made condition, and the red inked one has a little incomplete molding as pictured and mentioned above. |
