{"title":"Original 1970s Vintage Collectibles | Toys, Tins \u0026 Americana","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe 1970s were messier, stranger, and more creative than the decade often gets credit for — and the collectibles it produced reflect all of that energy perfectly. 🕹️ Original 1970s Vintage Collectibles | Toys, Tins \u0026amp; Americana brings together authentic artifacts from the decade of Watergate, disco, and the bicentennial.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eItems from the 1970s era span original Coca-Cola matchbooks and bottle caps from regional bottlers, bicentennial-era wooden nickels and promotional tokens commemorating America's 200th birthday, vintage mini beer cans from Budweiser and Coors produced in scaled-down promotional formats, original NOS tin toys and lithograph metalware from the last production runs before mass plastic manufacturing took over, advertising novelties from the corporate brand landscape of the 1970s, and paper ephemera from the decade's distinctive graphic design era — earthy tones, bold typography, and a visual confidence that is deeply sought by modern collectors and interior designers alike. 🍺\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhether you're building a decade room, filling out a collection, or hunting for Americana that isn't overexposed — the 1970s archive is rich, undervalued, and deeply rewarding for anyone who looks closely. All items are original NOS or period-genuine.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"vintage-1970s-80s-bergheim-beer-label-philadelphia-cleveland-hex-sign","title":"Vintage 1970s-80s Bergheim Beer Label 🍺 Bergheim Brewery Philadelphia PA \u0026 Cleveland OH NOS Hex Sign","description":"\u003ch2\u003eA Pennsylvania Dutch Beer Brewed in Cleveland? 🍺 Vintage 1970s-80s Bergheim Beer Label, Bergheim Brewery, Philadelphia \u0026amp; Cleveland\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 3 3\/4\" x 2 3\/4\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"max-width:315px;margin:0 auto 20px;\"\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:177.78%;height:0;overflow:hidden;\"\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1R-N3fnw6cY\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer;autoplay;clipboard-write;encrypted-media;gyroscope;picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eSuch a pretty one - Bergheim in big red blackletter over a whole little countryside: a waterfall tumbling down the rocks, dark pines, a red barn with a yellow roof, a horse-drawn buggy, and a red-and-gold Pennsylvania Dutch hex sign in the corner. BEER in blue, NET CONTENTS 12 FL. OZ. up one side, and BERGHEIM BREWERY, PHILA., PA. \u0026amp; CLEV., OH. down the other. Down in the bottom corner sits a tiny oval union label. Never used.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThat little oval is the union label of the Allied Printing Trades Council - the printers' union \"bug.\" The printing unions settled on that design in 1897, and by 1939 it was on print jobs all over the country. The bottom arc names the city of the local council, and the number next to it belongs to the print shop, given to it when the shop organized.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🏡 From Reading to Schmidt's\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBergheim started out as a Reading Brewing Company beer from Reading, Pennsylvania, right in Pennsylvania Dutch country - that's where the hex sign and the buggy come from. The name suits the picture, too - Bergheim puts together the German words for mountain and home.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eReading Brewing went all the way back to 1886. In its early years it made a Pennsylvania Dutch lager, about 1,200 barrels a year, and by 1891 it was up to around 50,000 barrels. Prohibition shut it down: in June 1922 a Reading truck heading out with a shipment got raided and the beer tested over the legal limit, more turned up in a vat inside the plant, and on New Year's Day 1924 the company lost its license to brew. It came back after Repeal. Reading was brewing Bergheim by the 1960s, and from 1965 \"Bergheim Brewing Company\" was one of the names it went by.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eReading stopped brewing on March 24, 1976, and April 15 was its last day. The beer was all gone by then, but there were a few Bergheim cans left over - so they sealed them up with nothing in them but air and set them aside to sell to souvenir hunters.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e When Reading went under in 1976, Schmidt's of Philadelphia bought the Reading and Bergheim labels and the rights to brew them, and \"Bergheim Brewery\" became one of the names Schmidt's put on its own cans and bottles. That's why this label names two cities: Schmidt's brewed in Philadelphia and also ran a plant in Cleveland, Ohio.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSchmidt's first came to Cleveland in 1964, buying the old Standard Brewing plant on the West Side - the home of Erin Brew - from Schaefer of New York. In 1971 it bought Carling's much bigger brewery on the East Side, and by 1972 it had moved its Cleveland brewing over there. That East Side brewery started out as the Peerless Motor Car factory, where they built luxury touring cars until the Depression finished Peerless off in 1931. Peerless's president, James A. Bohannon, turned the factory into a brewery when Prohibition ended, and it grew into Carling's. So the Cleveland on this label is the old Peerless car plant.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🏭 Schmidt's\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eChristian Schmidt came over from Württemberg, Germany, and in 1860 bought a little ale brewery on Edward Street off Girard Avenue in Philadelphia. By the late 1970s Schmidt's was the tenth-biggest brewer in America, and it kept buying up old names - Duquesne of Pittsburgh in 1972, Reading and Bergheim in 1976, Rheingold in 1977, Erie's Koehler in 1978. April 1976 was a big month all around: the same month the Reading brands came in, the Schmidt family sold the company to William H. Pflaumer. The Cleveland brewery closed in 1984 - the last brewery left in a city that had nine of them in 1939 - and in 1987 Schmidt's sold its brands to Heileman of La Crosse, Wisconsin. When the Philadelphia brewery shut down in 1987, it was the first time in more than 300 years the city had no brewery at all. The old Philadelphia brewery is gone now - apartments stand where it was.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e📅 Dating It\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSchmidt's only got Bergheim in 1976, and the Cleveland plant closed in 1984, so a label naming both Philadelphia and Cleveland comes from those years - the late 1970s and early '80s.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e⭐ The Hex Sign\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Pennsylvania Dutch have painted those bright star rosettes on their barns for generations. They started showing up in the early 1800s and really spread decades later, once ready-mixed paint was easy to buy, and you'll see the most of them in Berks County - Reading's county - and in Lancaster and Lehigh. The farmers mostly just called them Blume or Sterne, flowers or stars; the name \"hex sign\" didn't come along until after Wallace Nutting put out his book \u003cem\u003ePennsylvania Beautiful\u003c\/em\u003e in 1924. The artist even painted three of them on the side of that red barn. Folklore says they were for good luck and good harvests and kept trouble away - though plenty of farmers will tell you they were just for pretty.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA great one for a Pennsylvania or Ohio beer collection. You'll get one like the one shown.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"relatedBlock\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🔎 More From The Vintage \u0026amp; Antique Gifts Archive\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1960s-perfection-beer-label-allentown-pa-love-gnomes-treasures\"\u003eVintage 1960s Perfection Beer Label 🍺 Horlacher Brewing Co Allentown PA NOS Gnome Breweriana\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-mountain-brew-beer-label-reading-pa-hatfield-mccoy-brewing-1963-1965\"\u003eVintage 1960s Mountain Brew Beer Label 🍺 Hatfield-McCoy Brewing Co — Reading, PA NOS Breweriana\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1960s-dutch-country-beer-label-reading-pa-amazing-scene-treasures\"\u003eVintage Dutch Country Beer Label 🍺 Old Reading Brewery Reading PA NOS 1960s Pennsylvania Dutch Breweriana\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1960s-1970s-horlacher-brewing-beer-label-pair-perfection-nine-months-old-gnomes-and-dukes-bulldog-allentown-pa\"\u003eVintage 1960s-1970s Horlacher Brewing Beer Label Pair 🍺 Perfection Nine Months Old Gnomes and Duke's Bulldog, Allentown PA\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/cleveland-cavaliers-man-cave-authentic-street-sign\"\u003eCleveland Cavaliers \"MAN CAVE\" Authentic Street Sign\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":40769706098853,"sku":"VAG-7034816757925","price":5.5,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.3356706403_spff.jpg?v=1785353540"},{"product_id":"vintage-1970s-premier-mince-meat-label-francis-h-leggett-cincinnati","title":"Vintage 1970s Premier Mince Meat Can Label Pair 🏷️ Francis H. Leggett Company Cincinnati Ohio NOS","description":"\u003ch2\u003eWho Was Francis H. Leggett? 🏷️ Vintage 1970s Premier Mince Meat Can Label, Francis H. Leggett Company, Cincinnati, Ohio\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 3\" x 2 1\/4\" each\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"max-width:315px;margin:0 auto 20px;\"\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:177.78%;height:0;overflow:hidden;\"\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/nwe6qUyOGos\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer;autoplay;clipboard-write;encrypted-media;gyroscope;picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis one's a pair - two of these Premier Mince Meat labels come to you together.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003ePremier in big white script on navy with a red swoosh and a little ®, then MINCE MEAT, then the recipe: \"Apples, Sugar, Raisins, Currants, Peels, Beef, Cane Syrup, Spices, Salt and Brandy. Add 1\/4 cup of water to contents.\" NET WEIGHT 1 LB. 1 OZ. AVOIR. and METRIC EQUIV. 482 GRAMS, and at the bottom FRANCIS H. LEGGETT COMPANY, INC., DISTRIBUTORS, CINCINNATI, OHIO, U.S.A. Never used.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🏙️ A New York Grocery Giant\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrancis H. Leggett went to work in his father's grocery business, R. L. Leggett \u0026amp; Co., in 1858 when he was 18, and was a partner six years later. In 1870 he started his own wholesale grocery, Francis H. Leggett \u0026amp; Co., and within eleven years it was one of the biggest in New York, with a branch office in Bordeaux, France. In 1881 the company bought the corner of Franklin and Varick Streets and West Broadway, and a nine-story grocery building went up there in 1882. In 1913 the city began taking property to extend Seventh Avenue and to widen and extend Varick Street, and more than half of the Leggett building stood in the way. They had the architect C. P. H. Gilbert put a new wall on what was left, and in March 1914 the firm announced it was moving, though it held on to the property. The New-York Tribune said \"no mercantile house is more widely known, or more highly esteemed.\" Premier was the Leggett brand - they even put out booklets about their Premier Shrimp, one of them carrying a testimonial from Robert E. Peary, the Arctic explorer.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e📍 How It Got to Cincinnati\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAround 1960 Leggett was losing money, with distribution in Pittsburgh and Cincinnati, and Seeman Brothers - the White Rose company - picked it up for very little. In 1965 Seeman sold off its wholesale business, the White Rose and Premier labels with it, to the Di Giorgio Corporation. That's the Leggett on this label: a Cincinnati distributor still selling under the old Premier name. The word DISTRIBUTORS is printed right there, so the Cincinnati company sold this mince meat rather than packed it - and a Leggett label with a New York address put it the same way: the Mississippi state archives keeps a Premier shrimp label naming Leggett \u0026amp; Co. as the distributors, New York, U.S.A.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e📅 Dating It\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTwo things on the label tell you it's not as old as it looks. The ® after Premier is the registered-trademark symbol that came in with the 1946 Lanham Act, and the METRIC EQUIV. 482 GRAMS under the net weight is the kind of dual measure American packers added in the 1970s, when the country was getting ready to go metric - the Metric Conversion Act passed in 1975. So this is a 1970s label wearing a very old name.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🎄 An Old Christmas Pie\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMince pie is a lot older than any can. Heavily spiced pies of minced meat, suet and dried fruit were a Christmas favorite in Elizabethan England, and the English settlers carried the taste for them to New England. The Pilgrims and Puritans didn't keep Christmas, so over here mince pie went to Thanksgiving instead. Amelia Simmons' \u003cem\u003eAmerican Cookery\u003c\/em\u003e, printed in 1796, starts her minced pie with four pounds of boiled beef and six pounds of raw apple - and there are the apples and the beef, still on this label nearly two centuries later. Through the 1800s more and more cooks left the meat out, so the Beef in this recipe is a real old-fashioned holdover. And there's the old superstition: eat a mince pie on each of the twelve days of Christmas and you get a happy month for each one in the year ahead.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🥧 A Bit of Lore\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCollectors like to say mince meat was one of Prohibition's quiet loopholes - a jar of pie filling was one of the few places brandy could still turn up on a grocery shelf. By the time this label was printed, of course, nobody had to hide it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA good one for a vintage kitchen, a recipe box or a holiday baking display. You'll get two like the one shown. The supply is finite - nobody's printing Premier mince meat can labels again, and once these last unused ones are gone, they'll be very difficult to acquire.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"relatedBlock\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🔎 More From The Vintage \u0026amp; Antique Gifts Archive\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/bricks-old-homestead-oval-mince-meat-label-treasures\"\u003eAntique Brick's Old Homestead Mince Meat Label 🏡 NOS 1930s Oval Farm Scene, Edgar Brick \u0026amp; Sons, Crosswicks NJ\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/antique-1930s-bricks-banquet-hall-mince-meat-label-treasures\"\u003eAntique Brick's Banquet Hall Mince Meat Label Pair 🦁 Edgar Brick \u0026amp; Sons Crosswicks NJ Tin Can Label 1930s\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/antique-1920s-30s-buyers-special-mince-meat-label-edgar-brick-crosswicks-nj\"\u003eAntique 1920s-30s Buyers Special Mince Meat Label 🍎 LARGE VERSION, Edgar Brick \u0026amp; Sons Crosswicks NJ, NOS\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/antique-1920s-1930s-thanksgiving-table-label-set-eatmor-cranberry-bricks-mince-meat-velvet-rose-pumpkin\"\u003eAntique 1920s-1930s Thanksgiving Table Label Set 🦃 Eatmor Cranberry, Brick's Mince Meat, Velvet Rose Pumpkin\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/antique-1910s-1930s-bricks-mince-meat-label-set-banquet-hall-pair-beechwood-nonpareil-buyers-special-crosswicks-nj\"\u003eAntique 1910s-1930s Brick's Mince Meat Label Set 🥧 Banquet Hall Pair, Beechwood, Nonpareil, Buyers Special, Crosswicks NJ\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":40769713668261,"sku":"VAG-7034818691237","price":5.5,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/pair_f4f59ce8-d262-46d6-abb8-f858eea6758c.jpg?v=1793344489"},{"product_id":"vintage-blair-township-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan","title":"Vintage 1970s Blair Township Police Tin Litho Toy Badge 🚔 Native Chief Shield, Township Est. 1839 NOS on Card Made in Japan","description":"\u003ch2\u003eWhen Was Blair Township Born? 🔵 A Dime-Store Toy Badge That Knew Its Township's Birthday\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 4\" x 2 1\/4\" ~ New Old Stock, still on its card.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"max-width:315px;margin:0 auto 20px;\"\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:177.78%;height:0;overflow:hidden;\"\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/gavgLeBPfyM\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer;autoplay;clipboard-write;encrypted-media;gyroscope;picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eMost toy police badges on a five-and-dime rack said SPECIAL POLICE and nothing else. This 1970s one, made in Japan, names a real place and gets its founding year right. \u003cstrong\u003eBLAIR TOWNSHIP POLICE\u003c\/strong\u003e, with 18 on one side of the shield and 39 on the other: 1839, the year Blair Township was set off from Frankstown Township in what is now Blair County, Pennsylvania. A loose one turns up now and then; still on its card like this, it's a rare one.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAnd the police force it names was young. Blair Township had no police department until 1966, when the township supervisors hired Maurice Chamberlain as a part-time chief along with a single part-time patrolman. So here is a tin-litho toy from a Japanese factory carrying a small Pennsylvania township's founding date and the name of a department that started with two part-time officers. It is still pinned to its original yellow \u003cstrong\u003eSPECIAL POLICE BADGE\u003c\/strong\u003e card, marked JAPAN, and still in its clear sleeve. New Old Stock.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🛡️ The Badge and the Card\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe badge is a round \u003cstrong\u003etin lithograph pinback\u003c\/strong\u003e. A red rim circles a yellow ground, and on that ground sits a blue shield edged in navy. \u003cstrong\u003eBLAIR TOWNSHIP\u003c\/strong\u003e arches across the top in black capitals with \u003cstrong\u003ePOLICE\u003c\/strong\u003e beneath it. The date is split around the center, \u003cstrong\u003e18\u003c\/strong\u003e at the left and \u003cstrong\u003e39\u003c\/strong\u003e at the right, and the center of the shield is a left-facing profile of a Native American chief in a red feathered headdress with a cream headband.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe card carries no town name at all; the badge does all the local work. Across the top runs a red banner lettered SPECIAL POLICE BADGE in white. Below it rides a cartoon motorcycle patrolman in a white peaked cap, goggles, dark uniform and tie, gloved hands on the handlebars beside a big round headlamp, with a pale city skyline behind him. JAPAN is printed at the lower right corner of the card.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🧭 Which Blair Township?\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAmerica has more than one Blair Township, and the date on the shield settles which one this is. \u003cstrong\u003eBlair Township, Michigan\u003c\/strong\u003e, in Grand Traverse County, was not established until 1867, took its name from Michigan's Civil War governor Austin Blair, and is patrolled today by the county sheriff's office rather than a police department of its own. \u003cstrong\u003eBlair Township, Pennsylvania\u003c\/strong\u003e, was set up in 1839 and has had its own police department since 1966. The 1839 on this badge is the Pennsylvania township's year.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🏞️ The Town: Blair Township, Blair County, Pennsylvania\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe land was first settled in 1773, as part of Frankstown Township in what was then Huntingdon County. In 1839 the county court divided Frankstown and gave its western part the name Blair. The new township counted about 1,176 people. It had no towns of any size, only the small villages of Catfish, Vicksburg and Reservoir, sitting among the boroughs of Hollidaysburg, Gaysport and Newry and part of Duncansville.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSeven years later, on February 26, 1846, Blair County itself was formed out of Huntingdon and Bedford counties and given the same name. Today the township covers about 13.7 square miles in the southern part of the county, borders Hollidaysburg and Duncansville to the north, surrounds the borough of Newry, and takes in the communities of Fort Fetter, Penn Farms, Reservoir, Brooks Mill and Vicksburg. The 2020 census counted 4,785 residents. Hollidaysburg, which borders the township, is the Blair County seat. The county's largest city, Altoona, was founded by the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1849, and the railroad finished its Horseshoe Curve there in 1854 to ease the climb to the summit of the Alleghenies.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e👤 The People\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eJohn Blair\u003c\/strong\u003e (1766 to 1832), the man Blair County is named for, was born at Blair's Gap. His state historical marker remembers him as a pioneer farmer, merchant and public servant, an advocate of good roads and a promoter of the Pennsylvania Canal and the Allegheny Portage Railroad, the inclined-plane line that carried canal traffic over the Allegheny ridge. When the township was named in 1839, the order honored \"John Blair, Esq., late a distinguished citizen of Huntingdon County.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAmong the early settlers, Patrick Cassidy founded Newry, and Henry Campinou and Michael Fetter ran a gristmill near what is now Route 22. Then there are the lawmen. \u003cstrong\u003eMaurice Chamberlain\u003c\/strong\u003e was the department's first chief, part-time, from 1966. In 1976 the township signed on with the Pennsylvania State Police for dispatching, a service known as Blair Base. In 1977 the supervisors made Chief \u003cstrong\u003eRichard Clapper\u003c\/strong\u003e full-time and added a full-time patrolman, \u003cstrong\u003eDenny White\u003c\/strong\u003e. The department that began with two part-time officers now runs five full-time officers and no part-timers.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e📜 The Lore: Signal Fires, a Trading Path and Toy Badge Prizes\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eLong before it was a township, this was Native ground. The township's own history names the Delawares, Muncies, Nanticokes, Shawnees and Tutelos among the peoples who lived, hunted and traveled through it, and local tradition tells of Indian signal fires burning on Chimney Rocks, flashing messages to warriors watching in the valley below. Just next door, the state's Frankstown historical marker records a Delaware and Shawnee village called Assunepachla on the Kittanning Path, where the trader Frank Stevens kept a fur post by 1734. Frankstown still carries his name.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eToy badges have a true story of their own. Sheriffs used tin toy badges like this as prizes in youth programs, handing them out to kids. That is where a dime-store toy crossed over into real community life.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🏭 The Maker's Trade: Japanese Tin Lithography\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eNo maker's name appears anywhere on the badge or card, only JAPAN. Tin lithography means printing a full-color image onto flat sheet tinplate and then stamping and forming the metal, so the picture becomes part of the surface. It is how one small button could carry a shield, a date, a portrait and two lines of lettering, and why the blue and red on this one are still bright. After the war, American occupation authorities ordered Japanese export goods marked \"Occupied Japan\" from February 1947; the occupation ended on April 25, 1952, and Japanese toy makers went on selling bright, inexpensive tin novelties to American variety stores.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSo when was this one made? The 1970s. A button naming the Blair Township police can't be older than the department's 1966 start, and the yellow SPECIAL POLICE BADGE card was used for a whole series of these patch buttons whose dated designs all land in that decade: San Francisco's police patch, which went on the uniform in 1970, New York City's, adopted July 1, 1971, and a sheriff's button printed 1776-1976 for the Bicentennial. Loose buttons from the series show a cream plastic back moulded MADE IN JAPAN and PAT. NO. 1196679, a Japanese utility-model registration filed in November 1972 and granted in 1977.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🌎 The Impact\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA toy like this carried a real local name into a child's hands: a township's own name and founding year, on a badge naming a police force that had only existed since 1966. Town-named tin litho badges like this one seldom surface today, and they are a different object from the generic SPECIAL POLICE badges with no town at all: the town is what makes them local history.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e✅ Condition\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eNew Old Stock. The badge is still pinned to its original card, and badge and card are still together in their clear sleeve.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"relatedBlock\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🔎 More From The Vintage \u0026amp; Antique Gifts Archive\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-sheridan-wyoming-chief-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1970s Sheridan Wyoming Chief Special Police 🦅 Tin Litho Toy Badge Original NOS Card Japan\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1970s-san-francisco-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1970s San Francisco Special Police Toy Badge 🚔 Tin Litho Button Pin New Old Stock Japan Original Card Collectible\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-royal-oak-michigan-auxiliary-police-tin-litho-toy-badge\"\u003eVintage 1970s Royal Oak Auxiliary Police Tin Litho Toy Badge 🚔 NOS on Card Michigan Seal Made in Japan\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-captain-planet-comic-superhero-enamel-pin-unopened-package-1990s\"\u003eVintage 1990s Captain Planet Logo Enamel Pin 🌍 NOS Unopened in Package, Original Sealed Bag, Made in Taiwan\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-suffolk-county-new-york-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1970s Special Police Toy Badge 🚔 Suffolk County NY Tin Litho Pin-Back Button NOS on Display Card Made in Japan\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":40769723007141,"sku":"VAG-7034820755621","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.3292700214_ksdl.jpg?v=1785353735"},{"product_id":"vintage-indianapolis-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan","title":"Vintage 1970s Indianapolis Police Special Toy Badge Pin 🚔 Tin Litho on Card Japan Dime Store NOS","description":"\u003ch2\u003eRemember Indianapolis Police Toy Badges? 🚔 Indianapolis Police, Monument and All\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 4\" x 2 1\/4\" ~ New Old Stock, still on its card.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"max-width:315px;margin:0 auto 20px;\"\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:177.78%;height:0;overflow:hidden;\"\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/XGMKyVctNS4\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer;autoplay;clipboard-write;encrypted-media;gyroscope;picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eHere's one for anybody who grew up anywhere near Monument Circle. It's a little 1970s tin litho pinback button, about an inch and a half across, reading INDIANAPOLIS around the top and POLICE along the bottom in gold on deep navy inside a red rim, and right in the middle, drawn in clean white lines, is the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument. It's still pinned to its yellow card and sealed in its sleeve, just the way it hung on the dime-store rack. It's a toy, made for kids, and a great one. And they're rare - carded or loose, an Indianapolis one just doesn't come up for sale.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe card is half the fun. A cartoon motorcycle cop fills the left side: white cap, big goggles, gloved hands on the handlebars, a city skyline behind him, all under a red banner that reads SPECIAL POLICE BADGE. Down in the corner, in small letters, it says JAPAN. That's where these were made, printed in tin by Japanese lithographers for the American dime-store trade. And it's plain JAPAN, with no \"Occupied\" in front of it. Right after the war the occupation authorities ordered every Japanese export marked \"Made in Occupied Japan\" (that order came down in February 1947), then loosened it in December 1949 so makers could go back to \"Made in Japan\" or just \"Japan,\" and the occupation itself ended on April 28, 1952. That was the Allied occupation, and the man running it from Tokyo was General Douglas MacArthur, named Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers by President Truman in August 1945. He held the job until Truman relieved him on April 11, 1951. Under that occupation Japan's tin toy makers got the right to start up again, and the United States encouraged them to make toys for buyers overseas. The Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York, holds a Japanese tin sheriff's badge from about 1950 as one of those early exports, which were sometimes made of recycled metal.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🏛️ The Monument on the Button\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat tower isn't just decoration. The real Indianapolis police carried the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument on their own badge, so whoever drew this toy was copying the real thing, the same way the other buttons on this card copy their own towns' patches.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe monument came out of an 1887 design competition. Seventy designs came in, and the winner, picked unanimously, was Bruno Schmitz of Berlin with an entry he called \u003cem\u003eSymbol of Indiana\u003c\/em\u003e. It took from 1888 to 1901 to build out of Owen County limestone, it was dedicated on May 15, 1902, and it stands 284 feet 6 inches to the top of \u003cem\u003eVictory\u003c\/em\u003e, the thirty-foot, ten-ton bronze figure on the crown. It honors Hoosiers who served from the Revolution through the Spanish-American War, and it has been the picture of the city ever since. Look at the button and you can see it drawn in miniature: the wide stepped base and the shaft rising above it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e👮 Indianapolis Police, 1854 to 2006\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Indianapolis Police Department went on duty September 1, 1854, and its first officers had nothing but a silver star to tell you who they were. They got uniforms in July 1862 (a dark blue coat, light blue trousers with a cord down the seam, and a blue cap), and around the turn of the century they were patrolling on Rambler bicycles. The department ran right up to December 31, 2006. The next day it merged with the road division of the Marion County Sheriff's Office to become the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, so the name on this little button belongs to a department that isn't there anymore.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🗓️ When These Were Made\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere's no date on the card, but the rest of the family gives it away. The same yellow card carries a New York City button copying the NYPD patch adopted in July 1971, a San Francisco button copying the patch the SFPD put on its uniform in 1970, and a sheriff's button printed 1776-1976 for the Bicentennial. Loose buttons from the series have a cream plastic back moulded MADE IN JAPAN and PAT. NO. 1196679, a Japanese utility-model registration filed in November 1972 and granted in 1977. So this is a 1970s badge, made and sold off the dime-store racks in that decade.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🚔 The Real Junior Programs Behind Badges Like This\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDime-store tin badges did not live in a vacuum. Across mid-century America, real law enforcement agencies ran junior deputy and junior police programs: sheriffs swore in wide-eyed honorary junior deputies at county fairs and school assemblies, police departments sponsored school safety patrols — a movement that began in the 1920s and put belts and badges on millions of schoolchildren — and an officer handing a kid a badge at a parade or classroom visit was a familiar piece of civic life. Sheriffs gave tin badges just like this one out as prizes in their youth programs, too. An Indianapolis Special Police badge in a child's hand belonged to that same world, the era when a badge from a trusted grown-up could make a kid stand a little straighter. That is the history a carded survivor like this carries beyond its tin and ink.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"relatedBlock\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🔎 More From The Vintage \u0026amp; Antique Gifts Archive\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-abilene-texas-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1970s Abilene Police Special Police Toy Badge 🦅 Tin Litho Pin-Back Button NOS Japan Card\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-suffolk-county-new-york-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1970s Special Police Toy Badge 🚔 Suffolk County NY Tin Litho Pin-Back Button NOS on Display Card Made in Japan\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-royal-oak-michigan-auxiliary-police-tin-litho-toy-badge\"\u003eVintage 1970s Royal Oak Auxiliary Police Tin Litho Toy Badge 🚔 NOS on Card Michigan Seal Made in Japan\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1990-teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-movie-pin-set-12-button-up-pinback-buttons-shredder-splinter-and-the-thumbs-up\"\u003eVintage 1990 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Movie Pin Set 🐢 12 Button-Up Pinback Buttons, Shredder, Splinter \u0026amp; the Thumbs Up\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1990-teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-cartoon-pin-set-11-pinback-buttons-leatherhead-shredder-splinter-and-the-logo\"\u003eVintage 1990 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Cartoon Pin Set 🐢 11 Pinback Buttons, Leatherhead, Shredder, Splinter \u0026amp; the Logo\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":40769723433125,"sku":"VAG-7034820853925","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.3292686966_5ym3_1e68f985-d2f3-42a1-b66a-7d3e244ef720.jpg?v=1785353746"},{"product_id":"vintage-laurens-county-sheriffs-dept-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan","title":"Vintage 1970s Tin Litho Special Police Toy Badge 🌟 Laurens County Sheriff's Dept — Japan, Original Card","description":"\u003ch2\u003eWho Carried a Laurens County Special Police Badge? 🛡️ A Special Police Badge, Still on the Card\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 4\" x 2 1\/4\" ~ New Old Stock, still on its card.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"max-width:315px;margin:0 auto 20px;\"\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:177.78%;height:0;overflow:hidden;\"\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Hp9A91deH0Y\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer;autoplay;clipboard-write;encrypted-media;gyroscope;picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eHere's a little 1970s tin litho badge that never left its cardboard home. It's still sealed in the sleeve, pinned to a yellow card with a red banner across the top reading SPECIAL POLICE BADGE. A cartoon motorcycle cop fills the left side of the card: white cap, big goggles strapped across his eyes, gloved hands on the bars, a city skyline behind him. Small letters down in the corner say JAPAN, which is where these were made. The round button rides on the right side of the card, and it's got a name on it: Laurens County. And they're rare - carded or loose, a Laurens County one just doesn't come up for sale.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🌟 Which Laurens County?\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe button doesn't say which state, so I'll give you both. There's a Laurens County in South Carolina, formed March 12, 1785, and a Laurens County in Georgia, formed December 10, 1807 — and they share a namesake. The Carolina county is named for Henry Laurens, a Charleston merchant who served as President of the Continental Congress. After that, Congress picked him to go to Holland to raise a loan and win an alliance with the Dutch. In the fall of 1780, not long after he set out, the British frigate \u003cem\u003eVestal\u003c\/em\u003e caught his ship off Newfoundland and locked him up in the Tower of London — he's the \u003cem\u003eonly\u003c\/em\u003e American who can say that — and he sat there over a year before he was traded straight-up for General Cornwallis and went on to help negotiate the peace that ended the war. His dispatches went over the side when the \u003cem\u003eVestal\u003c\/em\u003e caught him, but the British fished them back out of the water, and in the bundle was a draft of a treaty between the Americans and the Dutch. It helped push Britain into declaring war on the Dutch Republic before 1780 was out. Quite a haul to pull out of the North Atlantic. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Georgia county is named for his son, Lieutenant Colonel John Laurens, an aide-de-camp to George Washington who was killed in 1782, one of the last men lost before the fighting stopped. It happened on August 27 at the Combahee River in South Carolina, in what General Nathanael Greene called \"a paltry little skirmish\" with a British foraging party, and that December the British pulled out of Charleston. Whichever Laurens County this badge was made for, it's the same family's name riding on that button.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf it's the Carolina one, that's Piedmont country, a county of forests and gently rolling hills in the old upcountry. There's a good old story about how the county seat landed where it is: the delegation sent to pick the spot met at John Rodgers' distillery, and tradition has it that after imbibing freely they climbed the hill, found a level place, and chose it for the courthouse. The sober explanation is that there was water close by and five upcountry roads met right there, but I know which version I'd rather tell. By the turn of the century the county was spinning cotton instead of just growing it: Laurens Cotton Mill opened in 1895 and a mill in Clinton followed in 1896, the Lydia, Watts and Joanna mills started up too, and the company-built mill villages around them stayed a big part of Laurens County life until well after World War II.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e⭐ The Button Itself\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt's a round tin litho piece with a red rim and a yellow-green band inside it, and at the center a black shield outlined in red. LAURENS arches across the top of the shield in orange, and COUNTY curves along the bottom to match. Dead center sits a pale blue five-point star, and printed across the star in black block letters: \u003cstrong\u003eSHERIFF'S DEPT.\u003c\/strong\u003e Simple, bright, and built to catch a kid's eye.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🗓️ When These Were Made\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNo date is printed on the card itself, but the family it comes from gives it away. This same yellow card also turns up with a New York badge copying the NYPD patch adopted July 1, 1971, a San Francisco badge copying the patch the SFPD put on its uniform in 1970, and a sheriff's badge printed 1776-1976 for the Bicentennial. Loose buttons from the series have a cream plastic back moulded MADE IN JAPAN and PAT. NO. 1196679, a Japanese utility-model registration filed in November 1972 and granted in 1977. That makes this a 1970s badge, from a run of cards that hung on the racks in that decade.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd tin was an old trade in Japan by then. Under the Allied occupation after the war, 1945 to 1952 with General MacArthur in charge for most of it, Japan's tin toy makers got the go-ahead to start production again, and by the end of the 1950s Japan had become a tin toy powerhouse. Cheaper plastic took over through the 1960s, so a tin litho button on a card like this one comes from late in that long run.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e👮 Junior Deputies, Safety Patrols, and the World This Badge Lived In\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere is a real history standing behind every toy badge like this one. This was the era of the junior deputy and the school safety patrol: sheriffs' offices swore children in as honorary junior deputies at fairs and school assemblies, safety patrol programs — running strong since the 1920s — pinned badges on generations of schoolchildren, and a visit from an officer with badges to hand out was a fixture of American civic childhood. A Laurens County Sheriff's Department badge belonged to that world. Sheriffs gave tin badges just like this one out as prizes in their youth programs, too. When a child pinned one on, the game borrowed its seriousness from programs that were entirely real — and that is part of the history a survivor like this one still carries.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"relatedBlock\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🔎 More From The Vintage \u0026amp; Antique Gifts Archive\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-lee-county-georgia-sheriffs-dept-tin-litho-toy-badge\"\u003eVintage 1970s Lee County Georgia Sheriff Tin Litho Special Police Toy Badge Pin 🚔 New Old Stock on Card\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-phoenix-arizona-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1970s Phoenix Arizona Special Police Toy Badge 🔥 Tin Litho Pinback Button, Japan NOS\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1970s-nypd-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1970s NYPD Special Police Toy Badge 🚔 Tin Litho Pinback Button on Card New York City New Old Stock Made in Japan\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-suffolk-county-new-york-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1970s Special Police Toy Badge 🚔 Suffolk County NY Tin Litho Pin-Back Button NOS on Display Card Made in Japan\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-alamo-texas-deputy-sheriff-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage Tin Litho Deputy Sheriff Badge 🌟 Special Police Toy Pin Alamo Texas Made in Japan 1970s\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":40769723662501,"sku":"VAG-7034820952229","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.3292665240_axpv_4725a2c8-30b3-4174-a78c-304e6dc81fd5.jpg?v=1785353755"},{"product_id":"vintage-suffolk-county-new-york-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan","title":"Vintage 1970s Special Police Toy Badge 🚔 Suffolk County NY Tin Litho Pin-Back Button NOS on Display Card Made in Japan","description":"\u003ch2\u003eRemember Suffolk County Special Police Toy Badges? 🚔 A Suffolk County Special, Still on the Card\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 4\" x 2 1\/4\" ~ New Old Stock, still on its card.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"max-width:315px;margin:0 auto 20px;\"\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:177.78%;height:0;overflow:hidden;\"\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_5i8DQooTnw\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer;autoplay;clipboard-write;encrypted-media;gyroscope;picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eHere's a Suffolk County one, still sealed on its card the way it hung on the dime-store rack. It's a little 1970s tin litho pinback, about an inch and a half across, still pinned to its yellow card in its original sleeve — a toy, made for a kid's shirt pocket, and a nicely made one. And they're rare - carded or loose, a Suffolk County one just doesn't come up for sale.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe card is the same one this whole family shares. A motorcycle cop in a white cap and big goggles leans over the handlebars in a dark uniform and yellow gloves, a city skyline behind him, under a red banner reading SPECIAL POLICE BADGE on a yellow field. JAPAN is printed small in the corner; these were tin lithographed there for the American dime-store trade.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🗺️ Suffolk County, Long Island\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSuffolk is one of New York's original counties, created in 1683 and named for Suffolk in England, and it runs from the Nassau line all the way out to Montauk Point and Orient Point. The real Suffolk County Police Department is a lot younger than a badge like this might suggest. It came together on January 1, 1960, with 619 officers on the roster. Before that, policing out on Long Island was a patchwork — each town and village ran its own department, and the New York State Police backed them up. The county force was only about ten years old when these hit the racks.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd that county was filling up fast. Right after the war Levittown went up over in Nassau, and the rush out of the city kept rolling east. Suffolk went from about 276,000 people in 1950 to 667,000 in 1960 and past a million by 1970, a whole new generation of Long Islanders growing up in brand-new houses on brand-new streets. A lot of them were kids, too: by 1970 the county counted about 270,000 children between five and fourteen, close to one resident in four. That's a lot of shirt pockets for a Suffolk County badge.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🦅 What's On the Badge\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe button itself is a nice bit of small-scale work. There's a red rim on the outside, a ring of navy blue inside that, and then the red field where the design sits. A gold eagle spreads its wings across the top, a banner underneath reads POLICE, and below that a round seal reads COUNTY OF SUFFOLK, NEW YORK, with a pair of laurel sprigs fanning out at the bottom. In the middle of that seal stands a rust-orange animal on a navy-blue ground that most folks call a bull. The county seal actually carries an ox, and this little button copies it right down to that. That ox goes all the way back to the county's first seal. In 1784 the Board of Supervisors had Elias Pelletreau, the Southampton silversmith, make a seal \"the bigness of a half-dollar\" in \"the figure of an ox,\" with the motto Freedom and Independence. There's no official word on why they picked an ox, but it's often said to stand for the county's farming roots.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🗓️ When These Were Made\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere's no date on the card, but the family it belongs to gives it away. The same card design turns up with a New York City button copying the NYPD patch adopted in July 1971, a San Francisco button copying the patch the SFPD put on its uniform in 1970, and a sheriff's button printed 1776-1976 for the Bicentennial. Loose buttons from the series have a cream plastic back moulded MADE IN JAPAN and PAT. NO. 1196679, a Japanese utility-model registration filed in November 1972 and granted in 1977. So this is a 1970s badge, made when the county force was still young.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e⭐ When Kids Really Did Get Badges from the Law\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe American childhood this badge comes from was full of real badges given by real officers. Junior deputy programs let sheriffs swear in schoolkids as honorary deputies; school safety patrol programs, organized since the 1920s, put badges and belts on millions of children; police departments handed out badges at parades, fairs, and classroom visits as a matter of civic routine. Sheriffs gave tin badges just like this one out as prizes in their youth programs, too. A Suffolk County badge was the dime-store cousin of all that — the badge a kid could buy with pocket change. That documented world of junior programs is the backdrop this little survivor belongs to.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"relatedBlock\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🔎 More From The Vintage \u0026amp; Antique Gifts Archive\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-department-of-defense-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1970s Tin Litho Special Police Toy Badge 🚔 Department of Defense DOD Eagle Seal Pinback Made in Japan\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-sheridan-wyoming-chief-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1970s Sheridan Wyoming Chief Special Police 🦅 Tin Litho Toy Badge Original NOS Card Japan\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-indianapolis-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1970s Indianapolis Police Special Toy Badge Pin 🚔 Tin Litho on Card Japan Dime Store NOS\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1990-teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-movie-pin-set-12-button-up-pinback-buttons-shredder-splinter-and-the-thumbs-up\"\u003eVintage 1990 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Movie Pin Set 🐢 12 Button-Up Pinback Buttons, Shredder, Splinter \u0026amp; the Thumbs Up\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1980s-90s-new-kids-on-the-block-fan-pack-pinback-button-1989-sticker-sheet-green-button-up-earrings-nkotb\"\u003eVintage 1980s-90s New Kids on the Block Fan Pack 🎤 Pinback Button, 1989 Sticker Sheet, Green Button-Up Earrings, NKOTB\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":40769724088485,"sku":"VAG-7034821050533","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.3340341519_tmwi.jpg?v=1785353763"},{"product_id":"vintage-woodbury-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan","title":"Vintage 1970s Woodbury Special Police Toy Badge 🚔 Tin Litho on Original Card, NOS Japan Collectible","description":"\u003ch2\u003eRemember Woodbury Special Police Toy Badges? 🚔 Woodbury Police, Wings and Scales\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 4\" x 2 1\/4\" ~ New Old Stock, still on its card.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"max-width:315px;margin:0 auto 20px;\"\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:177.78%;height:0;overflow:hidden;\"\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/8IrY3dqczvo\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer;autoplay;clipboard-write;encrypted-media;gyroscope;picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eHere's a good one. This is a 1970s tin litho pinback button, red rim, about an inch and a half across, still pinned to its yellow card and sealed in the sleeve just like it hung on a dime-store rack. A blue shield outlined in orange reads WOODBURY across the top and POLICE along the bottom, and in the middle a gold eagle spreads its wings \u003cem\u003ewide\u003c\/em\u003e, holding a small white shield printed with the scales of justice, an olive branch in one talon and a wheat sheaf in the other. Two flags cross behind it - the Stars and Stripes on one side, a flag with a circle of stars on the other, the old thirteen-star pattern folks call the Betsy Ross flag - and a small cap-badge with a touch of red sits above the eagle's head. That's a lot of symbolism packed into something you'd have bought for a dime. And they're rare - carded or loose, a Woodbury one just doesn't come up for sale.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe card is the one this whole family shares: a red banner up top reads \u003cstrong\u003eSPECIAL POLICE BADGE\u003c\/strong\u003e, and the rest of it is a cartoon motorcycle cop - white peaked cap, big goggles, a gloved hand on the bars, a city skyline behind him. He's square-jawed and dead serious, drawn in that old newspaper comic-strip style - a little Dick Tracy on a motorcycle, and I love him for it. JAPAN is printed small in the corner. It's a toy through and through, built for a kid's shirt pocket, and a fun one to look at.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🦅 An Eagle, Scales, and No State Printed\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe button doesn't say which Woodbury it's for - no state printed anywhere on it. There are Woodbury police departments in Connecticut, New Jersey, New York and Tennessee, and this eagle-and-scales design doesn't match any of their patches, so it looks like the artist's own idea of what a police emblem ought to be. What it does show is worth a closer look: the scales of justice on that little shield, the eagle with its wings fully spread, the olive branch and wheat sheaf crossed underneath, the two flags, the small badge overhead. Whoever drew this wasn't phoning it in - it reads like somebody sat down and designed an actual \u003cem\u003edepartment seal\u003c\/em\u003e, eagle and all. Real municipal police departments wear patches built from exactly these pieces: an eagle, a shield, crossed flags, a set of scales. This one's a toy company's version of that same visual language, made to look the part pinned to a kid's shirt.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🗓️ When These Were Made\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere's no date printed anywhere on the card, but the family it belongs to gives it away. This same yellow card also carries a New York City button copying the NYPD patch adopted in July 1971, a San Francisco button copying the patch the SFPD put on its uniform in 1970, and a sheriff's button printed 1776-1976 for the Bicentennial. Loose buttons from the series have a cream plastic back moulded MADE IN JAPAN and PAT. NO. 1196679, a Japanese utility-model registration filed in November 1972 and granted in 1977. So this is a 1970s badge, from a run that sat on dime-store racks in that decade. No maker or importer is printed on either the card or the button; whoever made these kept their name off it. That little JAPAN in the corner has a story of its own, though. After the war, the occupation headquarters ordered Japanese exports marked \"Occupied Japan\" - the order is dated February 1947 - and plenty of factories kept using those words until the occupation ended in April 1952. No \"Occupied\" on this one, just JAPAN. That occupation was the Allied Occupation, led for its first five and a half years by General Douglas MacArthur, and it's how these toys got going again: under it, manufacturers in Japan were given the right to start production back up. The idea was to hand Japan the low-profit, labor-heavy work and let American companies sell what came over, and it worked better than expected. The heyday of Japanese tin toys came right after, roughly 1952 to 1962, when they filled the counters at Woolworth, Grants, Ben Franklin, Newberry, G.C. Murphy and McCrory's. After that, plastic took over and much of the work moved on to Hong Kong and Taiwan - so a tin litho badge still coming out of Japan and hanging on a 1970s rack is a late piece of that whole tradition.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🚔 The Real Junior Programs Behind Badges Like This\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDime-store tin badges did not live in a vacuum. All across America, real law enforcement agencies ran junior deputy and junior police programs: sheriffs swore in wide-eyed honorary junior deputies at county fairs and school assemblies, police departments sponsored school safety patrols — a movement that began in the 1920s and put belts and badges on millions of schoolchildren — and an officer handing a kid a badge at a parade or classroom visit was a familiar piece of civic life. Sheriffs gave tin badges just like this one out as prizes in their youth programs, too. A Woodbury Special Police badge in a child's hand belonged to that same world, the era when a badge from a trusted grown-up could make a kid stand a little straighter. That is the history a carded survivor like this carries beyond its tin and ink.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"relatedBlock\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🔎 More From The Vintage \u0026amp; Antique Gifts Archive\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-abilene-texas-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1970s Abilene Police Special Police Toy Badge 🦅 Tin Litho Pin-Back Button NOS Japan Card\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-department-of-defense-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1970s Tin Litho Special Police Toy Badge 🚔 Department of Defense DOD Eagle Seal Pinback Made in Japan\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-florida-highway-patrol-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1970s Florida Highway Patrol 🍊 Special Police Toy Badge Pin NOS Carded Tin Litho Made in Japan\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-suffolk-county-new-york-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1970s Special Police Toy Badge 🚔 Suffolk County NY Tin Litho Pin-Back Button NOS on Display Card Made in Japan\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-alamo-texas-deputy-sheriff-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage Tin Litho Deputy Sheriff Badge 🌟 Special Police Toy Pin Alamo Texas Made in Japan 1970s\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":40769725202597,"sku":"VAG-7034821279909","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.3292544518_4mcr.jpg?v=1785353772"},{"product_id":"vintage-gainesville-florida-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan","title":"Vintage 1970s Gainesville Florida Police 🚔 Special Tin Lithography Badge NOS Original Card Japan Novelty Pin","description":"\u003ch2\u003eWhy Is Gainesville Called Hogtown? 🌴 Hogtown's police, in tin, on a card printed in Japan\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e Badge 1 1\/2\" ~ Card 4\" x 2 1\/4\" ~ New Old Stock, still on its card.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"max-width:315px;margin:0 auto 20px;\"\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:177.78%;height:0;overflow:hidden;\"\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/F_QZDOmZ81I\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer;autoplay;clipboard-write;encrypted-media;gyroscope;picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eGainesville, Florida started life as Hogtown, a Seminole village where hogs were raised. This little tin button puts GAINESVILLE POLICE on a navy shield around a red map of Florida, a green palm and a white star, and rides a yellow card with a cartoon motorcycle cop under the words SPECIAL POLICE BADGE. It is a 1970s dime-store toy made in Japan, and town-named tin litho badges like it rarely surface for sale anywhere. What it keeps is a whole chain of history that is easy to lose: a railroad town named for a Seminole War general, the police force that grew up with it, the university that invented Gatorade, and the last years of Japan's tin toy trade.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eWhat is printed on the badge and the card\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe badge is a round tin lithograph with a dark edge and a red field, carrying a navy police-style shield trimmed in gold. GAINESVILLE arches across the top of the shield in gold capitals and POLICE sits along the bottom. In a gold-ringed circle at the center, the state of Florida is printed in red with a white star in the north-central part of the peninsula, and a green palm tree leans over a curving strip of shore. A gold star stands on each side of the lower shield. The front is tin litho; the back is a thick plastic.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe card is yellow, with a red header lettered SPECIAL POLICE BADGE and a comic-style motorcycle officer in a white peaked cap and dark goggles, gloved hands on the handlebars, a pale skyline behind him. JAPAN is printed in the lower right corner. The card is still in its clear sleeve.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🗓️ Dating the card\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe card does the dating. The identical SPECIAL POLICE BADGE card, the same motorcycle officer in the same place, was also printed for a New York City button that copies the NYPD shoulder patch — and New York did not adopt that patch until July 1, 1971. Its sister buttons on the same card copy San Francisco's patch, on the uniform in 1970, and carry a 1776-1976 Bicentennial date, and loose buttons from the series have a cream plastic back moulded MADE IN JAPAN and PAT. NO. 1196679, a Japanese utility-model registration filed in November 1972 and granted in 1977. So this is a 1970s badge, from the late years of Japanese tin.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🐖 From Hogtown to a railroad county seat\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePeople lived on this ground for a very long time before any town. Archaeologists have found traces of Paleo-Indians from about 12,000 years ago, a Deptford culture campsite from roughly 500 BCE to 100 CE, and when Europeans arrived the Potano people held the region. By 1824 a Seminole settlement called Hogtown, after the hogs its families raised, counted fourteen inhabitants. After the Treaty of Moultrie Creek removed the Seminoles, American settlers took Hogtown over in the late 1820s.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGainesville itself was a railroad decision. David Levy Yulee's Florida Railroad, running from Fernandina to Cedar Key, was going to bypass the Alachua County seat at Newnansville, so in 1853 county residents decided to move the seat to the line. Meeting at Boulware Springs to choose a name, they settled on Edmund Pendleton Gaines, the general who had fought in the area during the Second Seminole War. The new town was founded in 1854 a few miles east of Hogtown, the rails reached it from Fernandina in 1859, six blocks south of the courthouse, and it was incorporated in 1869 and chartered as a city in 1907.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe year before that charter, in 1906, the University of the State of Florida moved to Gainesville from Lake City; it became simply the University of Florida in 1909. The campus gave the town its most famous invention. In 1965 Dr. Robert Cade and his team at the UF College of Medicine tested the Gator football players, found their electrolytes and blood sugar badly out of balance in the Florida heat, and mixed a drink of salts and sugars. It was first used in a Gator victory in October 1965, helped the team win the 1967 Orange Bowl, and took its name from the mascot: Gatorade, the drink that started the sports-drink industry.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🚓 The real Gainesville Police Department\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe department's own history reads like a small-town force growing into a city one. Gainesville bought its first police car, a Ford Motor Company Model T, in 1908. In 1922 the entire department was three men, chief included, and a set salary for the chief and officers came only in 1926. In 1928 the Model T gave way to a Model A, and C.E. Strickland became the city's first motorcycle patrol officer. Chief W.B. Cahoon had the department's first radio transmitter built in 1935.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eUnder Chief William D. Joiner in 1946, Oscar Lewis became the department's first African-American police officer. In August 1953 the force, 40 officers strong, moved into a new building at 721 NW 6th Street, and a 1962 renovation doubled the station's size.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe years this card series was on the racks brought the biggest changes. Gainesville's population had more than doubled, from 29,701 in 1960 to 64,510 in 1970, and reached 81,371 by 1980. Elaine Garrett became the first sworn policewoman in 1970, working as a detective. In 1975 Fern Nix and Sylvia Sadlack (Hill) became the first women on uniform patrol. By 1976 the department had 101 sworn officers answering 45,394 calls for service, and in 1980 Atkins Warren became Gainesville's first African-American chief.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe city was a national story in those years too. The Gainesville Eight, eight men, seven of them members of Vietnam Veterans Against the War, were accused of planning violence at the 1972 Republican National Convention in Miami. Their trial ran alongside the Watergate revelations, brought to light government informants inside the veterans' group, and ended with a jury acquitting all eight on August 31, 1973, after a 14-month legal fight.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e⭐ Prize badges and kid cops\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTin badges like this one were more than store toys. Sheriffs running youth programs handed them out as prizes, and a badge from a grown-up in uniform meant something to the kid who earned it. Putting children in police badges is an old American tradition: in 1914 John Sweeney, a New York police captain on the Lower East Side, founded the Junior Police, which at its peak had more than 4,000 uniformed boys drilling in 22 precincts and became the Police Athletic League in 1936. I love that the kids who wore these had a cop hero waiting in the funny papers too. Dick Tracy had been solving crimes with his two-way wrist radio since 1946. The radio got upgraded to a two-way wrist TV in 1964, and his creator, Chester Gould, kept drawing him right up to 1977.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🎌 The MacArthur story, and the end of the tin era\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe story goes that these badges came out of General Douglas MacArthur's rebuilding of Japan. The rebuilding was real. Under the Allied Occupation, from 1945 to 1952, Japanese exports carried the mark \"Occupied Japan,\" and the tin toy trade that grew out of those years reached its golden age from about 1952 to 1962, when Japan made nearly all of the world's battery-operated toys and American five-and-dimes — Woolworth, W.T. Grant, Ben Franklin, J.J. Newberry, G.C. Murphy and McCrory's — stocked them.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis badge is marked simply JAPAN, on a card still in use in the 1970s, so it comes from that trade's long afterlife rather than its first chapter. By then plastic was replacing tin, Japanese wages were rising and safety rules were tightening, and toy work was moving to Hong Kong and Taiwan. A Florida town's police name, lithographed on tin in Japan for an American toy rack, carries that whole arc in a button an inch and a half across.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"relatedBlock\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🔎 More From The Vintage \u0026amp; Antique Gifts Archive\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-sauk-county-wisconsin-sheriffs-dept-tin-litho-toy-badge\"\u003eVintage 1970s Special Police Toy Badge 🔴 Sauk County Sheriff's Dept Wisconsin Tin Litho Button on Original Card Japan\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-abilene-texas-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1970s Abilene Police Special Police Toy Badge 🦅 Tin Litho Pin-Back Button NOS Japan Card\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-blair-township-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1970s Blair Township Police Tin Litho Toy Badge 🚔 Native Chief Shield, Township Est. 1839 NOS on Card Made in Japan\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1990-teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-movie-pin-set-12-button-up-pinback-buttons-shredder-splinter-and-the-thumbs-up\"\u003eVintage 1990 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Movie Pin Set 🐢 12 Button-Up Pinback Buttons, Shredder, Splinter \u0026amp; the Thumbs Up\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1990-teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-cartoon-pin-set-11-pinback-buttons-leatherhead-shredder-splinter-and-the-logo\"\u003eVintage 1990 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Cartoon Pin Set 🐢 11 Pinback Buttons, Leatherhead, Shredder, Splinter \u0026amp; the Logo\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":40769725235365,"sku":"VAG-7034821378213","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.3340225989_sgq2.jpg?v=1785353781"},{"product_id":"vintage-sheridan-wyoming-chief-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan","title":"Vintage 1970s Sheridan Wyoming Chief Special Police 🦅 Tin Litho Toy Badge Original NOS Card Japan","description":"\u003ch2\u003eWho Was Chief of Police in Sheridan, Wyoming? 🦅 Sheridan, Wyoming, Chief of Police\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 4\" x 2 1\/4\" ~ New Old Stock, still on its card.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"max-width:315px;margin:0 auto 20px;\"\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:177.78%;height:0;overflow:hidden;\"\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Em_hmXnyJZA\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer;autoplay;clipboard-write;encrypted-media;gyroscope;picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eHere's a badge with a whole state seal packed onto it. It's a 1970s tin litho pinback, about an inch and a half across, with a starburst behind the lettering and an eagle on top, wings spread. Under the eagle, arched small, CHIEF, then SHERIDAN arched across the top of a ring and POLICE along the bottom. The center reads STATE OF WYOMING around a miniature of the state seal, tiny enough that you can only just make out its figures. These come still pinned to their cards and sealed in their sleeves, the way they hung on the rack. It's a toy, made for kids, and a good-looking one. And they're rare - carded or loose, a Sheridan one just doesn't come up for sale.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe card is half the fun. It shows a cartoon motorcycle cop, with a banner reading SPECIAL POLICE BADGE. Down in the corner, small letters: JAPAN. That's where these were tin lithographed for the American dime-store trade. Real police badges were a different animal, made by American badge houses like Blackinton, who've been making police badges in Attleboro Falls, Massachusetts since just after the Civil War, and out West, Ed Jones, which got its start in a backyard shed in Oakland, and Sun Badge down in Southern California.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🏔️ Sheridan, Wyoming — The Town on the Badge\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eYou'll find Sheridan in north-central Wyoming, right under the Bighorns, and the man who laid it out is a story worth telling. John D. Loucks, a Civil War veteran, paid a trapper named George Mandel fifty dollars for forty acres. In spring 1882 he sat down on a hill above Goose Creek and platted the town, and the story goes that he drew the plat on a sheet of wrapping paper. He gave it the name of General Philip Sheridan, the man he had served under, then served as its first postmaster and first mayor and watched it incorporate in 1884. That same year Theodore Roosevelt left his ranch on the Little Missouri, out in the Dakota Badlands, for quite a long trip through the cattle country of southeastern Montana and northern Wyoming, and spent a fortnight hunting elk and bear up in these same Bighorns. He tracked a grizzly through their pine woods that he reckoned at about twelve hundred pounds, and wrote the whole thing up in Hunting Trips of a Ranchman, out the next year.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Burlington and Missouri Railroad reached town in November 1892 and Sheridan took off - local business paid off thirty thousand dollars in bank loans in the first month, and the population climbed from 1,559 in 1900 to 8,408 by 1910, fueled by the coal mines at Dietz, Monarch and Acme. The Sheridan Inn opened its doors in 1893. Buffalo Bill Cody invested in it and made it his headquarters for tryouts, where he auditioned local cowboys and cowgirls for his Wild West show's European tours. It was reputed to be the finest hotel anywhere between Chicago and San Francisco, and its guests included Will Rogers, Ernest Hemingway and Calvin Coolidge. A Sheridan cattleman, John B. Kendrick, went on to be governor in 1914, and from 1917 until 1933 he served as a US Senator.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🦬 The State Seal on the Badge\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat the badge copies is the real Great Seal of Wyoming, which was adopted in 1893 and revised in 1921: a draped woman holding up a banner that reads EQUAL RIGHTS (it was Wyoming Territory that gave women the vote, back in 1869, the first in the country to do it), flanked by two men representing livestock and mining, a star marked 44 standing for the 44th state, plus scrolls that read Oil, Mines, Livestock and Grain. Quite a lot of seal to shrink onto an inch-and-a-half button.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🗓️ When These Were Made\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere's no date on the card itself, but the rest of the family gives it away. The same card design shows up with an NYPD button, which copies the patch New York adopted on July 1, 1971, with a San Francisco button, which copies the patch SFPD put on its uniform in 1970, and with a sheriff's button printed 1776-1976 for the Bicentennial. Loose buttons from the series have a cream plastic back moulded MADE IN JAPAN and PAT. NO. 1196679, a Japanese utility-model registration filed in November 1972 and granted in 1977. So this is a 1970s badge. The card and the badge name no maker or importer; whoever ran this line kept their name off it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e⭐ When Kids Really Did Get Badges from the Law\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe American childhood this badge comes from was full of real badges given by real officers. Junior deputy programs let sheriffs swear in schoolkids as honorary deputies; school safety patrol programs, organized since the 1920s, put badges and belts on millions of children; police departments handed out badges at parades, fairs, and classroom visits as a matter of civic routine. Sheriffs also gave out tin badges of exactly this kind as prizes in their youth programs. Next to all that, a Sheridan, Wyoming Chief Special Police badge was the dime-store version, the one a kid could buy with pocket change. That documented world of junior programs is the backdrop this little survivor belongs to.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"relatedBlock\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🔎 More From The Vintage \u0026amp; Antique Gifts Archive\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-suffolk-county-new-york-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1970s Special Police Toy Badge 🚔 Suffolk County NY Tin Litho Pin-Back Button NOS on Display Card Made in Japan\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-florida-highway-patrol-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1970s Florida Highway Patrol 🍊 Special Police Toy Badge Pin NOS Carded Tin Litho Made in Japan\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-blair-township-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1970s Blair Township Police Tin Litho Toy Badge 🚔 Native Chief Shield, Township Est. 1839 NOS on Card Made in Japan\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-alamo-texas-deputy-sheriff-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage Tin Litho Deputy Sheriff Badge 🌟 Special Police Toy Pin Alamo Texas Made in Japan 1970s\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1970s-wyoming-special-police-toy-badge-pair-sheridan-chief-and-highway-patrol-bison-tin-litho-nos-on-original-cards-made-in-japan\"\u003eVintage 1970s Wyoming Special Police Toy Badge Pair 🦬 Sheridan Chief \u0026amp; Highway Patrol Bison, Tin Litho NOS on Original Cards, Made in Japan\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":40769726283941,"sku":"VAG-7034821476517","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/vintage-1970s-sheridan-wyoming-chief-special-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-original-nos-card.jpg?v=1793925931"},{"product_id":"vintage-town-of-conway-new-hampshire-police-tin-litho-toy-badge","title":"Vintage 1970s Town of Conway New Hampshire Police Tin Litho Toy Badge 🦅 NOS on Card Made in Japan","description":"\u003ch2\u003eRemember Conway, New Hampshire Police Toy Badges? Town of Conway, New Hampshire: a White Mountains Name on a Dime-Store Police Badge 🦅\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e Badge 1 1\/2\" ~ Card 4\" x 2 1\/4\" ~ New Old Stock, still on its card.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"max-width:315px;margin:0 auto 20px;\"\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:177.78%;height:0;overflow:hidden;\"\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/rMLLO6wvrPY\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer;autoplay;clipboard-write;encrypted-media;gyroscope;picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eConway has been sending visitors home with pictures of itself ever since landscape painters discovered its mountains in 1850. Chromolithograph views, depot tickets, ski lessons, scenic train rides: the town has long sent its name out into the world on small printed things. This badge carries it in a way few would expect: a carded 1970s Special Police toy badge, made in Japan for the five-and-dime counter, with TOWN OF CONWAY and NEW HAMPSHIRE printed on ribbons around a spread-winged eagle. It is still on its original card, inside a clear sleeve, New Old Stock. Tin litho badges stamped with a real town's name seldom come up for sale.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eWhat Is on the Card and the Badge\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe card measures 4 x 2.25 inches. A red band across the top reads SPECIAL POLICE BADGE in white capitals. Below it, on a sunny yellow ground, a cartoon motorcycle officer rides in front of a pale city skyline: white peaked cap, riding goggles down over his eyes, a strap under his chin, dark uniform and tie, green gloves on the handlebars and a big round headlamp at the bottom edge. Small capitals at the lower right say JAPAN.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe badge is a round button about the size of a silver dollar. POLICE arches across the top with a star beneath it, and an eagle spreads its wings across the center, an olive branch in one talon and a sheaf of arrows in the other, a stars-and-stripes shield on its breast. Ribbons run down both sides of the shield and end in scrolls at the bottom, reading TOWN OF CONWAY on the left and NEW HAMPSHIRE on the right.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe eagle's pose is borrowed from the highest source there is. An eagle clutching an olive branch and arrows, with a striped shield on its breast, is the design of the Great Seal of the United States, adopted by the Continental Congress in 1782 — peace in one talon, readiness in the other. On a toy, it gives a small-town badge the look of authority a child could wear.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eDating the Card\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe goggled rider was not made for Conway alone. The same SPECIAL POLICE BADGE card, marked JAPAN, carries buttons for other places, and one of them reproduces the San Francisco Police Department's shoulder patch, a design the SFPD approved in 1969 and first wore in 1970. New York City's button on the same card copies the NYPD patch adopted July 1, 1971, a sheriff's button on it is printed 1776-1976 for the Bicentennial, and loose buttons from the series have a cream plastic back moulded MADE IN JAPAN and PAT. NO. 1196679, a Japanese utility-model registration filed in November 1972 and granted in 1977. That makes this a 1970s badge.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt also makes this a late product of a famous trade. During the Allied occupation, from 1945 to 1952, Japanese exports were marked \"Made in Occupied Japan\"; after that, plain JAPAN. Collectors put the heyday of Japanese tin toys at roughly 1952 to 1962, after which plastic became the material of choice, labor costs rose, safety rules tightened and cheap toy making moved to Hong Kong and Taiwan. A tin litho badge on a JAPAN card from these years is a late product of that trade.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eConway: Chartered in 1765\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn 1765 colonial Governor Benning Wentworth chartered sixty-five men to establish Conway, naming it for Henry Seymour Conway, who went on to become Commander in Chief of the British Army. The grant came with terms: to keep his land, a settler had to plant five acres for every fifty in his share, and do it within five years. The town grew along the Saco River and its tributary the Swift River, and today its villages include Conway, North Conway, Center Conway, Redstone, Kearsarge, Intervale and East Conway. With 9,822 people at the 2020 census, it is the most populous community in Carroll County.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThese days folks call this whole stretch of country the Mount Washington Valley, after the big mountain to the north: 6,288 feet, the highest peak in the Northeast, and there's a rest stop in Intervale with a fine view of it and the rest of the Presidential Range. That name is younger than the town by about two centuries. This corner of the White Mountains used to be called the Eastern Slope Region (keep that in mind when the Eastern Slope Ski School turns up further down), and it was local businesses and the Chamber of Commerce that gave it the Mount Washington Valley name in the 1960s. I like that this little badge came along right after, in the 1970s.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eThe Painters Who Put North Conway on the Map\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBenjamin Champney first saw the Conway country in 1838. In 1850 he came back with his friend John Frederick Kensett, and their paintings and enthusiasm drew so many Boston and New York artists that North Conway blossomed into what is often called the first artist colony in the United States. Champney married in 1853 and bought a house between Conway and North Conway that was his summer home for more than fifty years; his studio became a social center for visitors from all over the country. His paintings were turned into chromolithographs and sold to tourists who could not afford the originals, an early chapter in the souvenir trade that still runs through the valley.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eThe Railroad, the Depot and the Scenic Line\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe Portsmouth, Great Falls and Conway Railroad entered Conway in 1871 and reached North Conway in 1872, and tourism expanded dramatically. In 1874 the railroad built North Conway's depot, an eclectic Russian-Victorian building designed by Nathaniel J. Bradlee, with a ticket office, a baggage room and separate waiting rooms for men and women. Passenger service to North Conway ended on December 3, 1961, freight service ended on October 30, 1972, and the line was abandoned. Then Dwight A. Smith, with partners Carroll P. Reed and William Levy, restored the depot, and on August 4, 1974 the Conway Scenic Railroad opened to the public and sold its first 94 excursion tickets. The depot and yard joined the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eSkis, Schneider and the Skimobile\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eNorth Conway's other great draw is snow. New York banker Harvey Gibson founded Cranmore, which opened for the 1937–38 season with a single rope tow, and for the next winter local mechanic George Morton designed the Skimobile: small cars running up a wooden trestle, pulled by a cable under the track. Gibson then did something far bigger. When the Nazis took over Austria in March 1938, the famed ski teacher Hannes Schneider was imprisoned and his school seized. Gibson used financial pressure to win the release of Schneider and his family, and on February 11, 1939 they stepped off the train at North Conway station and walked beneath an arch of raised ski poles held by junior skiers of the Eastern Slope Ski School. Gibson put Schneider in charge of Cranmore.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eThe Kancamagus, and the Legend of Chocorua\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn August 1959 two dead-end stretches of mountain road were joined to open the Kancamagus Highway, which runs about 56 miles west from Conway to Lincoln and was paved in 1964. It is named for Kancamagus, the \"Fearless One,\" grandson of Passaconaway and the third and final sagamore of the Penacook Confederacy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSouth of town rises Mount Chocorua, and with it the White Mountains' best-known legend. The story goes that Chocorua, a chief of the Pequawket people, befriended a settler named Cornelius Campbell, and that Chocorua's son, left in the Campbells' care, drank a poison Campbell had mixed for foxes and died. Chocorua took his revenge, the Campbell family was found dead, and Campbell chased the chief to the summit and shot him there. With his dying breath, legend has it, Chocorua cursed the settlers, their land, their homes and their cattle. Boston writer Lydia Maria Child set the tale down in 1829 to accompany an engraving by Thomas Cole, who also painted the scene. Historian Mary Ellen Lepionka has written about how little evidence stands behind the tale, and Chocorua may never have lived, but the curse has been told for nearly two hundred years.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eDime-Store Counters, Sheriffs' Prizes and Rice-Paper Crates\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eCarded badges like this sold for pocket change on the novelty racks of variety chains such as the F. W. Woolworth Company and the S. S. Kresge Company and at small-town five-and-dimes. They did another job too: sheriffs handed tin litho badges like these out as prizes in youth programs, in the same America where AAA clubs began organizing School Safety Patrols in the 1920s and millions of schoolchildren wore belts and badges to cross younger classmates at the curb.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe story in the trade is that a retiring storekeeper's old stock of carded Japanese Special Police badges came in master cases of old rice paper, marked Made in Japan, and that wholesale boxes of six dozen, 72 carded badges to a box, still surface now and then. That rice-paper crate is how collectors picture these badges crossing the Pacific.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"relatedBlock\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🔎 More From The Vintage \u0026amp; Antique Gifts Archive\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1970s-san-francisco-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1970s San Francisco Special Police Toy Badge 🚔 Tin Litho Button Pin New Old Stock Japan Original Card Collectible\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-commonwealth-of-massachusetts-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1970s Special Police Toy Badge 🚔 Commonwealth of Massachusetts Tin Litho New Old Stock on Original Card\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-indianapolis-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1970s Indianapolis Police Special Toy Badge Pin 🚔 Tin Litho on Card Japan Dime Store NOS\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-captain-planet-comic-superhero-enamel-pin-unopened-package-1990s\"\u003eVintage 1990s Captain Planet Logo Enamel Pin 🌍 NOS Unopened in Package, Original Sealed Bag, Made in Taiwan\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-suffolk-county-new-york-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1970s Special Police Toy Badge 🚔 Suffolk County NY Tin Litho Pin-Back Button NOS on Display Card Made in Japan\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":40769727168677,"sku":"VAG-7034821673125","price":17.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.3290523742_javj.jpg?v=1785353800"},{"product_id":"vintage-royal-oak-michigan-auxiliary-police-tin-litho-toy-badge","title":"Vintage 1970s Royal Oak Auxiliary Police Tin Litho Toy Badge 🚔 NOS on Card Michigan Seal Made in Japan","description":"\u003ch2\u003eRemember Royal Oak Auxiliary Police Toy Badges? 🚔 A Royal Oak Special, Still on the Card\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 4\" x 2 1\/4\" ~ New Old Stock, still on its card.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"max-width:315px;margin:0 auto 20px;\"\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:177.78%;height:0;overflow:hidden;\"\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/io5caeDbQ2k\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer;autoplay;clipboard-write;encrypted-media;gyroscope;picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis one's for anybody with Royal Oak or metro Detroit roots. It's a 1970s tin litho pinback button, about an inch and a half across, a navy shield outlined in orange reading ROYAL OAK across the top, AUXILIARY just under it, and POLICE curving along the bottom, all in warm orange on that dark blue field. It's still pinned to its yellow card and sealed in its sleeve, the way it hung on a dime-store rack. It's a toy, made for kids, and a good one. And they're rare - carded or loose, a Royal Oak one just doesn't come up for sale.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe card is half the show. A cartoon motorcycle cop fills the left side: white peaked cap, big motorcycle goggles, gloved hands on the handlebars, a city skyline sketched in behind him, all under a red banner reading SPECIAL POLICE BADGE. Down in the corner it says JAPAN, small. That's where these were made, tin lithographed for the American dime-store trade.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🦌 What the Little Shield Actually Shows\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDead center on the button sits a small round medallion carrying a miniature of Michigan's state coat of arms: an eagle perched at the top, two antlered animals standing on their hind legs holding a plain shield between them, and a curved band underneath too small to carry any lettering. Michigan's real arms give those two supporters different animals, an elk on one side and a moose on the other, but at this size the button's artist drew them as a matching pair. Still a faithful little stab at a big state emblem, shrunk down to fit a button a kid could pin to his shirt.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🏛️ Royal Oak, Michigan\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRoyal Oak is a Detroit suburb up in Oakland County that grew up along Woodward Avenue, the same road the Woodward Dream Cruise rolls down every year, and it's home to much of the Detroit Zoo. The name goes back to 1819, when Territorial Governor Lewis Cass was out surveying the area and a big oak tree reminded him of the Royal Oak back in England, the tree Charles II hid in after he lost the Battle of Worcester in 1651. Royal Oak became a village in 1891 and a city in 1921. Here's the part I like: that's the same Lewis Cass who designed Michigan's state coat of arms, the very seal sitting on this badge, adopted in 1835 and patterned after the old Hudson's Bay Company seal, eagle for the United States, elk and moose for Michigan, with mottos too small to read on a button this size, including Tuebor, \"I will defend.\" One man named this town and drew this seal. Not something the badge can take credit for, but a nice thing to know while you're holding it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRoyal Oak's real police department is older than the city itself. Philip H. Beauvais organized it in 1918, three years before incorporation, while also serving as village manager. Lloyd R. McClintock took over as chief in 1926 at just 24, believed to be the youngest police chief in the country at the time, and Ray C. Hayward held the job for 27 years, from 1936 to 1963. The Auxiliary Police named on this badge are a real, still-active volunteer arm of the department, turning out for special events, crime prevention, and checking on neighbors' houses while folks are away, described as the eyes and ears of the department.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🗓️ When These Were Made\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere's no date printed anywhere on this card, but the rest of the family gives it away. The same yellow card carries a New York City button copying the NYPD patch adopted in July 1971 and a San Francisco button copying the patch the SFPD added around 1970, which puts these on the racks in the 1970s. A Tennessee sheriff's button on the same card is printed 1776-1976 for the Bicentennial, and loose buttons from the series have a cream plastic back moulded MADE IN JAPAN and PAT. NO. 1196679, a Japanese utility-model registration filed in November 1972 and granted in 1977. No maker or importer is printed on the card, just JAPAN, small, in the corner. And notice it's plain JAPAN, not \"Made in Occupied Japan.\" After the war, in February 1947, the occupation authorities ordered every Japanese export marked \"Made in Occupied Japan,\" and it wasn't until December 1949 that a simple \"Made in Japan\" or just \"Japan\" was allowed. So that bare JAPAN squares with the 1970s date, too.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🚔 Badges Like This and the Kids Who Wore Them\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBadges like this one didn't just sit on a store rack. Sheriffs handed out tin badges just like it as prizes in their own youth programs. Police departments backed school safety patrols from the 1920s on, putting real belts and badges on real schoolchildren posted at the crosswalk. A kid pinning this on was playing at something that, for other kids, wasn't entirely play.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"relatedBlock\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🔎 More From The Vintage \u0026amp; Antique Gifts Archive\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-indianapolis-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1970s Indianapolis Police Special Toy Badge Pin 🚔 Tin Litho on Card Japan Dime Store NOS\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-sauk-county-wisconsin-sheriffs-dept-tin-litho-toy-badge\"\u003eVintage 1970s Special Police Toy Badge 🔴 Sauk County Sheriff's Dept Wisconsin Tin Litho Button on Original Card Japan\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-wyoming-highway-patrol-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1970s Wyoming Highway Patrol 🦬 Special Police Tin Litho Toy Badge New Old Stock Original Card Made in Japan\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-captain-planet-comic-superhero-enamel-pin-unopened-package-1990s\"\u003eVintage 1990s Captain Planet Logo Enamel Pin 🌍 NOS Unopened in Package, Original Sealed Bag, Made in Taiwan\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-suffolk-county-new-york-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1970s Special Police Toy Badge 🚔 Suffolk County NY Tin Litho Pin-Back Button NOS on Display Card Made in Japan\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":40769727922341,"sku":"VAG-7034821804197","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.3290470190_f2ve.jpg?v=1785353809"},{"product_id":"vintage-plorham-park-florham-park-nj-police-tin-litho-toy-badge","title":"Vintage 1970s Plorham Park NJ Police 🚔 Tin Litho Special Police Toy Badge Pin Error Misprint New Old Stock Made in Japan","description":"\u003ch2\u003eWhere Is Plorham Park, New Jersey? 🚨 There's No Such Place as Plorham Park\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 4\" x 2 1\/4\" ~ New Old Stock, still on its card.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"max-width:315px;margin:0 auto 20px;\"\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:177.78%;height:0;overflow:hidden;\"\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/97Q8uT7MIP4\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer;autoplay;clipboard-write;encrypted-media;gyroscope;picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eRead the top of this 1970s tin litho button close and something's off. It says PLORHAM PARK. Go ahead, look for it on a map — you won't find it, because there's no such place. There's a Florham Park, New Jersey, over in Morris County, and somewhere along the line the F turned into a P and nobody caught it before it went to press. The misprint is in the printing itself - PLORHAM on every one of the run - so it's not one unlucky button. I like it better that way. A town that never existed, printed over and over, is a pretty good story. They seldom turn up for sale, carded or loose.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🦅 What's On the Button\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTin litho, ringed in bright red. Inside a black shield outlined in blue, PLORHAM PARK runs across the top in gold, POLICE sits below it, and three little stars line up underneath that. A pink-and-white eagle spreads its wings almost edge to edge across the middle, and on a small blue shield over its chest sits a tiny red house. Gold lightning bolts zigzag down both sides, and N J sits at the bottom.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🏡 The Real Florham Park\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat little red house isn't just filler — it's the Little Red Schoolhouse, built in 1866, and it's still the town's icon today: it's on the borough flag, the letterhead, the website, even the first-responder trucks. Whoever drew this button knew the town's symbol, even if they botched the town's name.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFlorham Park itself was incorporated March 9, 1899, carved out of Chatham Township, and the name is a Gilded Age mashup of two big estates. \"Florham\" came from Florence and Hamilton Twombly — Florence Adele Vanderbilt Twombly, a granddaughter of Cornelius Vanderbilt, and her husband Hamilton McKown Twombly — who smashed their first names together for their 840-acre place. Next door sat Brooklake Park, 1,000 acres belonging to Leslie Ward, one of the founders of Prudential Insurance. Squash those two estates together and you get the borough's name. These days Fairleigh Dickinson University's Florham campus sits on part of that old estate ground, and since 2008 the New York Jets have run their headquarters and training camp out of Florham Park too. Not bad company for a button that can't spell the place.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🗓️ When These Were Made\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNothing on this card prints a year, but the family it belongs to tells on itself. The same card turns up with a New York button copying the NYPD patch that was adopted July 1, 1971, a San Francisco button copying the SFPD patch added around 1970, and a Tennessee sheriff's button printed 1776-1976 for the Bicentennial — so this whole run was on the racks in the 1970s. Loose buttons from the series have a cream plastic back moulded MADE IN JAPAN and PAT. NO. 1196679, a Japanese utility-model registration filed in November 1972 and granted in 1977. The card itself is yellow with a red SPECIAL POLICE BADGE banner up top, and a cartoon motorcycle cop fills the rest: white cap, big goggles, gloved hands on the handlebars, a city skyline behind him. JAPAN is printed small in the corner. It's still sealed in its poly sleeve, just like it came off the rack.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e👮 A Badge in a Kid's Pocket\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBadges like this one weren't just toys sitting on a shelf. Sheriffs handed tin badges just like this out as prizes in their youth programs. Police departments have been putting real belts and real badges on schoolkids since the 1920s too, backing school safety patrols at crosswalks all over the country. This one came from a Japanese tin shop for the dime-store rack, not a supply closet — but it still lived in that same world, the one where a kid wearing a badge on his shirt felt like he'd been trusted with something.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"relatedBlock\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🔎 More From The Vintage \u0026amp; Antique Gifts Archive\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-alamo-texas-deputy-sheriff-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage Tin Litho Deputy Sheriff Badge 🌟 Special Police Toy Pin Alamo Texas Made in Japan 1970s\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-mississippi-highway-patrol-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1970s Mississippi Highway Patrol Tin Litho Toy Police Badge 🚔 NOS on Special Police Card Made in Japan\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-sauk-county-wisconsin-sheriffs-dept-tin-litho-toy-badge\"\u003eVintage 1970s Special Police Toy Badge 🔴 Sauk County Sheriff's Dept Wisconsin Tin Litho Button on Original Card Japan\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1990-teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-movie-pin-set-12-button-up-pinback-buttons-shredder-splinter-and-the-thumbs-up\"\u003eVintage 1990 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Movie Pin Set 🐢 12 Button-Up Pinback Buttons, Shredder, Splinter \u0026amp; the Thumbs Up\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1990-teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-cartoon-pin-set-11-pinback-buttons-leatherhead-shredder-splinter-and-the-logo\"\u003eVintage 1990 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Cartoon Pin Set 🐢 11 Pinback Buttons, Leatherhead, Shredder, Splinter \u0026amp; the Logo\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":40769728118949,"sku":"VAG-7034821902501","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/vintage-1970s-plorham-park-nj-police-tin-litho-special-police-toy-badge-pin-error.jpg?v=1793925945"},{"product_id":"vintage-phoenix-arizona-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan","title":"Vintage 1970s Phoenix Arizona Special Police Toy Badge 🔥 Tin Litho Pinback Button, Japan NOS","description":"\u003ch2\u003eRemember Phoenix Special Police Toy Badges? 🔥 A Phoenix Rising on a Dime-Store Badge\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 4\" x 2 1\/4\" ~ New Old Stock, still on its card.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"max-width:315px;margin:0 auto 20px;\"\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:177.78%;height:0;overflow:hidden;\"\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/5zLX5IwSlBE\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer;autoplay;clipboard-write;encrypted-media;gyroscope;picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis one's a 1970s tin litho pinback, round and domed, about an inch and a half across. The rim is navy, a wide yellow border runs inside it in a shield shape, and in the middle a red-and-yellow phoenix spreads its wings over a red crescent of flame on a navy ground. POLICE arcs across the top in red, PHOENIX sits on a banded scroll through the middle, and ARIZONA curves along the bottom in gold. It's still pinned to its yellow card and sealed in its sleeve, just the way it hung on the rack. And they're rare - carded or loose, a Phoenix one just doesn't come up for sale.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe card does its own job of selling the thing. A cartoon motorcycle officer fills most of it — white peaked cap, big goggles, gloved hands on the handlebars, a city skyline sketched in behind him — under a red banner that reads SPECIAL POLICE BADGE. JAPAN is printed small in the corner. That's a toy card doing exactly what a toy card was built to do: catch a kid's eye at the dime store. Most of Japan's tin wind-up and battery toys sold through the five-and-dimes — F.W. Woolworth, Grants, Ben Franklin, J.J. Newberry, G.C. Murphy, McCrory's — or at hardware and grocery stores. A Japanese tin badge on an English-language card is that same export trade in miniature.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🌵 A City Named to Rise Again\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhoever picked a phoenix for this badge picked the right bird - the city is named for one. The Hohokam dug something like 135 miles of canals along the Salt River and then, around 1450, walked away from them. Four hundred years later, in 1867, a Civil War veteran named Jack Swilling looked at those old ditches and figured out what they could still do — he re-dug them through his Swilling Irrigation Canal Company, and a new town started growing in the old one's footprint. It was Darrell Duppa who suggested the name: a city rising from the ruins of the civilization before it. I like that a kid's tin badge, of all things, carries that story on its face. And the name turned out to be a good call. Before the war Phoenix got by on what people called the Five C's — cotton, citrus, cattle, climate and copper. Then Motorola picked it for a new military electronics research center in 1948, air conditioning made the summers bearable, and the city went from about 107,000 people in 1950 to more than 439,000 in 1960. General Electric and Sperry Rand had plants there by 1960 too, and Phoenix became a textbook case of the postwar Sun Belt boom. It really did rise, and it was still rising when these cards were made.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e👮 The Real Phoenix Police\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe department this badge borrows its name from goes back to the city's incorporation on February 5, 1881, when Henry Garfias — born Enrique Garfias, 1851 to 1896 — was elected the city's first marshal and held the job six years. In the early 1900s a horse named Old Nelly pulled the patrol wagon while most of the force still walked their beats, and the whole city was only 3.1 square miles and about 11,134 people, watched over with call boxes and a system of horns and flashing lights. The department reorganized in 1950 into Traffic, Detectives, Patrol and Service, and an officer back then put in a 44-hour week for $288 a month. In March 1963 two Phoenix detectives, Carroll Cooley and Wilfred Young, arrested a man named Ernesto Miranda, and his case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court; the 1966 ruling in \u003cem\u003eMiranda v. Arizona\u003c\/em\u003e is why officers everywhere read people their rights. The department put its first helicopter in the air in 1974. The Phoenix Police Museum keeps that history today.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🗓️ When These Were Made\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNothing on the card gives a date, but the family it belongs to does. The same card carries a New York button copying the NYPD patch adopted July 1, 1971, and a San Francisco button copying the SFPD patch added around 1970 — which puts this whole run of cards in the 1970s. A Tennessee sheriff's button on the same card is printed 1776-1976 for the Bicentennial, and loose buttons from the series have a cream plastic back moulded MADE IN JAPAN and PAT. NO. 1196679, a Japanese utility-model registration filed in November 1972 and granted in 1977. No maker or importer is printed anywhere on it, just JAPAN.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e👮 Junior Deputies, Safety Patrols, and the World This Badge Lived In\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere is a real history standing behind every toy badge like this one. This was the era of the junior deputy and the school safety patrol: sheriffs' offices swore children in as honorary junior deputies at fairs and school assemblies, safety patrol programs — running strong since the 1920s — pinned badges on generations of schoolchildren, and a visit from an officer with badges to hand out was a fixture of American civic childhood. A Phoenix Special Police badge belonged to that world. When a child pinned one on, the game borrowed its seriousness from programs that were entirely real — and that is part of the history a survivor like this one still carries. Sheriffs gave tin badges just like this one out as prizes in their youth programs, too.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"relatedBlock\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🔎 More From The Vintage \u0026amp; Antique Gifts Archive\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-laurens-county-sheriffs-dept-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1970s Tin Litho Special Police Toy Badge 🌟 Laurens County Sheriff's Dept — Japan, Original Card\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1970s-nypd-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1970s NYPD Special Police Toy Badge 🚔 Tin Litho Pinback Button on Card New York City New Old Stock Made in Japan\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-florida-highway-patrol-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1970s Florida Highway Patrol 🍊 Special Police Toy Badge Pin NOS Carded Tin Litho Made in Japan\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1980s-90s-new-kids-on-the-block-fan-pack-pinback-button-1989-sticker-sheet-green-button-up-earrings-nkotb\"\u003eVintage 1980s-90s New Kids on the Block Fan Pack 🎤 Pinback Button, 1989 Sticker Sheet, Green Button-Up Earrings, NKOTB\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1990-teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-movie-pin-set-12-button-up-pinback-buttons-shredder-splinter-and-the-thumbs-up\"\u003eVintage 1990 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Movie Pin Set 🐢 12 Button-Up Pinback Buttons, Shredder, Splinter \u0026amp; the Thumbs Up\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":40769728348325,"sku":"VAG-7034821968037","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.3337615741_gux9.jpg?v=1785353828"},{"product_id":"vintage-mississippi-highway-patrol-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan","title":"Vintage 1970s Mississippi Highway Patrol Tin Litho Toy Police Badge 🚔 NOS on Special Police Card Made in Japan","description":"\u003ch2\u003eRemember Mississippi Highway Patrol Toy Badges? 🚔 Mississippi Highway Patrol, Pressed in Tin\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 4\" x 2 1\/4\" ~ New Old Stock, still on its card.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"max-width:315px;margin:0 auto 20px;\"\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:177.78%;height:0;overflow:hidden;\"\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/28aS59OYOS0\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer;autoplay;clipboard-write;encrypted-media;gyroscope;picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis is a little 1970s tin litho pinback button, still riding its yellow dime-store card and still sealed under its sleeve. A red banner across the top of the card reads SPECIAL POLICE BADGE, and off to the right sits the button itself: a navy shield outlined in red, MISSISSIPPI across the top and HIGHWAY PATROL underneath it in gold, a gold eagle at the center holding branches in its talons over a striped red-white-and-blue shield with stars, and VIRTUTE ET ARMIS curving along the bottom. It's a toy, made for a kid's shirt pocket, not a trooper's - and it's a good one. And they're rare - carded or loose, a Mississippi Highway Patrol one just doesn't come up for sale.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🏍️ The Card Tells Its Own Story\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLook at the card first, because it earns the look. A cartoon motorcycle officer fills the left side in a white peaked cap and big motorcycle goggles, gloved hands on the handlebars, a city skyline washed in behind him. Down in the corner it just says JAPAN, small and plain.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🦅 What the Badge Says\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe button itself is round, with a bright yellow band and a red rim around that navy shield. MISSISSIPPI HIGHWAY PATROL is lettered in gold across it, and in the middle stands the gold eagle, wings out, a red-white-and-blue striped shield with stars across its breast, branches held in its talons. VIRTUTE ET ARMIS runs along the bottom edge - Latin for \u003cem\u003e\"By valor and arms.\"\u003c\/em\u003e That's not a phrase somebody dreamed up for a toy. It's Mississippi's own state motto, and the eagle-and-shield design echoes the state's own coat of arms.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🏛️ Where the Motto Comes From\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMississippi adopted its coat of arms on February 7, 1894 - a gold eagle on a blue shield, a palm branch and a bundle of arrows, cotton stalks, and VIRTUTE ET ARMIS on a red scroll underneath. The motto may have been suggested by the motto of Lord Gray de Wilton. The law establishing the coat of arms got left out of the state's 1906 code, and it took a state supreme court ruling in May 2000 - finding Mississippi had no official coat of arms on the books - before Governor Ronnie Musgrove re-designated it, on that same date, February 7, 2001. The eagle and the motto on this little badge are older than the patrol that wears them.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🚓 The Real Patrol Behind the Name\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Mississippi Highway Patrol itself started in 1938. Senate Bill 161 signed it into law on April 1 of that year, setting up the Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol to enforce traffic laws on the state and federal highways, and its first troopers rode out on motorcycles. Governor Hugh L. White signed the bill; Major Thomas Butler Birdsong was the first commissioner and Captain Webb Burke the first chief of patrol. Fifty-three troopers came out of the training camp at Camp Shelby, paraded to Jackson and down Capitol Street past the governor, and were sworn in on June 16, 1938; the following Monday they reported to their stations. The original 1938 patch was oval, almost round, with HIGHWAY SAFETY PATROL in gold around the top, the state seal in the center, and VIRTUTE ET ARMIS in a red scroll around the bottom - the same motto, still doing its job decades later on a dime-store toy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🗓️ When These Were Made\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNothing on this card carries a date, but the family it belongs to gives it away. The same yellow card was printed with a New York button copying the NYPD patch adopted July 1, 1971, and a San Francisco button copying the patch the SFPD added around 1970 - so this whole run of cards was on the racks in the 1970s. A Tennessee sheriff's button on the same card is printed 1776-1976 for the Bicentennial, and loose buttons from the series have a cream plastic back moulded MADE IN JAPAN and PAT. NO. 1196679, a Japanese utility-model registration filed in November 1972 and granted in 1977.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCollectors of Made-in-Japan tin love to tell how toys like this one grew out of Japan's rebuilding after the war, and there's real history under that story. During General MacArthur's occupation the American military helped put Japan's toy makers back in business - the occupation government even got them subsidized American steel for tinplate - and the story goes that the toy designers often worked from tin cans the occupying troops left behind. From the late 1940s into the early 1960s those toys went out by the shipload, most of them to the United States. The occupation itself ended in 1952, well before these cards were on the racks, but this one comes out of that same trade: a little Japanese tin badge made for an American kid.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🎖️ Kids and Badges\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBadges like this one had real company. Sheriffs handed out tin badges just like it as prizes in their youth programs. And from the 1920s on, police departments backed school safety patrols, putting real belts and real badges on real schoolchildren long before this toy ever left a factory. This little Mississippi badge was made for that same world - a kid's badge, worn with a kid's pride.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"relatedBlock\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🔎 More From The Vintage \u0026amp; Antique Gifts Archive\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-sauk-county-wisconsin-sheriffs-dept-tin-litho-toy-badge\"\u003eVintage 1970s Special Police Toy Badge 🔴 Sauk County Sheriff's Dept Wisconsin Tin Litho Button on Original Card Japan\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-plorham-park-florham-park-nj-police-tin-litho-toy-badge\"\u003eVintage 1970s Plorham Park NJ Police 🚔 Tin Litho Special Police Toy Badge Pin Error Misprint New Old Stock Made in Japan\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-wyoming-highway-patrol-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1970s Wyoming Highway Patrol 🦬 Special Police Tin Litho Toy Badge New Old Stock Original Card Made in Japan\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-captain-planet-comic-superhero-enamel-pin-unopened-package-1990s\"\u003eVintage 1990s Captain Planet Logo Enamel Pin 🌍 NOS Unopened in Package, Original Sealed Bag, Made in Taiwan\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-suffolk-county-new-york-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1970s Special Police Toy Badge 🚔 Suffolk County NY Tin Litho Pin-Back Button NOS on Display Card Made in Japan\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":40769729527973,"sku":"VAG-7034822164645","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.3337495395_dbin.jpg?v=1785353846"},{"product_id":"vintage-1970s-nypd-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan","title":"Vintage 1970s NYPD Special Police Toy Badge 🚔 Tin Litho Pinback Button on Card New York City New Old Stock Made in Japan","description":"\u003ch2\u003eRemember NYPD Special Police Toy Badges? 🚔 A sunny little toy wearing the patch of the most talked-about police force of the 1970s\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 4\" x 2 1\/4\" ~ New Old Stock, still on its card.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"max-width:315px;margin:0 auto 20px;\"\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:177.78%;height:0;overflow:hidden;\"\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/IcffkUeYHzc\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer;autoplay;clipboard-write;encrypted-media;gyroscope;picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOn the card, everything is cheerful: a cartoon motorcycle cop in a white peaked cap and dark goggles, gloved hands on the bars, a pale city skyline behind him, and a red banner that reads SPECIAL POLICE BADGE. Beside him sits a bright red tin button carrying the shoulder patch of the Police Department of the City of New York — a patch the department adopted on July 1, 1971. In the years this Japanese dime-store toy hung on the racks for a kid's pocket money, the real NYPD was living through the most scrutinized stretch in its history: a five-day \"blue flu\" walkout, the Knapp Commission hearings, Frank Serpico, The French Connection, and the \"Fear City\" layoffs of 1975. The card never mentions any of it. That is exactly why the story belongs here. A loose one turns up now and then; still on its card like this, it's a rare one.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eWhat is printed on the card and the button\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is a tin lithograph pinback toy badge, new old stock, still on its original illustrated display card inside a clear sleeve. The card is a yellow field with a red header panel lettered SPECIAL POLICE BADGE. The artwork is a motorcycle officer drawn in a bold comic-book style: white peaked cap with a cap badge, heavy goggles, navy tunic and tie, olive-green gauntlets, and the chrome headlamps of his machine in the foreground, with a ghosted skyline of towers behind. JAPAN is printed small in the lower right corner.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe button has a red rim framing a navy shield edged in orange. POLICE DEPARTMENT arcs across the top in white capitals, and CITY OF NEW YORK runs down both lower edges. Inside, on a light-blue ground, sits an orange device: the scales of justice at the top, a white band of five navy stars across the middle, and below it the seal of the City of New York — the eagle and the two standing figures on either side of the shield. Tin lithography means the color was printed onto flat sheet tin before the metal was pressed into shape, which is why so much detail sits so crisp on so small a piece.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e⚖️ The patch it copies, and why that makes it a 1970s piece\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe New York City Police Department adopted its uniform shoulder patch on July 1, 1971. Officers wore it on the right sleeve only until 1991, when it went on both arms. By the department's own account the five stars stand for the five boroughs — Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island, consolidated into Greater New York in 1898 — and the scales of justice stand for the department itself. The center borrows the city seal: a bald eagle above a shield of windmill sails, beavers and flour barrels, supported by a sailor on one side and a Lenape man on the other.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA copy cannot be older than its original, so this button was printed no earlier than the summer of 1971. That puts it in the 1970s, near the very end of the long run of dime-store tin stamped JAPAN.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe patch had ancestors. In April 1904 Commissioner William McAdoo ordered patrolmen to wear an embroidered emblem on the left sleeve — a yellow wheel with a brown horse's head, bought by each man for sixty-five cents and first worn at the Annual Police Parade on May 6, 1905. Collectors call it the \"wheel-horse.\" Around 1923 or 1924 the NYPD Motorcycle Squad took up an arrow-and-wheel version for its riders — the same kind of goggled motorcycle man drawn on this card.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe colors carry history too. Orange, white and blue came into the flag New York adopted in 1915 from the Prince's Flag of the Dutch Republic that flew over New Amsterdam. The beavers on the seal stand for the Dutch West India Company and its fur trade; the flour barrels and windmill sails remember the milling monopoly that made the early port prosperous. Even the seal's own date was fought over in the same decade as this toy: in 1977 City Council President Paul O'Dwyer, born in Ireland, had it changed from 1664, the year the English took the town, to 1625, the founding of New Amsterdam.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🗽 New York, 1971 to 1975: the decade behind the crest\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe patch arrived in a hard year. From January 14 to 19, 1971, roughly 20,000 NYPD officers called in sick — the \"blue flu,\" a way around the state's Taylor Law ban on police strikes — after a court threw out the Sergeants Benevolent Association's back-pay suit and Knapp Commission subpoenas began landing. For five days the department fielded about 15 percent of its usual force. Each officer who took part was later fined about $417.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMayor John Lindsay had appointed that commission in May 1970, after officers Frank Serpico and David Durk took their evidence of payoffs to The New York Times. Public hearings opened on October 19, 1971; Serpico testified that December, and the final report of December 1972 described corruption running through the ranks. Hollywood was already there. The French Connection, drawn from the real case of narcotics detectives Eddie Egan and Sonny Grosso, won Best Picture in April 1972, and Sidney Lumet's Serpico, with Al Pacino, opened in New York on December 5, 1973.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThen the money ran out. When the city's new fiscal year began on July 1, 1975 — four years to the day after the patch was adopted — about 5,000 officers were laid off. The police unions answered with at least a million copies of a \"Fear City\" pamphlet, subtitled \"A Survival Guide for Visitors to the City of New York,\" with a hooded skull on the cover and nine rules for staying safe. City Hall called it \"a new low in irresponsibility\" and went to court to stop it; a judge let it run on free-speech grounds. Uniformed strength, above 31,000 early in the decade, was down to about 22,600 by 1980.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNone of that reached the card. The toy shows the city's cop the way a kid wanted to see him — goggles down, skyline behind, riding out. The distance between that bright cardboard and the headlines of its day is the history a small button like this carries without saying a word.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e⭐ Kid cops: the Junior Police, and the badge as a prize\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNew York put badges and uniforms on children long before this toy. In 1914 Commissioner Arthur Woods began closing off city blocks as \"play streets\" for tenement kids, and John Sweeney, a captain in the Lower East Side's 15th precinct, founded the Junior Police — boys in uniform, drilling in formation under a police-style chain of command, with a handbook aimed at \"developing a feeling of civic responsibility.\" At its peak 22 precincts ran the program for more than 4,000 boys. In 1936 Commissioner Lewis J. Valentine reorganized it as the Police Athletic League, and a Junior Police Club still meets inside PAL's after-school programs today.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe tradition reached well past New York. Sheriffs running youth programs handed out tin-litho toy badges like this one as prizes, and for the kid who won one, a badge from a grown-up in uniform was an honor — even when it came off a dime-store card with JAPAN in the corner.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🎌 Made in Japan, at the end of the tin era\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Japanese tin toy grew out of postwar rebuilding. Exports carried the \"Occupied Japan\" mark until 1952, and the golden age of Japanese tin ran roughly from 1952 to 1962, when Japan made nearly all of the world's battery-operated toys and makers such as Alps sold across America through importers. Shoppers found them at Woolworth, W.T. Grant, Ben Franklin, J.J. Newberry, G.C. Murphy and McCrory's.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBy the time this button was printed, that world was closing. Plastic was replacing tin, Japanese wages were climbing, and toy-safety rules were tightening, so the work moved to Hong Kong and Taiwan. On August 15, 1971, President Nixon cut the dollar loose from gold, and that December the yen was revalued upward by 16.9 percent, making Japanese goods dearer on American shelves. A tin badge marked JAPAN that copies a 1971 patch comes from the closing chapter of that long run.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"relatedBlock\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🔎 More From The Vintage \u0026amp; Antique Gifts Archive\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-laurens-county-sheriffs-dept-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1970s Tin Litho Special Police Toy Badge 🌟 Laurens County Sheriff's Dept — Japan, Original Card\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-phoenix-arizona-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1970s Phoenix Arizona Special Police Toy Badge 🔥 Tin Litho Pinback Button, Japan NOS\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-lee-county-georgia-sheriffs-dept-tin-litho-toy-badge\"\u003eVintage 1970s Lee County Georgia Sheriff Tin Litho Special Police Toy Badge Pin 🚔 New Old Stock on Card\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1980s-90s-new-kids-on-the-block-fan-pack-pinback-button-1989-sticker-sheet-green-button-up-earrings-nkotb\"\u003eVintage 1980s-90s New Kids on the Block Fan Pack 🎤 Pinback Button, 1989 Sticker Sheet, Green Button-Up Earrings, NKOTB\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1990-teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-movie-pin-set-12-button-up-pinback-buttons-shredder-splinter-and-the-thumbs-up\"\u003eVintage 1990 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Movie Pin Set 🐢 12 Button-Up Pinback Buttons, Shredder, Splinter \u0026amp; the Thumbs Up\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":40769730511013,"sku":"VAG-7034822361253","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.3289618734_h4gh.jpg?v=1785353855"},{"product_id":"vintage-commonwealth-of-massachusetts-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan","title":"Vintage 1970s Special Police Toy Badge 🚔 Commonwealth of Massachusetts Tin Litho New Old Stock on Original Card","description":"\u003ch2\u003eWho Carried a Toy Massachusetts Police Badge? 🚔 Vintage 1970s Special Police Tin Litho Badge\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 4\" x 2 1\/4\" ~ New Old Stock, still on its card.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"max-width:315px;margin:0 auto 20px;\"\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:177.78%;height:0;overflow:hidden;\"\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/4qYdLBuX0to\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer;autoplay;clipboard-write;encrypted-media;gyroscope;picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA Massachusetts police badge that never went near a police station.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis is a dime-store toy, and that is the whole charm of it. A Special Police badge in bright tin lithography, COMM. OF MASSACHUSETTS ringed around its center and POLICE across a gold ribbon, still on the illustrated card it was sold on, with JAPAN printed in the corner. A kid could own one for pocket change, and sheriffs gave badges like it away to children as prizes. It borrows the look of a real Massachusetts shield, an eagle on top and the Commonwealth at the heart, and it came out of Japan's toy export trade in the 1970s, near the end of the years when Japan made the world's toys. Tin litho badges carrying a town or state name are rare today.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eThe Badge and Its Card\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe badge is a round printed-tin button with a thick plastic back, lettered COMM. OF MASSACHUSETTS around a small shield, with POLICE on a ribbon below and an eagle across the top. They are very well made and they look amazing in hand.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe card is a small piece of commercial art on its own. A red header reads SPECIAL POLICE BADGE in white capitals. Below, on a bright yellow ground, a motorcycle officer rides out of the frame in a white peaked cap, dark riding goggles, a navy uniform with a tie and olive gloves on the handlebars, a big chrome headlamp in front of him and a pale city skyline behind. JAPAN is printed at the lower right, under the badge. The whole card still sits in its clear sleeve.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eType: toy Special Police badge on its original display card\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePrinted on the badge: COMM. OF MASSACHUSETTS, POLICE\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePrinted on the card: SPECIAL POLICE BADGE, JAPAN\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eConstruction: tin lithography front, thick plastic back\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBadge: 1 1\/2\" ~\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCard: 4\" x 2 1\/4\" ~\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAge: 1970s\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCondition: New Old Stock, still on the original card in its clear sleeve\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eMade in Japan: The Tin Toy Trade\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJapan's postwar toy business has a founding story that collectors love to tell, and it is true. In 1945, just after the surrender, the toolmaker Matsuzo Kosuge took empty food cans scavenged from American military bases and hammered the tin over wooden forms into a little U.S. Army jeep, a few inches long, painted by hand and driven by a rubber band. It was one of the first manufactured goods of any kind on sale in Japan that year, and it sold. Within a few years tinplate toys were one of the country's best exports, and sales abroad helped put the Japanese economy back on its feet. Japan's postwar tin toys sold mostly through five-and-dime chains such as F. W. Woolworth, Ben Franklin, McCrory's, J. J. Newberry and G. C. Murphy. The part of that story I like best is the round trip: the early toys were so often made from empty American food cans that the tin crossed the Pacific twice, once full of food and once as a toy headed for an American kid.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eUnder the Allied occupation run by General Douglas MacArthur, headquarters ordered in February 1947 that goods made for export be marked \"Occupied Japan\" or \"Made in Occupied Japan\". A 1949 directive allowed \"Made in Japan\" or simply \"Japan\" where space was short. The occupation ended on April 28, 1952, the day the peace treaty signed by 49 nations at the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco the September before finally took effect. After that, \"Made in Japan\", or just JAPAN like on this card, was the usual mark, and the decade that followed was the golden age: by one count Japan made 95 percent of the world's battery-operated toys.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThen the ground shifted. Plastics, rising wages and new safety rules pushed toy making toward Taiwan, Hong Kong and later China. In August 1971 President Richard Nixon ended the dollar's convertibility to gold and put a 10 percent surcharge on imports, and the Smithsonian Agreement at the end of that year raised the yen 16.88 percent, to 308 to the dollar. By 1972 Hong Kong had overtaken Japan as the world's biggest toy exporter. A badge on a card printed JAPAN is a small piece of that closing chapter, and this card dates itself: the same SPECIAL POLICE BADGE card carries a San Francisco button copying the patch the SFPD put on in 1970, a New York City button copying the NYPD patch adopted July 1, 1971, and a Tennessee sheriff's button printed 1776-1976 for the Bicentennial. Loose buttons from the series have a cream plastic back moulded MADE IN JAPAN and PAT. NO. 1196679, a Japanese utility-model registration filed in November 1972 and granted in 1977.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eThe Commonwealth on a Toy\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCOMM. is short for Commonwealth. Massachusetts is one of four American states that call themselves a commonwealth, along with Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Virginia. Real Massachusetts police shields carry the state seal at the center, and this toy copies that arrangement: eagle above, Commonwealth in the middle, the word POLICE on a ribbon below.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe seal behind that layout is one of the oldest emblems in the country. The Massachusetts Bay Colony's seal of 1629 showed a Native man with the words \"Come over and help us\". In 1775 the revolutionary government replaced him with a minuteman holding a sword and Magna Carta. On December 13, 1780, the new Commonwealth adopted the design of Nathan Cushing under Governor John Hancock: a Native figure holding his arrow pointed down in peace, a silver star for Massachusetts as one of the United States, and a crest of an arm raising a broadsword. The motto, Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem, \"By the sword we seek peace, but peace only under liberty\", is drawn from the writing of the English soldier and politician Algernon Sidney around 1659. In 1898 the artist Edmund H. Garrett drew the version still in use.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat seal has been argued over ever since it was made, and in 2021 Governor Charlie Baker signed a law creating a commission to redesign the state's seal and flag.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eSpecial Police, the Real Ones\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Special police officer\" is a working title in Massachusetts, not a toy-maker's invention. Municipal chiefs can appoint retired officers with long service as special police officers to work police details, some towns use the title for reserve and part-time officers, and Boston has special officers working for city departments and private security companies. The card borrows the phrase for play. The badge carries no department, no number and no authority.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eLore: When Kids Really Did Get Badges\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe childhood this badge comes from was full of badges handed to kids by real officers. Sheriffs used tin litho badges like this one as prizes in their youth programs. Junior deputy programs let sheriffs swear in schoolchildren as honorary deputies, school safety patrols, organized since the 1920s, put badges and belts on millions of children, and police departments handed out badges at parades, fairs and classroom visits as a matter of civic routine. A Massachusetts Special Police badge on a dime-store card was the one a kid could buy for himself.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"relatedBlock\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🔎 More From The Vintage \u0026amp; Antique Gifts Archive\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1970s-san-francisco-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1970s San Francisco Special Police Toy Badge 🚔 Tin Litho Button Pin New Old Stock Japan Original Card Collectible\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-laurens-county-sheriffs-dept-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1970s Tin Litho Special Police Toy Badge 🌟 Laurens County Sheriff's Dept — Japan, Original Card\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-wyoming-highway-patrol-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1970s Wyoming Highway Patrol 🦬 Special Police Tin Litho Toy Badge New Old Stock Original Card Made in Japan\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-suffolk-county-new-york-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1970s Special Police Toy Badge 🚔 Suffolk County NY Tin Litho Pin-Back Button NOS on Display Card Made in Japan\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-alamo-texas-deputy-sheriff-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage Tin Litho Deputy Sheriff Badge 🌟 Special Police Toy Pin Alamo Texas Made in Japan 1970s\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":40769732313253,"sku":"VAG-7034822787237","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/vintage-1970s-special-police-toy-badge-commonwealth-of-massachusetts-tin-litho-new-old.jpg?v=1793925959"},{"product_id":"vintage-1970s-san-francisco-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan","title":"Vintage 1970s San Francisco Special Police Toy Badge 🚔 Tin Litho Button Pin New Old Stock Japan Original Card Collectible","description":"\u003ch2\u003eHow Does a San Francisco Police Toy Badge Date Itself? 🚔 Vintage 1970s Special Police Badge on Its Card, Made in Japan\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e Badge 1 1\/2\" ~ Card 4\" x 2 1\/4\" ~ New Old Stock, still on its card.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"max-width:315px;margin:0 auto 20px;\"\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:177.78%;height:0;overflow:hidden;\"\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/LFc7eF4iWRQ\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer;autoplay;clipboard-write;encrypted-media;gyroscope;picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eLook at the bird. The shield printed on this little tin litho button is not a toy-factory invention. It is the San Francisco Police Department's shoulder patch — the phoenix rising from flame, the motto on its ribbon, SAN FRANCISCO arched over the top — and the SFPD did not sew that patch onto a uniform until 1970. The design itself was approved in 1969. So this carded Special Police badge, printed in Japan for the American five-and-dime counter, can be no older than the patch it copies: a 1970s piece from the last years of the Japanese tin toy trade, still on its original card as New Old Stock, carrying a San Francisco legend that goes back to 1852. And they're rare - carded or loose, a San Francisco one just doesn't come up for sale.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eWhat Is on the Card and the Button\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA red band across the top of the card reads SPECIAL POLICE BADGE, a cartoon motorcycle officer in goggles rides in front of a city skyline, and small capitals in the corner say JAPAN. On the button, SAN FRANCISCO arches across the top with POLICE beneath it, a phoenix rises over a burst of flame, and a two-part ribbon at the bottom reads OROENPAZ FERRO on the upper scroll and EN GUERRA on the lower one.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eRead that ribbon closely. The city spells its motto \u003cem\u003eOro en paz, fierro en guerra\u003c\/em\u003e. The button runs the first three words together and prints FERRO where the patch says FIERRO — a spelling that belongs to the toy, not to the department. The rider on the card wears no city name at all; the card leaves the town to the button.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eThe Patch It Copies: the SFPD in 1969 and 1970\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe San Francisco Police Department began operations on August 13, 1849, in the thick of the gold rush, under Captain Malachi Fallon, who commanded one deputy captain, three sergeants and thirty officers in a city filling up with fortune hunters. For its first 120 years the department went without a shoulder patch. An officer's badge was, and still is, a sterling silver seven-point star, of a design basically unchanged since 1849.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThose stars were made at home in San Francisco, California, by jewelers and badge makers. Surviving SFPD stars in sterling silver carry the name of Irvine \u0026amp; Jachens of Market Street, with issue dates on the reverse such as 1913, 1915 and 1921; others were made by the Albert S. Samuels Co. Jewelers and by Morgen Jeweler.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe cloth patch arrived in 1969, when the department approved a design built from the city's crest, the phoenix and the motto. In 1970 it went onto both sleeves of the uniform. That is the image on this button. The toy leaves the silver star alone and copies the patch on the sleeve instead.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eGold in Peace, Iron in War: Where the Motto Came From\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe motto belonged to the City and County of San Francisco long before it belonged to the police. It sits on the city seal adopted by the Board of Supervisors in 1859, which replaced a similar seal adopted seven years earlier. Where the words came from is a matter of legend, and two stories are told. One reads the 1859 date as a city bracing for the Civil War. The other traces the phrase to Cervantes — to Don Quixote and his instructions to Sancho Panza.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn January 1900 Mayor James Duval Phelan, a banker and art patron who served from 1897 to 1902, recommended that the city adopt a flag carrying the motto. More than a hundred designs came in, and artist John M. Gamble's won: a phoenix rising from flames, with the Spanish words on a black ribbon beneath. Phelan explained the words himself: \"Gold is emblematic of the abundance of nature, and iron of the fortitude and courage of men.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eWhy a Phoenix: the City That Kept Burning\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt is often assumed that the phoenix stands for the 1906 earthquake. The bird is half a century older than that. Between December 24, 1849 and June 22, 1851, gold-rush San Francisco burned again and again — six great fires in the count most often told, seven severe ones in others. The worst began on May 3, 1851 and destroyed about 2,000 buildings, roughly three-quarters of the city, with losses of $10 to $12 million, much of it uninsured because no insurance company yet did business there. The town rebuilt every time, and in 1852 the phoenix went onto its first city seal.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThat is the legend this button carries in an inch and a half of printed metal: a boomtown that kept rising out of its own ashes, and a bird that became the emblem of the city, then of its flag in 1900, then of every police sleeve in 1970.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eThe Goggled Rider and San Francisco's Solos\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe cartoon officer on the card is pure toy-counter adventure, goggles down and gloves on. Those black-rimmed goggles read almost like a domino mask, the same band across the eyes that Zorro, the Lone Ranger and the Green Hornet wore, and I think that's half his charm. That jutting jaw and sharp nose could have walked right out of Dick Tracy, too — Chester Gould drew that strip for the newspaper comics from 1931 until he retired at the end of 1977. San Francisco had the real thing early. The SFPD formed a motorcycle squad in 1909 for \"stopping scorchers\" — speeding bicyclists — and reckless drivers, and the unit has grown ever since. Its riders are still called Solos, because they patrol alone.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eMade in Japan: the Tin Toy Trade Behind the Badge\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe small JAPAN on the card is a chapter of history by itself. Japan was under Allied occupation from 1945 to 1952, with General Douglas MacArthur in command as Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers until 1951. In February 1947 his headquarters ordered every Japanese export marked \"Made in Occupied Japan.\" That order was repealed at the end of 1949, though some makers kept stamping it until 1951. Postwar agreements let Japan build a strong foothold in the American market, and tin toys were one of the ways it did it: flat sheet tin printed in full color by offset lithography, then stamped and formed into cars, robots, clickers and badges. Because the color is printed into the metal rather than painted on afterward, tin litho pieces keep their crisp graphics.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eCollectors put the heyday of Japanese tin toys at roughly 1952 to 1962. After that, plastic became the material of choice, labor costs rose in a prospering Japan, safety rules tightened, and cheap toy making moved on to Hong Kong and Taiwan. That shift is what makes a 1970s tin litho badge on a JAPAN card worth a second look: it is a late product of an industry that was already giving way to plastic. Its card agrees: the same SPECIAL POLICE BADGE card carries a New York City button copying the NYPD patch adopted July 1, 1971 and a Tennessee sheriff's button printed 1776-1976 for the Bicentennial, and loose buttons from the series have a cream plastic back moulded MADE IN JAPAN and PAT. NO. 1196679, a Japanese utility-model registration filed in November 1972 and granted in 1977.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eFive-and-Dime Counters and Sheriffs' Prizes\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eCarded tin badges like this one sold for pocket change through the variety-store chains — the F. W. Woolworth Company, the S. S. Kresge Company, Ben Franklin stores — and through thousands of independent five-and-dimes. For a child, a badge with a real city's name and emblem on it was authority you could pin to your shirt. And what a city to pin on: cable cars, Chinatown, Fisherman's Wharf, and Alcatraz out in the bay in plain view of the shore — a federal prison until 1963, open to visitors from 1973.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThey did a second job, too. Sheriffs handed tin litho badges like these out as prizes in youth programs, part of the same world in which AAA clubs began organizing School Safety Patrols in the 1920s and millions of schoolchildren wore belts and badges to walk younger classmates across the street.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eThe Lore of the Rice-Paper Master Cases\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe story in the trade is that a retiring storekeeper's old stock of carded Japanese Special Police badges had come packed in master cases of old rice paper, and the cases too were marked Made in Japan. Wholesale boxes of six dozen, 72 carded Special Police badges to a box with box, cards and badges all marked Japan, still surface now and then. It is the picture collectors carry of how these little badges crossed the Pacific on their way to an American counter.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"relatedBlock\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🔎 More From The Vintage \u0026amp; Antique Gifts Archive\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-herb-cooper-special-security-patrol-tin-litho-toy-badge\"\u003eVintage 1970s Tin Litho Special Police Toy Badge 🚔 Herb Cooper Special Security Patrol Pin — Made in Japan\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-commonwealth-of-massachusetts-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1970s Special Police Toy Badge 🚔 Commonwealth of Massachusetts Tin Litho New Old Stock on Original Card\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-abilene-texas-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1970s Abilene Police Special Police Toy Badge 🦅 Tin Litho Pin-Back Button NOS Japan Card\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1990-teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-movie-pin-set-12-button-up-pinback-buttons-shredder-splinter-and-the-thumbs-up\"\u003eVintage 1990 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Movie Pin Set 🐢 12 Button-Up Pinback Buttons, Shredder, Splinter \u0026amp; the Thumbs Up\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1980s-90s-new-kids-on-the-block-fan-pack-pinback-button-1989-sticker-sheet-green-button-up-earrings-nkotb\"\u003eVintage 1980s-90s New Kids on the Block Fan Pack 🎤 Pinback Button, 1989 Sticker Sheet, Green Button-Up Earrings, NKOTB\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":40769732804773,"sku":"VAG-7034822918309","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.3288215008_2r2d.jpg?v=1785353883"},{"product_id":"vintage-florida-highway-patrol-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan","title":"Vintage 1970s Florida Highway Patrol 🍊 Special Police Toy Badge Pin NOS Carded Tin Litho Made in Japan","description":"\u003ch2\u003eRemember Florida Highway Patrol Toy Badges? 🚔 A Toy Badge Off the Dime-Store Rack\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 4\" x 2 1\/4\" ~ New Old Stock, still on its card.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"max-width:315px;margin:0 auto 20px;\"\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:177.78%;height:0;overflow:hidden;\"\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/K5vaamlbOTE\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer;autoplay;clipboard-write;encrypted-media;gyroscope;picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis is a 1970s tin litho toy badge, still sealed to its original card the way it hung on the rack. The card is yellow, with a red banner across the top reading \u003cstrong\u003eSPECIAL POLICE BADGE\u003c\/strong\u003e and a cartoon motorcycle cop leaning over his handlebars in a white cap and a pair of big goggles, a city skyline sketched in behind him. Down in the corner, small, it just says \u003cstrong\u003eJAPAN\u003c\/strong\u003e. That's where these little tin badges were made, for the American dime-store trade. After World War II, Japan's toy makers were put back to work turning out the cheap, labor-heavy goods American companies wanted to import and sell, and by the end of the 1950s Japan was a tin-toy powerhouse. The story that's traveled with these badges for years is that they started out as one of General MacArthur's rebuilding projects, a little American goodwill stamped out in tin during the occupation. And there's something to it: the occupation government Douglas MacArthur ran lined up subsidized American steel for Japan's tin toy makers, and The Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York, has a Japanese tin Special Police badge from about 1950 that it points to as one of the country's first export toys. The occupation wrapped up in 1952, a couple of decades before this card hung on a rack, but it was the same trade still rolling. Plastic took over most of the toy aisle in the '60s, but little tin badges like this one kept right on coming. And they're rare - carded or loose, a Florida Highway Patrol one just doesn't come up for sale.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe button itself is round tin: a bright yellow ring around a navy field, \u003cstrong\u003eHIGHWAY\u003c\/strong\u003e arcing over the top and \u003cstrong\u003ePATROL\u003c\/strong\u003e along the bottom in yellow letters, and right in the center a red-orange orange with a couple of green leaves, \u003cstrong\u003eFLORIDA\u003c\/strong\u003e lettered straight across the fruit. It's a toy, made for a kid's shirt pocket, and it plays that part well.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🍊 Why There's an Orange on a Police Badge\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat orange in the middle is right at home. The real Florida Highway Patrol has worn orange since its very first day - orange bands on the troopers' gray Stetsons and an orange-and-blue patch on the shoulder - and in the state that grows them, what else would you put on the badge? By 1943 the patch on a trooper's left shoulder was an orange emblem with the word Florida spelled out - the very thing this little button carries front and center.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🚓 The Real Florida Highway Patrol\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe badge on this button is a toy, but the agency it copies is real. The Florida Legislature created the Florida Highway Patrol in 1939, under a new Department of Public Safety. W.F. Reid came on as director on October 1, H.N. Kirkman was made captain of the patrol - he led it until he retired in 1970, and troopers still call him its father - and on November 1 the first training school opened in Bradenton with 40 students at the Manavista Hotel. On December 6, 1939, Secretary of State R.A. Gray swore in the 32 who graduated. Kirkman - Colonel H. Neil Kirkman, in full - was an old Army man who had first gone in as a private in 1917. In 1945 he was elected director of the whole Department of Public Safety and held that job for 24 years, and I like this detail: the day he retired, February 11, 1970, happened to be his 78th birthday. Their uniform was forest green whipcord, with orange bands on a gray Stetson campaign hat and a black Sam Browne belt, plus an orange-and-blue shoulder patch, FHP lettered on the left lapel and a winged wheel on the right. That original wheel had a broken spoke in it, which is where the Patrol's own \u003cstrong\u003eBroken Spoke Club\u003c\/strong\u003e got its name. The whole look was patterned after the New York State Police.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🗓️ When These Were Made\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere's no date printed on the card, but the family it belongs to gives it away. The same card design turns up with a New York City button copying the NYPD patch adopted in July 1971, and a San Francisco button copying the patch the SFPD added around 1970 - so these were on the racks in the 1970s. A Tennessee sheriff's button on the same card is printed 1776-1976 for the Bicentennial, and loose buttons from the series have a cream plastic back moulded MADE IN JAPAN and PAT. NO. 1196679, a Japanese utility-model registration filed in November 1972 and granted in 1977. The button itself runs about an inch and a half across; the card is 4 by 2.25 inches.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🚔 The Real Junior Programs Behind Badges Like This\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere is a real history standing behind every toy badge like this one. This was the era of the junior deputy and the school safety patrol: sheriffs' offices swore children in as honorary junior deputies at fairs and school assemblies, safety patrol programs — running strong since the 1920s — pinned badges on generations of schoolchildren, and a visit from an officer with badges to hand out was a fixture of American civic childhood. Sheriffs gave tin badges just like this one out as prizes in their youth programs, too. A Florida Highway Patrol badge belonged to that world. When a child pinned one on, the game borrowed its seriousness from programs that were entirely real — and that is part of the history a survivor like this one still carries.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"relatedBlock\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🔎 More From The Vintage \u0026amp; Antique Gifts Archive\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-sheridan-wyoming-chief-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1970s Sheridan Wyoming Chief Special Police 🦅 Tin Litho Toy Badge Original NOS Card Japan\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-herb-cooper-special-security-patrol-tin-litho-toy-badge\"\u003eVintage 1970s Tin Litho Special Police Toy Badge 🚔 Herb Cooper Special Security Patrol Pin — Made in Japan\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-woodbury-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1970s Woodbury Special Police Toy Badge 🚔 Tin Litho on Original Card, NOS Japan Collectible\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1990-teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-movie-pin-set-12-button-up-pinback-buttons-shredder-splinter-and-the-thumbs-up\"\u003eVintage 1990 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Movie Pin Set 🐢 12 Button-Up Pinback Buttons, Shredder, Splinter \u0026amp; the Thumbs Up\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1990-teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-cartoon-pin-set-11-pinback-buttons-leatherhead-shredder-splinter-and-the-logo\"\u003eVintage 1990 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Cartoon Pin Set 🐢 11 Pinback Buttons, Leatherhead, Shredder, Splinter \u0026amp; the Logo\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":40769733591205,"sku":"VAG-7034823114917","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.3286531760_bjto.jpg?v=1785353892"},{"product_id":"vintage-wyoming-highway-patrol-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan","title":"Vintage 1970s Wyoming Highway Patrol 🦬 Special Police Tin Litho Toy Badge New Old Stock Original Card Made in Japan","description":"\u003ch2\u003eRemember Wyoming Highway Patrol Toy Badges? 🦬 A Bison on a Dime-Store Card\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 4\" x 2 1\/4\" ~ New Old Stock, still on its card.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"max-width:315px;margin:0 auto 20px;\"\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:177.78%;height:0;overflow:hidden;\"\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/wox6S_hH37c\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer;autoplay;clipboard-write;encrypted-media;gyroscope;picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis is a round tin litho button, still pinned to its yellow card and sealed in its poly sleeve, the way it hung on the dime-store rack. It's a toy, made for kids, and a good-looking one - the kind of thing that made a kid stop at the counter. They seldom turn up for sale, carded or loose.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe card does its own share of the work. A cartoon motorcycle cop fills the left side of it: white peaked cap, big motorcycle goggles, gloved hands on the bars, a city skyline behind him, all under a red banner reading SPECIAL POLICE BADGE. JAPAN is printed small in the lower corner, which is where these were made. Japan's toy makers came back strong after the war. From 1947 until the occupation ended in 1952, toys and other goods shipped here had to say Occupied Japan, a good many of them inexpensive dime-store novelties, and by the 1960s the factories over there were mass-producing lithographed tin toys.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🎨 The Button Itself\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe button carries a white bison, walking, set on a blue disc in the center. Around it, on a black ring, WYOMING arches over the top and HIGHWAY PATROL runs along the bottom, both in yellow. A red rim and then a yellow one frame the whole thing. It's bold and simple, and it reads instantly from across a store shelf.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🤠 The Wyoming Highway Patrol\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat bison isn't a made-up mascot - the real Wyoming Highway Patrol has worn one since its first year. The Patrol was created in 1933, after Wyoming's old Department of Law Enforcement, whose whole job had been enforcing Prohibition, was disbanded. On May 23, 1933, the Highway Commission put Captain George \"Red\" Smith in charge and gave him six newly trained patrolmen to cover the entire state: enforcing motor vehicle registration and licensing, the rules of the road, and, as the law put it, \"all laws for the protection of the highways.\" The Patrol took effect on June 1, 1933. That was seven men for the whole Cowboy State, the tenth-biggest state in the country, and one that even today has fewer people than any other. Captain Smith was thinking ahead from the start, too: he was pushing for a state speed limit and a driver licensing law years before either one became reality. Their training lasted three weeks, and the recruits paid their own expenses to get through it. The California Highway Patrol, founded in 1929, was the model for the western states, and it was a CHP man, Inspector William White, who ran that first Wyoming recruit class; the six were picked from the fourteen who finished it. The pay was $175 a month for a patrolman and $200 for the captain. The Legislature made the Patrol official in January 1935, and by the end of that year it was up to thirteen men. In 1954 troopers started experimenting with radar to clock speeders, and those first units only worked with the patrol car parked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThose first troopers rode out in forest green military coats, oak brown breeches and caps, Sam Browne belts, and brown riding boots, with a buffalo and winged wheel worn on the sleeve. The buffalo stuck. It's still the Patrol's emblem today. And it was the right animal for Wyoming to claim. By the late 1880s the great herds were nearly gone, and by 1902 only 23 bison remained in Yellowstone National Park, up in Wyoming's northwest corner, the last wild bison in North America. Thirty-one years later those first troopers were wearing one on their sleeves.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🗓️ When These Were Made\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNothing on this card carries a date, but the family it came from gives it away. The same card design turns up with an NYPD button copying the patch New York adopted in July 1971, and a San Francisco button copying the patch that department added around 1970 - so this whole line of cards was on the racks in the 1970s. The button itself runs about an inch and a half across.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🚔 Badges Weren't Just Toys\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis kind of tin badge had real company. Sheriffs handed out tin badges just like it as prizes in their youth programs. Starting in the 1920s, police departments across the country backed school safety patrols too, putting real belts and real badges on schoolkids by the millions. A dime-store bison badge like this one rode that same wave - a kid who couldn't get the real thing could still buy this one with pocket change and pin it on.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"relatedBlock\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🔎 More From The Vintage \u0026amp; Antique Gifts Archive\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-alamo-texas-deputy-sheriff-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage Tin Litho Deputy Sheriff Badge 🌟 Special Police Toy Pin Alamo Texas Made in Japan 1970s\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-florida-highway-patrol-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1970s Florida Highway Patrol 🍊 Special Police Toy Badge Pin NOS Carded Tin Litho Made in Japan\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-mississippi-highway-patrol-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1970s Mississippi Highway Patrol Tin Litho Toy Police Badge 🚔 NOS on Special Police Card Made in Japan\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-suffolk-county-new-york-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1970s Special Police Toy Badge 🚔 Suffolk County NY Tin Litho Pin-Back Button NOS on Display Card Made in Japan\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1970s-wyoming-special-police-toy-badge-pair-sheridan-chief-and-highway-patrol-bison-tin-litho-nos-on-original-cards-made-in-japan\"\u003eVintage 1970s Wyoming Special Police Toy Badge Pair 🦬 Sheridan Chief \u0026amp; Highway Patrol Bison, Tin Litho NOS on Original Cards, Made in Japan\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":40769734967461,"sku":"VAG-7034823508133","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.3334195377_563k.jpg?v=1785353901"},{"product_id":"vintage-herb-cooper-special-security-patrol-tin-litho-toy-badge","title":"Vintage 1970s Tin Litho Special Police Toy Badge 🚔 Herb Cooper Special Security Patrol Pin — Made in Japan","description":"\u003ch2\u003eWho Was Herb Cooper's Special Security Patrol? 🚔 Vintage Tin Litho Special Police Toy Badge\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 4\" x 2 1\/4\" ~ New Old Stock, still on its card.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"max-width:315px;margin:0 auto 20px;\"\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:177.78%;height:0;overflow:hidden;\"\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/OOby8hiLuq8\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer;autoplay;clipboard-write;encrypted-media;gyroscope;picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🚔 What You've Got Here\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis is a 1970s New Old Stock tin litho pinback button, still pinned to its original card and sealed in its poly sleeve, never opened, exactly as it sat on the dime-store rack. The card is yellow with a red banner across the top reading SPECIAL POLICE BADGE, and under it a cartoon motorcycle cop leans over his handlebars — white peaked cap, big round goggles, one gloved hand steady on the bars, a city skyline sketched in behind him. Down in the corner, small, it just says JAPAN. That's where these were made and printed, for the American dime-store trade. Back then the dime store meant Woolworth's, Kresge's, Ben Franklin, Newberry's, G.C. Murphy, McCrory's and W.T. Grant.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe button itself is about an inch and a half across, yellow rim, green ring, with a white band running around it. HERB COOPER arches across the top of that band in red, SPECIAL SECURITY across the bottom. In the green center a bird rises with its wings thrown wide — gold feathers etched over white, eagle or phoenix, take your pick — its tail feathers fanned out at the base like a little crown, and PATROL banked in bold red letters right across its middle. Red, white, green, gold, and that dime-store yellow: five colors laid down clean and bright, the way the good tin litho work always was.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🦅 Herb Cooper, Special Security Patrol\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHere's what makes this one different from the rest of the family. Most of the badges on this card style borrow a real police department's patch — a city you'd recognize on the button, a real force behind the name. This one doesn't. It names a security patrol instead: HERB COOPER SPECIAL SECURITY PATROL, spelled straight out in red around the rim, with PATROL banked across the bird in the middle. A special security patrol with a man's name on it reads like a private outfit rather than a police force. The button doesn't say what town or state it worked out of — just the name and the bird, nothing more. It's the odd one out on this card, and that's exactly why I like it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🗓️ When These Were Made\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere's no date printed anywhere on the card, but the rest of the family gives it away. The same card design carries a New York button copying the NYPD patch adopted July 1, 1971, and a San Francisco button copying the SFPD patch added around 1970. That puts the whole card family, this one included, on the dime-store racks in the 1970s, and two more things agree: a Tennessee sheriff's button on the same card is printed 1776-1976 for the Bicentennial, and loose buttons from the series have a cream plastic back moulded MADE IN JAPAN and PAT. NO. 1196679, a Japanese utility-model registration filed in November 1972 and granted in 1977.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🚔 The Real Junior Programs Behind Badges Like This\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDime-store tin badges did not live in a vacuum. Across America in those years, real law enforcement agencies ran junior deputy and junior police programs: sheriffs swore in wide-eyed honorary junior deputies at county fairs and school assemblies, police departments sponsored school safety patrols — a movement that began in the 1920s and put belts and badges on millions of schoolchildren — and an officer handing a kid a badge at a parade or classroom visit was a familiar piece of civic life. Sheriffs gave tin badges just like this one out as prizes in their youth programs, too. A Special Security Patrol badge in a child's hand belonged to that same world, the era when a badge from a trusted grown-up could make a kid stand a little straighter. That is the history a carded survivor like this carries beyond its tin and ink.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"relatedBlock\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🔎 More From The Vintage \u0026amp; Antique Gifts Archive\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-florida-highway-patrol-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1970s Florida Highway Patrol 🍊 Special Police Toy Badge Pin NOS Carded Tin Litho Made in Japan\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-lee-county-georgia-sheriffs-dept-tin-litho-toy-badge\"\u003eVintage 1970s Lee County Georgia Sheriff Tin Litho Special Police Toy Badge Pin 🚔 New Old Stock on Card\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1970s-san-francisco-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1970s San Francisco Special Police Toy Badge 🚔 Tin Litho Button Pin New Old Stock Japan Original Card Collectible\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1990-teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-movie-pin-set-12-button-up-pinback-buttons-shredder-splinter-and-the-thumbs-up\"\u003eVintage 1990 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Movie Pin Set 🐢 12 Button-Up Pinback Buttons, Shredder, Splinter \u0026amp; the Thumbs Up\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1990-teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-cartoon-pin-set-11-pinback-buttons-leatherhead-shredder-splinter-and-the-logo\"\u003eVintage 1990 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Cartoon Pin Set 🐢 11 Pinback Buttons, Leatherhead, Shredder, Splinter \u0026amp; the Logo\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":40769735229605,"sku":"VAG-7034823606437","price":19.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.3286276894_kb88.jpg?v=1785353910"},{"product_id":"vintage-sauk-county-wisconsin-sheriffs-dept-tin-litho-toy-badge","title":"Vintage 1970s Special Police Toy Badge 🔴 Sauk County Sheriff's Dept Wisconsin Tin Litho Button on Original Card Japan","description":"\u003ch2\u003eRemember Sauk County Special Police Toy Badges? 🔴 A Sauk County Special, Still on the Card\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 4\" x 2 1\/4\" ~ New Old Stock, still on its card.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"max-width:315px;margin:0 auto 20px;\"\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:177.78%;height:0;overflow:hidden;\"\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/qU_tzi7JMw0\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer;autoplay;clipboard-write;encrypted-media;gyroscope;picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eHere's a little piece of Wisconsin off the dime-store rack. It's a round 1970s tin litho button, red rim, black shield outlined in yellow, SHERIFF'S DEPT. arched across the top and SAUK COUNTY WIS. anchored across the bottom. Still pinned to its original yellow card, sealed in its poly sleeve, red banner across the top reading SPECIAL POLICE BADGE. It's a toy, sized for a kid's shirt pocket, and these never left the card to find out how a shirt pocket treats a badge. And they're rare - carded or loose, a Sauk County one just doesn't come up for sale.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe card art is the same character you'll find across this whole family of badges: a motorcycle cop in a white peaked cap and big driving goggles, gloved hands on the bars, a hazy city skyline behind him. Down in the corner, small print reads JAPAN. That's where these were printed in tin for the American dime-store trade.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🌲 Sauk County and Baraboo\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSauk County sits in south-central Wisconsin, carved out of Wisconsin Territory in 1840 and formally organized in 1844. It's named for the Sauk people, who had a village there. The county seat is Baraboo, first settled by Abe Wood back in 1838. It went by the name Adams at first, won the county seat in 1846 after a fierce fight with nearby Reedsburg, took the name Baraboo from its river in 1852, and was chartered as a city in 1882.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat county name is a story in itself. The Sauk ranged over a big stretch of the upper Midwest through the years, from around Green Bay down into Illinois and out to Iowa, and about 1740 they built a town on the Wisconsin River beside the great prairie that still carries their name at Sauk City and Prairie du Sac. Jonathan Carver came down the river exploring for the British in October 1766, and he wrote that it was the largest and best-built Native town he had ever seen: about ninety plank houses, each big enough for several families, with corn, beans and melons growing right alongside. Traders counted it the best place to stock up on food within eight hundred miles. The Sauk moved south around 1780, toward Saukenuk on the Rock River, and more than fifty years later, when the county was laid out in 1840, it still took their name.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut when you talk about the ridges and lakes around Baraboo, you're talking about the Ho-Chunk. Their oral tradition puts people at Devil's Lake more than 300,000 years ago, and the physical evidence there goes back 12,000 to 16,000 years. Even the lake's name is a bad translation: the Ho-Chunk called it Te Wakącąk, Sacred Lake or Spirit Lake. In the 1830s they had several villages around Baraboo and a council house near the Baraboo River, on a spot picked by their head chief Nąąga, who was also called Walking Turtle. Then came the Treaty of 1837, which opened this land to settlers. The chiefs were told they would have eight years to leave when the paper said eight months, and starting in 1840 soldiers were sent to round people up. Chief Yellow Thunder was forced west and walked hundreds of miles home with many of his people, and in 1849 he bought 40 acres north of Baraboo that became a haven for hundreds more. So many Ho-Chunk refused to go, or walked back, that the Wisconsin Ho-Chunk came to be recognized as a tribe of their own.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSauk County did its part in World War II, too: the Badger Ordnance Works, down by Prairie du Sac, made the nitrocellulose powder that fired the guns and rockets, and it went back to work for Korea and again for Vietnam. But Baraboo's biggest claim to fame is the circus. The Ringling brothers grew up there, and from 1884 to 1917 the town was the headquarters of their circus, and a few others besides — enough that Baraboo earned the nickname \"Circus City.\" The Circus World Museum still stands there today, holding the old circus wagons and what's said to be the largest library of circus history in the country.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe county is also home to Devil's Lake State Park, takes in part of the Wisconsin Dells, and is Aldo Leopold country too — the setting for \u003cem\u003eA Sand County Almanac\u003c\/em\u003e. These days the Ho-Chunk Nation is Sauk County's largest employer. That's a lot of Wisconsin packed behind one little button.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🪶 What's on the Badge\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe button itself carries a shield in black, outlined in yellow, set against a red field. At the center, in profile, is a Native American man in a full feathered war bonnet — a red face, white feathers tipped in red and black, a small medallion at the collar. SHERIFF'S DEPT. runs across the top of the shield, SAUK COUNTY WIS. across the bottom.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🗓️ When These Were Made\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNothing on this one carries a date, but the rest of the card family gives it away. The same card design also turns up with a New York City button copying the NYPD patch adopted in July 1971, and a San Francisco button copying a patch the SFPD added around 1970 — which puts the whole line, Sauk County included, on the dime-store racks sometime in the 1970s. Two more things agree: a Tennessee sheriff's button on the same card is printed 1776-1976 for the Bicentennial, and loose buttons from the series have a cream plastic back moulded MADE IN JAPAN and PAT. NO. 1196679, a Japanese utility-model registration filed in November 1972 and granted in 1977.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e👮 Junior Deputies, Safety Patrols, and the World This Badge Lived In\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere is a real history standing behind every toy badge like this one. This was the era of the junior deputy and the school safety patrol: sheriffs' offices swore children in as honorary junior deputies at fairs and school assemblies, safety patrol programs — running strong since the 1920s — pinned badges on generations of schoolchildren, and a visit from an officer with badges to hand out was a fixture of American civic childhood. Sheriffs gave tin badges just like this one out as prizes in their youth programs, too. A Sauk County Sheriff's Department badge belonged to that world. When a child pinned one on, the game borrowed its seriousness from programs that were entirely real — and that is part of the history a survivor like this one still carries.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"relatedBlock\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🔎 More From The Vintage \u0026amp; Antique Gifts Archive\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-mississippi-highway-patrol-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1970s Mississippi Highway Patrol Tin Litho Toy Police Badge 🚔 NOS on Special Police Card Made in Japan\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-laurens-county-sheriffs-dept-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1970s Tin Litho Special Police Toy Badge 🌟 Laurens County Sheriff's Dept — Japan, Original Card\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-plorham-park-florham-park-nj-police-tin-litho-toy-badge\"\u003eVintage 1970s Plorham Park NJ Police 🚔 Tin Litho Special Police Toy Badge Pin Error Misprint New Old Stock Made in Japan\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1980s-90s-new-kids-on-the-block-fan-pack-pinback-button-1989-sticker-sheet-green-button-up-earrings-nkotb\"\u003eVintage 1980s-90s New Kids on the Block Fan Pack 🎤 Pinback Button, 1989 Sticker Sheet, Green Button-Up Earrings, NKOTB\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1990-teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-movie-pin-set-12-button-up-pinback-buttons-shredder-splinter-and-the-thumbs-up\"\u003eVintage 1990 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Movie Pin Set 🐢 12 Button-Up Pinback Buttons, Shredder, Splinter \u0026amp; the Thumbs Up\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":40769735458981,"sku":"VAG-7034823704741","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.3286191558_6rh8.jpg?v=1785353920"},{"product_id":"vintage-lee-county-georgia-sheriffs-dept-tin-litho-toy-badge","title":"Vintage 1970s Lee County Georgia Sheriff Tin Litho Special Police Toy Badge Pin 🚔 New Old Stock on Card","description":"\u003ch2\u003eWho Was Sheriff of Lee County, Georgia? ⭐ A Round Star for Lee County, Georgia\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 4\" x 2 1\/4\" ~ New Old Stock, still on its card.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"max-width:315px;margin:0 auto 20px;\"\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:177.78%;height:0;overflow:hidden;\"\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/WKFhlzPCyuo\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer;autoplay;clipboard-write;encrypted-media;gyroscope;picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis is a 1970s tin litho pinback, black ground, about an inch and a half across, with a big yellow five-point star printed across the face. A red ring reads \u003cstrong\u003eSHERIFF'S DEPT.\u003c\/strong\u003e across the top and \u003cstrong\u003eCOUNTY\u003c\/strong\u003e along the bottom. Down across the star's lower point, in red script, it reads \u003cstrong\u003eLee\u003c\/strong\u003e, with \u003cstrong\u003eGEORGIA\u003c\/strong\u003e set in solid caps just above. It's a toy badge, sized for a kid's shirt pocket, not a working part of anybody's uniform. They seldom turn up for sale, carded or loose.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe card underneath is doing its own job. A red banner across the top reads \u003cem\u003eSPECIAL POLICE BADGE\u003c\/em\u003e, and beside it a cartoon motorcycle cop in a white cap and big goggles leans over his handlebars with a city skyline behind him. JAPAN is printed small in the corner. Japan was the dime store's toy factory for a generation after the war, turning out tin toys and badges by the millions for American racks, until a stronger yen in the 1970s sent much of that work on to Hong Kong and Taiwan. The story collectors and sellers love to tell is that this whole business of Japanese tin badges goes back to General Douglas MacArthur and his push to get Japan's factories humming again after the war. There's real history under that one: Japan's toymakers got permission to start making and exporting toys again, and the occupation government MacArthur headed even helped line up subsidized American steel for tinplate toys. The Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York keeps a little Japanese tin sheriff's badge from about 1950 as an example of those early export toys. Badge and card come sealed together in a poly sleeve, the way they hung on the rack.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🏛️ The Little Seal at the Center\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLook close at the middle of the star and there's a tiny round medallion: an arch on columns with a figure standing inside it. It's a miniature of the \u003cstrong\u003eGeorgia state seal\u003c\/strong\u003e, an arch held up by three pillars for Wisdom, Justice and Moderation, with a soldier standing guard underneath. Whoever drew this button's art was quoting the state's own seal, shrunk down to fit inside the star.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e📜 Lee County's Own Story\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLee County is real, and it's old. Georgia's legislature created it by acts of June 9, 1825 and December 11, 1826, and named it for a Lee, though which one is a fair question. Some say \u003cstrong\u003eRichard Henry Lee\u003c\/strong\u003e, the Virginia congressman who in 1776 moved that the colonies \"declare themselves free and independent.\" Others say it was \u003cstrong\u003eHenry \"Light-Horse Harry\" Lee III\u003c\/strong\u003e, the Revolutionary cavalry commander and the father of Robert E. Lee. The county's own historical marker tells it both ways, so I will too. The first officers were commissioned May 14, 1827, \u003cstrong\u003eNathan Powell\u003c\/strong\u003e among them as sheriff, the very office named on this button. The county was bigger in its early days too: its original ground later became Randolph, Stewart, Quitman, Sumter, Terrell and Webster counties, plus pieces of Marion and Clay. The county seat today is Leesburg, just up the road from Albany, and the sheriff is still elected by the county's voters every four years, as Georgia sheriffs have been since the state's early days.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🗓️ When These Were Made\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNothing on the card gives a year, but the rest of the family does. The same card design carries a New York button copying the NYPD patch adopted July 1, 1971, and a San Francisco button copying the SFPD patch added around 1970. That puts this whole line of cards on the dime-store racks in the 1970s, Lee County right along with them, and two more things agree: a Tennessee sheriff's button on the same card is printed 1776-1976 for the Bicentennial, and loose buttons from the series have a cream plastic back moulded MADE IN JAPAN and PAT. NO. 1196679, a Japanese utility-model registration filed in November 1972 and granted in 1977.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🚔 Badges Kids Really Got\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDime-store tin badges weren't just toys sitting on a rack. Real sheriff's departments ran junior deputy and youth programs, swearing kids in at fairs and school visits and handing out belts and badges of their own. Sheriffs gave tin badges just like this one out as prizes in their youth programs, too. A kid who got handed a little star like this one walked away standing a bit taller, and that's the other half of what a card like this carries.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"relatedBlock\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🔎 More From The Vintage \u0026amp; Antique Gifts Archive\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-laurens-county-sheriffs-dept-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1970s Tin Litho Special Police Toy Badge 🌟 Laurens County Sheriff's Dept — Japan, Original Card\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-herb-cooper-special-security-patrol-tin-litho-toy-badge\"\u003eVintage 1970s Tin Litho Special Police Toy Badge 🚔 Herb Cooper Special Security Patrol Pin — Made in Japan\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-commonwealth-of-massachusetts-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1970s Special Police Toy Badge 🚔 Commonwealth of Massachusetts Tin Litho New Old Stock on Original Card\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1990-teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-movie-pin-set-12-button-up-pinback-buttons-shredder-splinter-and-the-thumbs-up\"\u003eVintage 1990 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Movie Pin Set 🐢 12 Button-Up Pinback Buttons, Shredder, Splinter \u0026amp; the Thumbs Up\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1990-teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-cartoon-pin-set-11-pinback-buttons-leatherhead-shredder-splinter-and-the-logo\"\u003eVintage 1990 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Cartoon Pin Set 🐢 11 Pinback Buttons, Leatherhead, Shredder, Splinter \u0026amp; the Logo\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":40769736147109,"sku":"VAG-7034823770277","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.3333826789_1g92.jpg?v=1785353930"},{"product_id":"vintage-department-of-defense-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan","title":"Vintage 1970s Tin Litho Special Police Toy Badge 🚔 Department of Defense DOD Eagle Seal Pinback Made in Japan","description":"\u003ch2\u003eWhose Seal Is on This Special Police Toy Badge? 🚔 Special Police, Borrowed Seal and All\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 4\" x 2 1\/4\" ~ New Old Stock, still on its card.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"max-width:315px;margin:0 auto 20px;\"\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:177.78%;height:0;overflow:hidden;\"\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/5ysxBp9gXpw\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer;autoplay;clipboard-write;encrypted-media;gyroscope;picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis is a little 1970s tin litho pinback still riding on its original yellow card and sealed in its sleeve, under a red banner that reads SPECIAL POLICE BADGE. The card art is a cartoon motorcycle officer: white peaked cap, big goggles over his eyes, a gloved hand on the handlebars, a city skyline drawn in behind him. The button pinned beside him has a red rim around a black shield face. POLICE runs big across the top, DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE arcs above the seal in the middle, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA arcs below it. JAPAN is printed small in the corner of the card, which is where these were tin lithographed before they crossed the ocean to sit on an American dime-store rack. And they're rare - carded or loose, a Department of Defense one just doesn't come up for sale.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🦅 The Seal It Borrowed\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat center image is the Department of Defense seal, redrawn small for a toy: an eagle with its wings spread, a striped shield on its chest, a leafy wreath underneath, and an arc of stars throwing rays above its head. The real seal carries thirteen stars, a shield of thirteen stripes, three crossed arrows in the eagle's talons and a wreath of laurel and olive. Count the stars on this little button and you'll get fourteen, seven either side of a center ray - one more than Uncle Sam's, and I love it for that. The seal itself was authorized on August 22, 1949, by Defense Secretary Louis Johnson. The name on it was brand new then: on August 10, 1949, President Truman signed the amendments to the National Security Act that turned the old National Military Establishment into the Department of Defense, with Johnson leaning on the desk as he signed. Whoever made this toy took that seal and printed POLICE across the top of it. The Pentagon itself didn't get a police force of its own until 1987, when the Defense Protective Service was stood up - it became the U.S. Pentagon Police in 2002 - so this little badge was wearing POLICE over that seal a good decade before the Pentagon had police of its own. I like that about it. So who was minding the building back when cards like this were hanging on the dime-store racks? The General Services Administration, not the Defense Department. Up to 1971 it was GSA's United States Special Police, mostly a guard-and-watchman crew looking after the property - which makes the SPECIAL POLICE banner on this card a funny little coincidence. Then the mass demonstrations, bombings and bomb threats of those years brought in GSA's Federal Protective Service, and guarding the Pentagon stayed in GSA's hands right up to that 1987 handover.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🗓️ When These Were Made\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNothing on the card spells out a year, but the family it belongs to does the telling. The same card design shows up carrying a New York button copying the NYPD patch adopted in July 1971, and a San Francisco button copying the patch the SFPD added around 1970. Put those side by side with a Tennessee sheriff's button on the same card printed 1776-1976 for the Bicentennial, and with the cream plastic backs on loose buttons from the series, moulded PAT. NO. 1196679 (a Japanese utility-model registration filed in November 1972 and granted in 1977), and this whole run of cards was on the racks in the 1970s. The button itself runs about an inch and a half across; the card is 4 by 2.25 inches. There's no maker or importer printed anywhere on it, just JAPAN in small letters in the corner — that's all it ever gave up about where it came from.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🚔 The Real Junior Programs Behind Badges Like This\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDime-store tin badges did not live in a vacuum. Across America in those years, real law enforcement agencies ran junior deputy and junior police programs: sheriffs swore in wide-eyed honorary junior deputies at county fairs and school assemblies, police departments sponsored school safety patrols — a movement that began in the 1920s and put belts and badges on millions of schoolchildren — and an officer handing a kid a badge at a parade or classroom visit was a familiar piece of civic life. Sheriffs gave tin badges just like this one out as prizes in their youth programs, too. A Department of Defense Special Police badge in a child's hand belonged to that same world, the era when a badge from a trusted grown-up could make a kid stand a little straighter. That is the history a carded survivor like this carries beyond its tin and ink.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"relatedBlock\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🔎 More From The Vintage \u0026amp; Antique Gifts Archive\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-suffolk-county-new-york-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1970s Special Police Toy Badge 🚔 Suffolk County NY Tin Litho Pin-Back Button NOS on Display Card Made in Japan\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-woodbury-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1970s Woodbury Special Police Toy Badge 🚔 Tin Litho on Original Card, NOS Japan Collectible\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1970s-san-francisco-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1970s San Francisco Special Police Toy Badge 🚔 Tin Litho Button Pin New Old Stock Japan Original Card Collectible\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1980s-90s-new-kids-on-the-block-fan-pack-pinback-button-1989-sticker-sheet-green-button-up-earrings-nkotb\"\u003eVintage 1980s-90s New Kids on the Block Fan Pack 🎤 Pinback Button, 1989 Sticker Sheet, Green Button-Up Earrings, NKOTB\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1990-teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-movie-pin-set-12-button-up-pinback-buttons-shredder-splinter-and-the-thumbs-up\"\u003eVintage 1990 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Movie Pin Set 🐢 12 Button-Up Pinback Buttons, Shredder, Splinter \u0026amp; the Thumbs Up\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":40769736573093,"sku":"VAG-7034823835813","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.3333763041_9z8z.jpg?v=1785353938"},{"product_id":"vintage-abilene-texas-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan","title":"Vintage 1970s Abilene Police Special Police Toy Badge 🦅 Tin Litho Pin-Back Button NOS Japan Card","description":"\u003ch2\u003eRemember Abilene Police Toy Badges? 🦅 An Eagle Standing Guard for Abilene\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 4\" x 2 1\/4\" ~ New Old Stock, still on its card.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"max-width:315px;margin:0 auto 20px;\"\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:177.78%;height:0;overflow:hidden;\"\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/KSbAS6FzAw8\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer;autoplay;clipboard-write;encrypted-media;gyroscope;picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eHere's a little 1970s tin litho pinback that means business. Black field, a red ring border, about an inch and a half across, and right in the middle a gold-and-red eagle with its wings thrown wide, standing over an open book with a sword and a quill laid across the pages. ABILENE arcs across the top in red, POLICE sits along the bottom. It's still pinned to its yellow card and sealed in its original sleeve, exactly the way it hung on the rack. It's a toy, made for a kid's shirt pocket, and it doesn't apologize for it. They seldom turn up for sale, carded or loose.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe card carries the rest of the show. A cartoon motorcycle officer fills the left side: white peaked cap, big motorcycle goggles, gloved hands wrapped around the handlebars, a city skyline behind him, all under a red banner reading SPECIAL POLICE BADGE. Down in the corner, small and plain, it says JAPAN. That's where these were pressed and printed, tin lithographed for the American dime-store trade. Japan's tin toys had been getting to American kids that way since the years after the war, off the five-and-dime counters at Woolworth's, W.T. Grant, Ben Franklin, J.J. Newberry, G.C. Murphy and McCrory's.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat one little word has a story of its own. During the Allied Occupation, goods coming out of Japan could be marked \"Occupied Japan\" or \"Made in Occupied Japan,\" and U.S. Customs let plain \"Japan\" and \"Made in Japan\" through as well. The Occupation ended when the peace treaty took effect in April 1952, the \"Occupied\" went away for good, and plain JAPAN is what those factories kept right on printing, just like it is on this card.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🤠 Abilene, Texas\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe eagle-over-a-book design on this button matches the shoulder patch Abilene, Texas police officers actually wore, so that's the town this little badge is pointing at. Abilene got its start in 1881, when cattlemen laid it out as a stock-shipping point on the Texas and Pacific Railway and incorporated it that same year, borrowing the name from Abilene, Kansas, the old end of the Chisholm Trail. That Kansas namesake has a lawman story that suits a police badge: Wild Bill Hickok was hired as its town marshal in April 1871, its last big year as a cattle town. On October 5 of that year he shot it out in the street with a saloon owner named Phil Coe, and when another armed man came running up in the middle of it, Hickok couldn't tell who it was and fired on him too. It was his own deputy and friend, Mike Williams, coming to help him. Williams died that night, Coe a few days later, and Hickok was out of the job that December. As it happens, the Kansas Abilene is also where Dwight Eisenhower grew up - and Ike was a Texan by birth, born in Denison in 1890 before his family moved up to Abilene in 1892. His presidential library and museum is there today, and so is his grave. Back in Texas, the new Abilene picked up two nicknames along the way, \"The Key City\" and \"The Friendly Frontier,\" and it grew into a real West Texas hub - Dyess Air Force Base went up with the town's own fundraising behind it and is still the biggest employer around, and Abilene is a three-college town: Hardin-Simmons (1891), Abilene Christian (1906), and McMurry (1923). There's even a book on the department itself, \u003cem\u003eGunfire on South Front: History of the Abilene Police Department, 1881-1993\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e⚖️ What the Eagle Carries\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLook close and this design is doing more than filling space. The eagle isn't perched on a shield - it's standing on an open book, with a sword and a quill crossed over the pages. Authority next to the written law, enforcement and record side by side. It's one of the sharper designs in this card family, and whoever drew it knew what they were doing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🗓️ When These Were Made\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere's no date printed on the card, but the family it belongs to gives it away. The same yellow card carries a New York City button copying the NYPD patch adopted July 1, 1971, and a San Francisco button copying the patch the SFPD added around 1970 - so these were hanging on the racks in the 1970s. Two more things agree: a Tennessee sheriff's button on the same card is printed 1776-1976 for the Bicentennial, and loose buttons from the series have a cream plastic back moulded MADE IN JAPAN and PAT. NO. 1196679, a Japanese utility-model registration filed in November 1972 and granted in 1977.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🚔 Badges and Kids\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBadges like this one had a real life outside the toy aisle, too. Sheriffs handed out tin badges just like this as prizes in their own youth programs, and police departments have backed school safety patrols since the 1920s, putting real belts and badges on schoolchildren all over the country. A kid pinning this one to his shirt was playing at something departments really did put in kids' hands. That's a good bit of history for a five-and-dime toy to carry along.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"relatedBlock\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🔎 More From The Vintage \u0026amp; Antique Gifts Archive\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-indianapolis-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1970s Indianapolis Police Special Toy Badge Pin 🚔 Tin Litho on Card Japan Dime Store NOS\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-woodbury-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1970s Woodbury Special Police Toy Badge 🚔 Tin Litho on Original Card, NOS Japan Collectible\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-suffolk-county-new-york-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1970s Special Police Toy Badge 🚔 Suffolk County NY Tin Litho Pin-Back Button NOS on Display Card Made in Japan\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1990-teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-movie-pin-set-12-button-up-pinback-buttons-shredder-splinter-and-the-thumbs-up\"\u003eVintage 1990 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Movie Pin Set 🐢 12 Button-Up Pinback Buttons, Shredder, Splinter \u0026amp; the Thumbs Up\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1980s-90s-new-kids-on-the-block-fan-pack-pinback-button-1989-sticker-sheet-green-button-up-earrings-nkotb\"\u003eVintage 1980s-90s New Kids on the Block Fan Pack 🎤 Pinback Button, 1989 Sticker Sheet, Green Button-Up Earrings, NKOTB\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":40769736966309,"sku":"VAG-7034824032421","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.3332059741_psm4.jpg?v=1785353948"},{"product_id":"vintage-halifax-county-north-carolina-sheriffs-tin-litho-toy-badge","title":"Vintage 1970s Sheriff's Halifax County Special Police Badge Pin 🚔 Japan Tin Litho Star Button Novelty Toy Badge","description":"\u003ch2\u003eWho Was Sheriff of Halifax County? ⭐ A Star for a County, Not a City\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 4\" x 2 1\/4\" ~ New Old Stock, still on its card.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"max-width:315px;margin:0 auto 20px;\"\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:177.78%;height:0;overflow:hidden;\"\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/sHk2ra2M4Kk\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer;autoplay;clipboard-write;encrypted-media;gyroscope;picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis one skips the big city and goes straight for the county. The button is a round 1970s tin litho pin, red rim, green field, with a bold five-point star in orange and gold right in the middle - a small ball at the tip of every point and a braided rope pattern running down each arm. SHERIFF'S arcs across the top of the star, DEPARTMENT across the bottom, and the inner ring reads HALIFAX above COUNTY below. Dead center, inside a thin red ring, sits a tiny seal with two figures - and that seal is the whole story, because it's a miniature of the North Carolina state seal, \u003cem\u003eLiberty and Plenty\u003c\/em\u003e, the same pair that stand on the real state seal today. There's no \"NC\" printed anywhere on this star, but that little seal settles it: this is Halifax County, North Carolina. They seldom turn up for sale, carded or loose.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e(There's a Halifax County in Virginia too, formed out of Lunenburg County in 1752 and named for the same Earl, but the seal on this button points only one direction.)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt's still riding its original card, sealed in the sleeve. A red banner across the top reads SPECIAL POLICE BADGE, and below it a cartoon motorcycle officer in a white cap, big goggles and an olive glove on the handlebar grip leans forward with a hazy little city skyline behind him - funny pairing for a county badge, but that's dime-store art for you. JAPAN is printed small in the corner. It's a kid's toy through and through, never claiming to be anything more.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat motor officer on the card has real history behind him. The way Harley-Davidson tells the story, its first police motorcycle went to the Detroit Police Department in 1908. In 1911 Chief August Vollmer organized an official motorcycle patrol in Berkeley, California. So by the time this card hung on the racks in the 1970s, motor cops had been riding American streets for more than half a century.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🏛️ The County That Voted First\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHalifax County, North Carolina was carved out of Edgecombe County in 1758, named for George Montagu-Dunk, the 2nd Earl of Halifax. The Earl was a big name in colonial America. From 1748 to 1761 he was president of Britain's Board of Trade, the body that ran the American colonies' affairs. In 1749 he backed the British settlement that founded Halifax, Nova Scotia, and that new town took his title. It's still the province's capital today. The split took effect on January 1, 1759, when everything in Edgecombe north of Fishing Creek and the Rainbow Banks on the Roanoke River became Halifax County, so the name on this little star was already on the map seventeen years before independence was even on the table. Its county seat, the town of Halifax, sat on the Roanoke River and grew into a real trading hub before the railroads came through and moved the traffic elsewhere. The county likes to say it has sent North Carolina more governors, congressmen and generals than any other county in the state, and it's proud of one date above all: April 12, 1776, when the Fourth Provincial Congress met at Halifax and authorized North Carolina's delegates to vote for independence - the first official move toward independence by any of the thirteen colonies. North Carolina still marks it as Halifax Day, and the date rides right on the state flag.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🗓️ When These Were Made\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNothing on the card gives a year, but the rest of the family does. The same card design turns up with a New York City button copying the NYPD patch adopted July 1, 1971, and a San Francisco button copying the SFPD patch added around 1970. That puts this whole card run, Halifax County included, in the 1970s. Two more things agree: a Tennessee sheriff's button on the same card is printed 1776-1976 for the Bicentennial, and loose buttons from the series have a cream plastic back moulded MADE IN JAPAN and PAT. NO. 1196679, a Japanese utility-model registration filed in November 1972 and granted in 1977.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBy then Japan's tin toy makers had been filling American toy counters since the years after the Second World War. Most of their tin wind-ups and battery toys were sold through five-and-dime chains like F.W. Woolworth, Grants and Ben Franklin. A carded tin badge like this one is a small piece of that same dime-store trade.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🚔 The Real Junior Programs Behind Badges Like This\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDime-store tin badges did not live in a vacuum. Across America in those years, real law enforcement agencies ran junior deputy and junior police programs: sheriffs swore in wide-eyed honorary junior deputies at county fairs and school assemblies, police departments sponsored school safety patrols — a movement that began in the 1920s and put belts and badges on millions of schoolchildren — and an officer handing a kid a badge at a parade or classroom visit was a familiar piece of civic life. The American Automobile Association dates its AAA School Safety Patrol program to 1920. AAA clubs handed out the patrol badges and the diagonal Sam Browne belts that the older kids wore while they helped the younger ones cross the street, and generations of patrollers wore that badge with pride. Sheriffs gave tin badges just like this one out as prizes in their youth programs, too. A Special Police badge like this one in a child's hand belonged to that same world, the era when a badge from a trusted grown-up could make a kid stand a little straighter. That's the history a carded survivor like this one carries beyond its tin and ink.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"relatedBlock\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🔎 More From The Vintage \u0026amp; Antique Gifts Archive\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-plorham-park-florham-park-nj-police-tin-litho-toy-badge\"\u003eVintage 1970s Plorham Park NJ Police 🚔 Tin Litho Special Police Toy Badge Pin Error Misprint New Old Stock Made in Japan\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-herb-cooper-special-security-patrol-tin-litho-toy-badge\"\u003eVintage 1970s Tin Litho Special Police Toy Badge 🚔 Herb Cooper Special Security Patrol Pin — Made in Japan\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1970s-san-francisco-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1970s San Francisco Special Police Toy Badge 🚔 Tin Litho Button Pin New Old Stock Japan Original Card Collectible\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1990-teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-movie-pin-set-12-button-up-pinback-buttons-shredder-splinter-and-the-thumbs-up\"\u003eVintage 1990 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Movie Pin Set 🐢 12 Button-Up Pinback Buttons, Shredder, Splinter \u0026amp; the Thumbs Up\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1980s-90s-new-kids-on-the-block-fan-pack-pinback-button-1989-sticker-sheet-green-button-up-earrings-nkotb\"\u003eVintage 1980s-90s New Kids on the Block Fan Pack 🎤 Pinback Button, 1989 Sticker Sheet, Green Button-Up Earrings, NKOTB\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":40769738506405,"sku":"VAG-7034824392869","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.3284104622_lt7g.jpg?v=1785353957"},{"product_id":"vintage-alamo-texas-deputy-sheriff-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan","title":"Vintage Tin Litho Deputy Sheriff Badge 🌟 Special Police Toy Pin Alamo Texas Made in Japan 1970s","description":"\u003ch2\u003eRemember Deputy Sheriff Toy Badges? 🚨 A Special Police Badge, Still on the Card\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 4\" x 2 1\/4\" ~ New Old Stock, still on its card.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"max-width:315px;margin:0 auto 20px;\"\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:177.78%;height:0;overflow:hidden;\"\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/d_k03Yms0Tk\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer;autoplay;clipboard-write;encrypted-media;gyroscope;picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt's a little tin litho pin still riding its yellow card, sealed in its sleeve, the way it hung on a dime-store rack. The card's red banner reads SPECIAL POLICE BADGE in white letters, and under it a cartoon motorcycle cop leans into his handlebars: white cap, big goggles, one gloved hand on the grip, a city skyline sketched in behind him. Down in the corner, small, it says JAPAN. That's where these were printed in tin for the American dime-store trade. After the war, Japan's tin wind-up and battery toys reached American kids through five-and-dimes like Woolworth's, Ben Franklin and McCrory's, and this little carded badge was made for the same kind of dime-store counter. Pinned to the card is a red-and-blue deputy sheriff star for Alamo, Texas. It's a toy, made for a kid's shirt pocket, and a good one. They seldom turn up for sale, carded or loose.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🌵 Alamo, Texas\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAlamo is a real town, down in Hidalgo County in the Rio Grande Valley, a few miles southeast of McAllen. Around 1902 to 1909, Peter Ebenezer Blalock and George T. Hawkins put the land together and laid out a townsite with shipping pens, naming the depot \"Ebenezer.\" In 1909 the Alamo Land and Sugar Company bought the site and moved it to higher ground, and the Alamo Townsite Company, run by C. H. Swallow and Rentfro Creager, promoted it from there. It went through the names Forum and Swallow before it settled on Alamo, and the story goes it was named, in the end, for the old mission up in San Antonio - the Alamo, the one that gives this little badge's star its punch, where Jim Bowie, Davy Crockett and the rest of the Texian defenders held out for thirteen days in 1836 against Santa Anna's far bigger Mexican army. Alamo incorporated in 1924, had about 200 people the next year, passed 3,000 by 1950, and was pushing 15,000 by 2000. For much of that stretch it was a shipping point for citrus and vegetables out of the Valley.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA sheriff is a county job, so a real deputy sheriff working out of Alamo would have carried a Hidalgo County badge, not a city one. This little star is doing what dime-store badges did best, borrowing a Texas name a kid already knew, long before he ever asked which county it sat in. That name got into American kids' heads in a big way in the '50s. Disney's first three Davy Crockett episodes ran from December 1954 to February 1955, the third one \"Davy Crockett at the Alamo,\" and they set off a Crockett fad among boys all over the country. Coonskin caps sold 5,000 a day at the peak, and by the end of 1955 Americans had bought more than $300 million worth of Crockett merchandise. A tin sheriff's star comes out of that same cowboy-toy world. With Hopalong Cassidy, the Lone Ranger and Roy Rogers all over TV and the movies, Western toys made up nearly a quarter of all toy sales in the 1950s. The Cisco Kid and his sidekick Pancho were popular with kids too, riding through 156 half-hour TV episodes from 1950 to 1956, and Gunsmoke kept the Old West on CBS from 1955 all the way to 1975.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e⭐ The Star on the Badge\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe badge is a black six-point star on a red field with a blue rim, its points ball-tipped and its whole outline traced in a fine chain-link border. A gold ribbon crosses the top reading DEPUTY, with SHERIFF banked underneath it. Right at the center sits a round seal, STATE OF TEXAS in white letters on blue, with a single star set inside an olive-and-live-oak wreath. Two more gold ribbons carry the bottom points: ALAMO over TEX.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🗓️ When These Were Made\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNothing on the card gives a year, but the rest of the family does. The same yellow card comes with a New York badge copying the NYPD patch adopted in July 1971 and a San Francisco badge copying the patch the SFPD added around 1970, so this whole run was on the racks in the 1970s. There's no maker or importer printed anywhere on it, just JAPAN.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e⭐ When Kids Really Did Get Badges from the Law\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe mid-century American childhood this badge comes from was full of real badges given by real officers. Junior deputy programs let sheriffs swear in schoolkids as honorary deputies; school safety patrol programs, organized since the 1920s, put badges and belts on millions of children; police departments handed out badges at parades, fairs, and classroom visits as a matter of civic routine. An Alamo, Texas deputy sheriff star was the dime-store cousin of all that, the badge a kid could buy with pocket change. Sheriffs gave tin badges just like these out as prizes in their youth programs, too. That documented world of junior programs is the backdrop this little survivor belongs to.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"relatedBlock\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🔎 More From The Vintage \u0026amp; Antique Gifts Archive\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-plorham-park-florham-park-nj-police-tin-litho-toy-badge\"\u003eVintage 1970s Plorham Park NJ Police 🚔 Tin Litho Special Police Toy Badge Pin Error Misprint New Old Stock Made in Japan\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-wyoming-highway-patrol-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1970s Wyoming Highway Patrol 🦬 Special Police Tin Litho Toy Badge New Old Stock Original Card Made in Japan\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1970s-san-francisco-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1970s San Francisco Special Police Toy Badge 🚔 Tin Litho Button Pin New Old Stock Japan Original Card Collectible\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1990-teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-movie-pin-set-12-button-up-pinback-buttons-shredder-splinter-and-the-thumbs-up\"\u003eVintage 1990 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Movie Pin Set 🐢 12 Button-Up Pinback Buttons, Shredder, Splinter \u0026amp; the Thumbs Up\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1990-teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-cartoon-pin-set-11-pinback-buttons-leatherhead-shredder-splinter-and-the-logo\"\u003eVintage 1990 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Cartoon Pin Set 🐢 11 Pinback Buttons, Leatherhead, Shredder, Splinter \u0026amp; the Logo\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":40769738965157,"sku":"VAG-7034824523941","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.3284024112_flyv.jpg?v=1785353966"},{"product_id":"vintage-combo-1960s-1970s-raleigh-b-w-tobacco-coupons-brown-williamson","title":"Vintage 60s 70s Raleigh Tobacco Coupons 🚬 Brown and Williamson Collectible Ephemera Premium Plan B and W Set","description":"\u003ch2\u003eRemember Raleigh Cigarette Coupons? The King of Coupons 🎴 Raleigh, Brown \u0026amp; Williamson and the Paper Americans Tore Off Their Cigarette Packs\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 2 1\/4\" x 1 3\/4\" ~ larger 2 3\/4\" x 1 3\/4\" ~ Might have some minor edge wear and paper stuck to the back, see pictures and video, as these were ripped off of cigarettes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"max-width:315px;margin:0 auto 20px;\"\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:177.78%;height:0;overflow:hidden;\"\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/iisBS42u2lw\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer;autoplay;clipboard-write;encrypted-media;gyroscope;picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eRaleigh was remembered as the king of coupons. In September 1932, in the worst stretch of the Great Depression, Brown \u0026amp; Williamson began printing a coupon on every pack of Raleigh cigarettes, and for the next several decades smokers tore them off, saved them up, and mailed them to Louisville, Kentucky for merchandise out of a free catalog. This set holds three pieces of that habit, four coupons in all: a B\u0026amp;W coupon, a Raleigh coupon with Sir Walter Raleigh's face printed behind the words, and an uncut pair of B\u0026amp;W coupons still joined at the perforation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eLook at the backs and you can see how they were collected: the paper stuck to them is the pack itself, still clinging to the coupon it once held.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003chr\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🔍 What Is Printed on Each Piece\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eThe B\u0026amp;W coupon, Series 23\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAcross the top: \u003cem\u003eONE\u003c\/em\u003e, a large orange \u003cem\u003e1\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eONE\u003c\/em\u003e, then \u003cstrong\u003eB\u0026amp;W COUPON\u003c\/strong\u003e. The text reads: \"Redeem B\u0026amp;W Coupons for valuable gifts through the Brown \u0026amp; Williamson Premium Plan. You get famous B\u0026amp;W coupons on every package of RALEIGH and BELAIR cigarettes—plus four extra coupons in every carton. Send for new free catalog. BROWN \u0026amp; WILLIAMSON TOBACCO CORP. BOX 903 LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY 40201.\" The back carries the redemption terms over the company's orange leaf emblem, lettered THE MARK OF QUALITY IN TOBACCO PRODUCTS, and gives a cash value of 1\/4 of 1 cent.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eThe Raleigh coupon, Series 17\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis one says \u003cstrong\u003eRALEIGH COUPON\u003c\/strong\u003e in heavy brown capitals, and behind the text, printed in pale orange, is the bearded portrait of Sir Walter Raleigh in his plumed hat. Its wording is slightly different: coupons came \"on every package of RALEIGH and light menthol BELAIR cigarettes.\" The back refers to \"the terms of the RALEIGH gift catalog,\" adds that \"In the unlikely event this Premium Plan is terminated, this coupon will expire five years after such termination,\" and states a cash value of 3\/4 of 1 cent.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eThe uncut Series HH pair\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTwo B\u0026amp;W coupons in a later, tighter layout, still joined along a dashed perforation. Each adds a line the singles do not have: \"OR CALL TOLL FREE 1-800-626-5510 EXCLUDING ALASKA AND HAWAII (KY. RESIDENTS CALL 1-800-752-6010).\" The backs speak of the \"B\u0026amp;W Gift Catalog,\" warn that \"B\u0026amp;W will not redeem coupon if it has reason to believe it has been procured without owner's consent,\" and again give the cash value as 3\/4 of 1 cent.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003chr\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e📮 Dating Them From Their Own Small Type\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe coupons date themselves better than any style guess could. All three pieces print the Louisville ZIP code 40201, and ZIP codes did not exist until the Post Office introduced them on July 1, 1963. So none of these was printed earlier than that.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe Series HH pair goes a step further. AT\u0026amp;T's automated toll-free 800 service arrived for calls inside a state in 1966 and for calls across state lines in 1967. Under the rules of the day a business needed one number for out-of-state callers and a separate number for callers inside its own state, which is exactly why Kentucky residents were sent to a different 800 number than everyone else. The coupon itself notes that the number could not be dialed from Alaska or Hawaii. That pair comes from the toll-free years, after 1967.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBelair gives one more anchor. Brown \u0026amp; Williamson launched it in 1959 as a mild, filtered king-size menthol, and brought out Belair 100s in 1968. Taken together, the small type puts this set squarely in the 1960s and 1970s.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003chr\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🏭 The Company: From a Leased Building in Winston to a Louisville Giant\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBrown \u0026amp; Williamson began in Winston, North Carolina, the town that later became Winston-Salem. George T. Brown and his brother-in-law Robert Lynn Williamson began manufacturing in a leased facility in February 1894. In 1927 the two families sold the business to London-based British American Tobacco, which reorganized it, built a new factory in Louisville, and ran its American operation from that city for the rest of the century. That is the Louisville address printed on every coupon here: Box 903, Louisville, Kentucky.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFrom Louisville came Raleigh, Kool (1933), Viceroy (1936) and Belair (1959). Kool and Viceroy both carried coupons when they were introduced, so the premium habit was built into the company's brands from the start.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe company's later history is darker and far better known. Jeffrey Wigand, hired as vice president of research and development in 1989, was fired in 1993 and later told CBS's \u003cem\u003e60 Minutes\u003c\/em\u003e what he had learned inside the company; his story became the 1999 film \u003cem\u003eThe Insider\u003c\/em\u003e. On July 30, 2004, Brown \u0026amp; Williamson's U.S. operations merged with R.J. Reynolds to form Reynolds American, and Brown \u0026amp; Williamson ceased to exist as an independent company. The Louisville box number these coupons point to has no one left to answer it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003chr\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🎁 The Premium Plan: How a Coupon Worth Three-Quarters of a Cent Held a Customer\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe best early record of the plan is a 1951 U.S. Tax Court decision, \u003cem\u003eBrown \u0026amp; Williamson Tobacco Corp. v. Commissioner\u003c\/em\u003e, which laid the program out in plain numbers. Coupons started with Raleigh in September 1932. One coupon went on each pack, with bonus coupons packed into cartons to reward dealers and customers. The company gave each coupon a cash redemption value of 3\/4 of one cent, and the Raleigh coupon and the uncut pair in this set, printed thirty-odd years later, still carry that same 3\/4-cent figure. The B\u0026amp;W Series 23 single is the odd one out: turn it over and it says 1\/4 of 1 cent.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe Second World War reshaped the plan. From 1941 smokers could turn coupons into defense stamps, war savings stamps and bonds. Merchandise redemptions stopped around December 1, 1943, when goods were scarce, and from November 1944 coupons could be redeemed for cigarettes. The court also recorded that although coupons generally expired within 36 months, the company ignored those dates and redeemed every coupon presented until it finally enforced a cutoff of February 28, 1946.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAfter the war the catalog came back, and the pieces in this set show what it looked like by the 1960s and 1970s: one coupon on every pack, \"four extra coupons in every carton,\" a free catalog by mail, and eventually a toll-free number to call. Raleigh kept incentives on the pack into the 1990s. The saving never really stopped either; lots of five thousand and more saved B\u0026amp;W and Raleigh coupons still turn up, the leftovers of households that were working toward something in that catalog and never got there.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003chr\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e📻 Raleigh on the Radio: Red Skelton and \"I Dood It!\"\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBefore the coupons became the thing people remember, Raleigh bought a comedian. \u003cem\u003eThe Raleigh Cigarette Program\u003c\/em\u003e premiered on NBC on October 7, 1941, on Tuesday nights at 10:30, right after Bob Hope's \u003cem\u003ePepsodent Show\u003c\/em\u003e. Red Skelton headlined, with Ozzie Nelson leading the orchestra and Harriet Nelson singing and playing his comic foil. Skelton introduced Clem Kadiddlehopper, the country bumpkin, and Junior, \"the mean widdle kid,\" whose catchphrase \"I dood it!\" became so popular it titled Skelton's 1943 film. The show ended June 6, 1944, when Skelton was drafted, and returned under Raleigh's name after the war.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003chr\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🌫️ The Legend of Sir Walter Raleigh and the Bucket of Water\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe face printed behind the text of the Raleigh coupon belongs to the brand's namesake, the Elizabethan courtier and explorer long credited with making tobacco fashionable in England. He never went to Roanoke himself, but he sent out the Roanoke voyages of the 1580s, his two tries at founding the first permanent English settlement in North America, and when the first Roanoke colonists got back to England in July 1586 they brought tobacco with them. Old tradition says it was Ralph Lane, the colony's governor, who carried the first of it into England. Raleigh's name has been tied to tobacco ever since, and B\u0026amp;W came by it honestly: in 1925 the company bought the J. G. Flynt Tobacco Company, which had been selling Sir Walter Raleigh pipe tobacco around its region since 1884, took the brand national, and brought out Raleigh cigarettes in 1928. The best-loved story about him is a legend: a new servant, seeing clouds of smoke rising from behind his master's chair the first time Raleigh lit a pipe, assumed he was on fire, fetched a bucket of water, and soaked him. Victorian illustrators drew the scene again and again, and the tale has outlived any evidence for it. Brown \u0026amp; Williamson put that same Raleigh on the coupon that promised smokers a reward for every pack.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003chr\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🏙️ Louisville, Kentucky\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFor most of the twentieth century Brown \u0026amp; Williamson was a Louisville institution, and the city's name was printed millions of times over on its packs and coupons. The Premium Plan lived there too. By the time these were printed, saved coupons went to Box 903, Louisville; back in the war years the coupon sent you to Box 599 instead, and it was packed with Kool and Viceroy as well as Raleigh. The separate toll-free number for Kentucky residents on the Series HH pair is a small reminder that the plan's home state was treated differently from every other state on the telephone map.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eLouisville is where the cigarettes got made, too. When B\u0026amp;W's new factory at 16th and Hill Streets was nearly finished in September 1929, a small sign near the back of the building already read \"The Home of Raleigh Cigarettes.\" I love that. By the 1970s Louisville and Petersburg, Virginia were the company's two big cigarette plants, and both were full. In January 1977 B\u0026amp;W opened a new plant in Macon, Georgia, starting it up with a core crew of workers moved down from Louisville and Petersburg. The Louisville factory closed in 1982 and the building came down around 1986, though the head office stayed in Louisville until the 2004 merger.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003chr\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🖼️ Ways to Display Them\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003e🗂️ In a small shadow box beside a Raleigh or Belair pack of the same period, fronts and backs both visible.\u003c\/li\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003e📚 Sleeved in a collector's page, with the uncut pair kept whole to show the perforation.\u003c\/li\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003e🎁 As a gift for anyone whose parents or grandparents saved Raleigh coupons toward something in the catalog.\u003c\/li\u003e\n  \u003cli\u003e🏛️ As a teaching piece on dating paper by its own printing: ZIP code, toll-free numbers, brand names.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🎴 About these\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThey can't be redeemed anymore - the Premium Plan is long gone, and Brown \u0026amp; Williamson itself merged into Reynolds American on July 30, 2004 - so today they're tobacco advertising history, a little paper from the days when a pack of Raleighs came with a coupon for the gift catalog. The paper on the backs is from being torn straight off the packs. The supply is finite - nobody's printing Raleigh coupons again, and once these last sets are gone, they'll be very difficult to acquire.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"relatedBlock\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🔎 More From The Vintage \u0026amp; Antique Gifts Archive\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1960s-uncut-sheet-raleigh-b-w-tobacco-coupons-brown\"\u003eVintage Raleigh Tobacco 🚬 Uncut Sheet 8 B\u0026amp;W Coupons NOS Brown \u0026amp; Williamson Premium Plan 1960s\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/antique-1910s-1930s-very-mild-cigar-band-label-treasures-gifts-home\"\u003eAntique Very Mild Cigar Band Label Pair 🚬 Set of 2, Gold \u0026amp; Brown 1910s - 1930s New Old Stock Tobacco Collector Ephemera\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/antique-1870s-1910s-harveys-natleaf-tin-tobacco-tag-treasures-gifts\"\u003eAntique Harveys Nat Leaf Tobacco Tin Tag 🚬 1870s 1910s Figural Leaf Shape Prong Back Advertising Collectible Tobacciana\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/antique-1910s-two-homers-cigar-band-label-passenger-pigeons\"\u003eAntique 1910s Two Homers Cigar Band 🚬 Homing Pigeon Lithograph Tobacco Label Scalloped Cigar Ephemera\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/antique-1930s-emilia-garcia-cigar-box-label-east-prospect-pa\"\u003eAntique 1930s Emilia Garcia Cigar Box Label 🚬 Embossed Tobacco Ephemera 5 Cent Cigar New Old Stock NOS Collectible\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":40769751285925,"sku":"VAG-7034827112613","price":5.5,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.3278107980_tr95_a0759c91-2969-4de0-883b-3b00fc774862.jpg?v=1785354052"},{"product_id":"antique-1870s-1910s-harveys-natleaf-tin-tobacco-tag-treasures-gifts","title":"Antique Harveys Nat Leaf Tobacco Tin Tag 🚬 1870s 1910s Figural Leaf Shape Prong Back Advertising Collectible Tobacciana","description":"\u003ch2\u003eWho Was Harvey of Harvey's Nat. Leaf Tobacco? 🍂 Harvey's Nat. Leaf Tin Tobacco Tag, A Little Leaf with a Mustache\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1 1\/2\" x 1\/2\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"max-width:315px;margin:0 auto 20px;\"\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:177.78%;height:0;overflow:hidden;\"\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/DlNMJ6tOU1o\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer;autoplay;clipboard-write;encrypted-media;gyroscope;picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis little guy is shaped like a tobacco leaf, veins and all, with HARVEYS on one side, NAT. LEAF on the other, and a fellow with a big mustache and a necktie in a round portrait right in the middle. It's lithographed tin, orange-gold or yellow depending on the batch, with the original prongs on the back. You'll get one like the ones shown.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🔍 What It Was For\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTags like this were pushed through a plug of chewing tobacco and bent over on the back, so the storekeeper and the chewer both knew whose plug it was. \"Nat. Leaf\" is natural leaf - plain tobacco without the heavy sweetening a lot of plugs carried. Plenty of makers sold one: R.J. Reynolds, which had bought P. H. Hanes \u0026amp; Co. of Winston in 1900, bragged in 1902 that life-long chewers of natural leaf called Hanes' Natural Leaf \"without an equal.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTin tags ran from roughly the 1870s into the 1920s, when chewers were turning into cigarette smokers.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHow the whole thing got started is on record in the federal courts. In 1874 Charles Seidler, one of the partners at P. Lorillard \u0026amp; Co. - the New York tobacco house that went back to 1760 - came up with pressing a metal tag right into the face of a plug, and he had a patent on it by January 1875. Lorillard said it needed the tags because dealers were emptying its boxes and refilling them with somebody else's tobacco, and it colored the tags by brand so a man could walk in and ask for \"red tin tag\" or \"blue tin tag.\" Folks took to calling the whole line \"Tin Tag Tobacco,\" and Lorillard went to court to keep everybody else's tin off the plugs. It lost. In 1879 a federal judge in Pennsylvania threw out the heart of the patent, saying that putting prongs on the underside of a flat disk - the same little prongs on the back of this tag - wasn't an invention, and in 1886 a judge in Illinois ruled that nobody could own a piece of tin as a trademark, whatever its shape or color. Liggett \u0026amp; Myers of St. Louis was already tagging its plugs with tin stars, and from then on every maker was free to cut its own shape. Collectors have listed more than 12,000 different tags since.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🤔 Who Was Harvey?\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe tag doesn't print a maker or a town, but the old newspapers do. A 1910 ad in The Jeffersonian, a Georgia paper, spelled it out: \"Be a gentleman and chew good tobacco.\" Rich and Ripe was \"for professional men,\" HARVEYS NATURAL LEAF was \"for nervous people,\" and the whole lineup was \"made by The Whitaker-Harvey Co., Winston-Salem, N.C.\" The Whitaker-Harvey name was still on tobacco ads in a Mississippi paper in 1912.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Whitaker was William Asbury Whitaker, born in Yadkin County, North Carolina, in 1843. He came out of the Civil War a Confederate major, sold tobacco down in Georgia in the early 1870s for the Yadkin County manufacturer Joseph A. Bitting, then came to Winston as Bitting's partner and married the boss's daughter, Anna Bitting, in 1881. When Bitting died, Whitaker took over, and later he formed Whitaker-Harvey with Thomas Rucker and William L. Harvey. He also sat on Winston's first school board, helped open its first graded school, started its first electric power and streetcar company, and died in 1912. His son John C. Whitaker joined R.J. Reynolds in 1913, ran the very first machine that made Camel cigarettes, and ended up chairman of the board - Reynolds named its Whitaker Park plant for him.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd Harvey? In November 1896 the Lowndesville, South Carolina column of the Abbeville Press and Banner reported that \"W. L. Harvey, 'natural leaf man,'\" had been through in a rig that drew \"much attention wherever it goes\" - a vast improvement, the writer said, on the old way tobacco venders got around. By November 1897 a grocer's ad in the Anderson Intelligencer had Harvey's Natural Leaf right next to Drummond's Natural Leaf, and Anderson ads from 1903 through 1905 kept naming \"Harveys Natural Leaf and Rich and Ripe\" among the best-known chews around - one of them calling Whitaker-Harvey the maker of both.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe company had a rough winter in 1902. On December 11 a fire that started in a knitting mill burned four three-story brick buildings in Winston, Whitaker-Harvey's plant among them, and the News and Observer called it one of the most disastrous fires in the town's history. A month later Whitaker-Harvey merged with S. A. Ogburn's tobacco plant, kept its own name, put in new machinery for three times the working capacity of the two old plants, and planned a big new factory on the burned lot. Harvey's Natural Leaf hung on a long time after that - in April 1925 a storekeeper in the Chesterfield, South Carolina paper was still advertising bargains in Harveys Natural Leaf on his counter.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI've dug, and I haven't found who the man in the medallion is. There's an old collector rumor that some of these portraits weren't anybody in particular, just a respectable-looking gentleman to make the plug look trustworthy. Maybe that's him. Maybe it's Mr. Harvey.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e📜 The Stories\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe story collectors pass down is that P. Lorillard \u0026amp; Co. of New Jersey's first tin tags were tucked under the outer leaf of the plug where nobody could see them, and it was Ben Finzer of Louisville who started putting them on the outside. People collected the tags in their own day, and they were worth something: R.J. Reynolds' 1902 premium catalogue offered a pair of scissors for 35 tags and a piano for 58,000 tags, and told folks to count their tags, bundle each kind separately and send them in by mail or express - and the legend goes that out in the country, where cash was short, a pocketful of tags could pass as a little bit of change.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA fun one for a tobacciana collection, a little frame, or anybody named Harvey! The supply is finite - nobody's stamping Harvey's Nat Leaf tin tags again, and once these last ones are gone, they'll be very difficult to acquire.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"relatedBlock\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🔎 More From The Vintage \u0026amp; Antique Gifts Archive\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/antique-american-navy-tin-tobacco-tag-battleship\"\u003eAntique 1900s American Navy Tin Tobacco Tag 🚬 Battleship Collectible Intact Backing Lithograph\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/antique-silver-prince-embossed-cigar-label-treasures\"\u003eAntique Silver Prince Cigar Box Label 🚬 Embossed Chromolithograph Heywood Strasser Voigt New Old Stock NOS circa 1910\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/antique-1910s-special-drive-tin-tobacco-tag-treasures-gifts-home\"\u003eAntique 1910s Tobacco Tin Tag 🏷️ F.M. Bohannon's Special Drive — Winston-Salem, NC — Collector Piece\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/duane-allman-gibson-les-paul-tobacco-burst-duane-back-mini-guitar-model\"\u003eAxe Heaven Duane Allman Gibson Les Paul Tobacco Burst Mini Guitar Replica 🎸 1:4 Scale, DUANE Back, Officially Licensed\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1950s-1990s-planters-mr-peanut-kit-red-figural-whistle-cloth-sticker-everybody-loves-a-nut-swizzle-stick\"\u003eVintage 1950s-1990s Planters Mr. Peanut Kit 🥜 Red Figural Whistle, Cloth Sticker, Everybody Loves a Nut Swizzle Stick\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":40769752006821,"sku":"VAG-7034827309221","price":7.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.3330918309_5i29.jpg?v=1785354068"},{"product_id":"rare-vintage-9-corn-rattan-broom-label-labels-gifts-memorabilia-antiques","title":"Vintage No 9 Corn and Rattan Broom Label 🧹 NOS 1960s 1970s Hamburg Broom Works Pennsylvania Mid Century Advertising Ephemera","description":"\u003ch2\u003eWhich Broom Company Took a Copycat to Court? 🧹 A Vintage No. 9 Corn \u0026amp; Rattan Broom Label, Hamburg Broom Works, Hamburg, Pennsylvania\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 6 1\/4\" x 3 1\/2\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"max-width:315px;margin:0 auto 20px;\"\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:177.78%;height:0;overflow:hidden;\"\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/fSjxfxWt9NU\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer;autoplay;clipboard-write;encrypted-media;gyroscope;picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eOn July 13, 1922, the Superior Court of Pennsylvania ruled on a fight over brooms. Wilson E. Schmick, trading as Hamburg Broom Works, had sued the West Reading Broom Works for turning out brooms built to pass for his: the same polished handles, the same colored velvet bands and sewing cord, even woven brand labels in the same manner. He lost at trial and won on appeal, and the rule the appeals judges laid down, that a product's whole look can belong to its maker, is the idea lawyers now call trade dress. This label comes from the same company four decades on: a New Old Stock No. 9 Corn \u0026amp; Rattan broom label from Hamburg Broom Works, Inc., never applied, and dated by the ZIP code printed in its own address.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🏷️ What This Label Prints\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eTop band (yellow):\u003c\/strong\u003e No. 9 CORN \u0026amp; RATTAN in heavy black capitals\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePicture panel:\u003c\/strong\u003e on a red field, a gray panel with clipped upper corners; a man in a white shirt with rolled sleeves and navy trousers sweeps a navy floor with a golden corn broom, white peaks rising behind him\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBottom band (turquoise):\u003c\/strong\u003e HAMBURG BROOM WORKS, INC. over HAMBURG, PENNA. 19526, in navy\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eMargin:\u003c\/strong\u003e a cream paper border on all four sides\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBack:\u003c\/strong\u003e blank, with the front printing faintly visible in reverse\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eCondition:\u003c\/strong\u003e New Old Stock, never glued to a broom\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe is not a cartoon mascot and not a housewife in an apron. He is a man in work clothes, head down, both hands on the handle, doing the single job the broom was sold to do. The flat blocks of yellow, red, gray, navy and turquoise carry across a room, and the only words on the whole label are the broom's number, its two fibers, and the maker's name and address.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e📮 The ZIP Code That Dates It\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe last line of type settles the age. The Post Office Department launched the five-digit ZIP Code, short for Zone Improvement Plan, on July 1, 1963, and sent a cartoon letter carrier named Mr. ZIP out to sell the public on it. The first three digits were the idea of Robert Moon, a postal inspector who proposed them in 1944; a second inspector, H. Bentley Hahn, worked out the last two. The push came from sheer volume: American mail had doubled between 1943 and 1962, from 33 billion pieces to 66.5 billion, and the average letter passed through 17 sorting stops. A Hamburg label printing 19526 went through the press no earlier than that summer, which makes this a label of the 1960s–1970s. By then Hamburg Broom Works was 69 years old.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🌾 Corn \u0026amp; Rattan: The Two Fibers on the Label\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBroomcorn is not the corn anyone eats. It is a sorghum grown for its long, stiff seed stalks, and it is the reason the American broom looks the way it does. In 1797 a Hadley, Massachusetts farmer named Levi Dickinson lashed a round bundle of broomcorn to a stick as a broom for his wife and made a few extra to sell to neighbors. It proved tougher and swept better than what came before, and by 1800 Dickinson and his sons were making several hundred a year for buyers across the Northeast. The Shakers then changed its shape, securing the corn with wire, pressing it flat in a vise and sewing it tight, which gave the broom its flat fan and a wider sweep.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRattan, the second fiber, comes from Old World climbing palms whose greatest variety grows in the old-growth forests of Southeast Asia. It is heavier than broomcorn. Blended into a corn broom it moves tougher debris, and corn-and-rattan brooms are still made today for barns and warehouses. A label reading CORN \u0026amp; RATTAN told the storekeeper and the buyer that the broom carried both fibers.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🏭 Wilson E. Schmick and Hamburg Broom Works\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWilson E. Schmick founded Hamburg Broom Works in 1894. The shop started in West Hamburg, just south of the Philadelphia \u0026amp; Reading railroad station, and outgrew it. In 1911 Schmick spent $25,000 on a new two-story brick factory at Second and Pine Streets, built, as it was described at the time, to \"afford an abundance of light.\" A company catalog the next year carried the title \u003cem\u003eBrooms: The Most Modern Broom Manufacturing Plant in the World\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBy 1918 Schmick had bought every outstanding share and owned the business outright. In 1921 he sold the 1911 building to the Burkey Underwear and Hosiery Company and kept the building across the street, on the south side of Pine, for the broom works; the company's address is recorded as 218 Pine Street. It went public in 1923 and stayed public until 1999, when it went private as part of Hamburg Industries, Inc., a maker of brooms, brushes and mops that still gives 1894 as its founding year. Hamburg Industries later became one of seven mop and broom companies bought by Nexstep Commercial Products, the firm Todd Leventhal built after he bought the commercial division of O-Cedar Brands in 2003 and became O-Cedar's exclusive commercial licensee. A broom shop opened beside a Berks County rail line in 1894 ended up in the lineage of a national cleaning brand.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e⚖️ Schmick v. West Reading Broom Works, 1922\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe rival sat downriver in West Reading, across the Schuylkill from Reading. Its \"American Beauty,\" \"Blue Bird\" and \"Black Beauty\" brooms were each built to answer one of Hamburg's lines, \"Puritan\" and \"Eclipse\" among them. The court set out what matched: highly polished wood handles in natural and black, velvet bands in the same colors, sewing cord in the same colors, woven labels carrying the brand names, and the same spacing of the wire binding. One broom salesman was fooled until he examined the labels up close, and West Reading's salesmen called on Hamburg's own customers, pointed out the likeness, and offered the copies for less.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe trial court dismissed Schmick's bill. The Superior Court reversed and reinstated it (79 Pa. Super. 331). Its reasoning is the part that outlived the brooms: a set of details, none of which any one maker could claim alone, can be combined so that together they identify one maker's goods, and equity will protect that combination. A copier did not escape by showing nobody had yet been deceived; a tendency to deceive was enough. The Hamburg broom case was cited again in Harris-Boyer Co. v. Gartmann, a fight over a bakery's \"Butter-Nut\" bread.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🏘️ Hamburg, Pennsylvania\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHamburg sits at the southern foot of Blue Mountain on the east bank of the Schuylkill River, about sixteen miles north of Reading in Berks County. That puts it right in Pennsylvania Dutch Country. Berks has long had a big Pennsylvania Dutch population, and in their dialect the town goes by Hambarig. Martin Kaercher Sr., who came from Germany, bought 250 acres there called \"Hamburg\" in 1772; his son Martin laid out the town in 1779, and for years it was known as Kearchertown before the Hamburg name won out. The first industry was the younger Kaercher's grist mill, followed by whiskey distilling, brewing, tanning, and the making of chains, nails, tools and hats.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Schuylkill Canal arrived in 1824, and for forty years Hamburg was a boat-building borough, a trade that ended once the canal was leased to the Philadelphia \u0026amp; Reading. Hamburg became a borough by act of the Assembly on April 3, 1837. The railroad reached town in 1842, running between Philadelphia and Pottsville, and with the Philadelphia and Reading and the Pennsylvania railroads Hamburg became one of the county's industrial centers, with mills and foundries along the tracks. In 2010 its center was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Hamburg Historic District, 435 contributing buildings across just over 100 acres, and the listing names the Hamburg Industries building among them.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe second photograph pairs the old factory with the view today. On top, the brick works stands along the railroad tracks, two floors of tall windows under HAMBURG BROOM WORKS painted high across the roofline; below, a present-day view shows a gravel lot and a smaller brick building.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e📖 Broomcorn Lore: Benjamin Franklin's Seed\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLegend has it that Benjamin Franklin brought broomcorn to America. In one telling he picked a single seed off a Philadelphia lady's whisk broom and planted it; in another he found the seed on a whisk broom brought from France to brush his beaver hat. Arcola, Illinois tells the story as its own tradition. The paper trail is plainer but still Franklin's. On February 21, 1757, he wrote from Philadelphia to his sister Jane, sending her \"whisk-seed,\" broomcorn he had brought back from Virginia after traveling there on postal business in the spring of 1756, and he shared the seed with family and friends in New England. An 1899 writer called the whisk-broom version a \"pleasant little fairy story.\" Either way, Franklin was spreading broomcorn seed in America 137 years before Wilson Schmick opened his broom shop in Hamburg.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🖼️ Condition and Display\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNew Old Stock, printed for Hamburg Broom Works, Inc. and never applied to a broom. The yellow, red and turquoise are bright, and the back is blank with the front's printing faintly showing through in reverse.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFramed in a mudroom, laundry room or workshop, where a working man with a broom belongs\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBeside other Berks County or Pennsylvania factory paper in a regional history display\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIn a collection of American broom labels, as an example dated by its ZIP code\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFor anyone with family from Hamburg or the Schuylkill Valley, or anyone who worked the broom and mop trade\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFor a trademark lawyer who would enjoy owning a label from the company behind a 1922 unfair-competition case\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eLike everything I have, it has been stored in the dark, climate controlled, under 40% relative humidity at a steady 72°F.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHamburg Broom Works has not gone by that name since 1999, so nobody is printing these labels again. Once the limited supply for sale is gone, they will be very difficult to acquire.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e📷 The Hamburg Broom Works then-and-now photo near the end is there for history only and isn't included; you get the label.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"relatedBlock\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🔎 More From The Vintage \u0026amp; Antique Gifts Archive\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/antique-1920s-blue-bell-broom-label-flower-decor-americana\"\u003eAntique Blue Bell Broom Label 🧹 Hamburg Broom Works Hamburg Pennsylvania NOS 1920s Chromolithograph Broom Corn Ephemera Paper Label\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/very-rare-antique-no-10-warehouse-broom-label\"\u003eAntique Hamburg Broom Works No. 10 Warehouse Corn Round Rattan Broom Label 🧹 Cavalier Lithograph Hamburg PA 1910s\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/antique-acme-no-6-broom-label-hamburg-broom-works\"\u003eAntique Acme No 6 Broom Label 🧹 1910s 1920s Hamburg Broom Works Hamburg PA Crown New Old Stock Advertising Art Ephemera\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/antique-to-vintage-1910s-1950s-red-lion-pennsylvania-cigar-label-set-tebson-canadian-club-sun-maid-victory-record-bond\"\u003eAntique to Vintage 1910s-1950s Red Lion Pennsylvania Cigar Label Set 🚬 Tebson, Canadian Club, Sun Maid, Victory, Record Bond\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1960s-united-shall-overcome-civil-rights-sticker-mlk-sncc-core\"\u003eVintage 1960s Civil Rights Handshake Decal 🤝 United We Shall Overcome Sticker, Bend \u0026amp; Peel Unity Ephemera, NOS\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":40769772060837,"sku":"VAG-7034830946469","price":11.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.3317735899_fp6q.jpg?v=1785354292"},{"product_id":"vintage-cowgirl-tin-clicker-cricket-original-packaging-treasures","title":"Vintage 1970s Cowgirl Tin Cricket Clicker 🎵 Aigami Japan NOS Lithograph, Original Packaging – Dime Store Find","description":"\u003ch2\u003eWhy Did One Click on a Tin Cricket Mean Who Goes There? 🎵 A Vintage 1970s Cowgirl Tin Cricket Clicker on Its Aigami Card, Made in Japan\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1 5\/8\" x 3\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"max-width:315px;margin:0 auto 20px;\"\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:177.78%;height:0;overflow:hidden;\"\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/RFfTbSVPF2c\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer;autoplay;clipboard-write;encrypted-media;gyroscope;picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eA little tin cricket clicker with a blonde cowgirl in red on the front - braids, fringed skirt, boots and a pistol in the air - still in its bag, stapled to the original header card: TIN \"CRICKET\", AGE 3 AND UP, Playmate For All, AIGAMI under a little winged eagle, and MADE IN JAPAN. Press the steel tongue and it goes click-clack, which is the whole point.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThere is a particular frequency of childhood that lives entirely outside language. It isn't a word or a song - it's a sound. A quick, percussive snap that your thumb and forefinger know before your brain does, the kind of noise that carried across a linoleum floor, bounced off the metal shelves of a five-and-dime, and made every adult in the vicinity instinctively wince. If you grew up in America any time these were hanging on the dime store pegboard, you know exactly what that sound is. And if you were lucky enough to find one tucked in a wire bin near the penny candy - between the spinning tops and the paper-wrapped bubble gum - you also know the particular joy of pressing that curved tin and hearing it answer back. Twice, always twice. Once on the press. Once on the release.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🦗 What a cricket is\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA cricket is just a little piece of spring steel on a metal body that snaps when you press it, and every dime store - Woolworth's, Kresge's, Ben Franklin, Newberry's, McCrory's - had a pegboard of them. U.S. Metal Toy and Kirchhof made them here, and the Japanese made them by the thousands. It's the archetypal shape: a curved, slightly tapered body sized to fit a child's palm, with just enough arch to give that spring action, and generations of children understood how to work it without instructions. Ask anybody who went to Catholic school in the 1950s and they'll tell you the nuns ran the whole chapel with a clicker - one click, stand up, another, kneel down - and kids used them for secret signals on the playground.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThey even went to war. Before D-Day, General Maxwell Taylor of the 101st Airborne, who had seen paratroopers lose each other in the dark over Sicily, had about 7,000 brass crickets made by ACME of Birmingham, England, and handed out a few days before the jump. In the hedgerows of Normandy one click meant \"who's there?\" and two clicks back meant \"friend.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🎨 Printed right on the tin\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe face is lithographed directly onto the tin - thin-gauge steel sheet with a tin coating, decorated before it was stamped - not a paper label stuck over the metal, so the color and the metal are fused together. That's a big part of why these hold up so well when they're kept away from moisture and handling. The cowgirl is drawn in the bold, flat-color comic-illustration idiom of dime store packaging - not dainty, not precious, but graphic and immediate, against a clean blue ground. She was designed to be seen from across a wire merchandise bin under fluorescent lights, and she still is. No character name or license line is printed anywhere on her or the card; she is commercial illustration made for this line, in the shared visual language of American popular illustration the Japanese export makers drew on for the American market.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🌏 Made in Japan\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRight after the war, Japan's toy makers got back on their feet making cheap, bright tin toys for American stores, and the story collectors still tell is that some of the first ones were stamped out of flattened tin cans left over from the occupation. That one has paper behind it, too: toy historians write that empty tin cans from the U.S. military's canteens and clubs became raw material for Japan's first postwar export toys, with exports starting up again in 1947 and 1948. The trade ran through Tokyo's small factories and family workshops - many makers sent pre-printed metal sheets out to home shops, where families stamped and shaped them - and the finished goods went out through export brokers at Yokohama and Kobe onto freighters bound for American ports, and on to the national five-and-dime chains. A child's pocket money, maybe a dime, maybe a quarter, could buy a tin toy that had crossed the Pacific and still turned a profit at every point in the chain. By the 1950s the business was booming, and the Victoria and Albert Museum says Japan's tin toy industry hit its peak in the late 1960s before labor costs and die-cast toys wore it down. This card reads MADE IN JAPAN, not the Made in Occupied Japan of the years right after the war.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAigami put out a whole line of these Playmate For All crickets - a cowboy, an Indian, a clown, an alligator and more - and ours is the cowgirl. Aigami's name turns up on a run of small tin novelties in collections across the country, always solidly made, attractively lithographed and priced to move at mass-market retail. These were not high-end tin toys and they were not collector's items when new. They were democratic toys - made for every child, accessible on every block, in every small town, in every five-and-dime from Maine to California. They were meant to be used up, clicked into irrelevance, lost under car seats and between sofa cushions, and thrown away, which is exactly what makes a carded one so much fun to find today. You could say the biggest caches of unsold dime store toys are still sitting in the back rooms of old five-and-ten buildings in small towns - buildings that became hardware stores or insurance offices and simply never cleared that last back shelf. Maybe that's wishful thinking. Maybe it's entirely true.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf you like chasing a maker's mark like AIGAMI, William C. Gallagher's \u003cem\u003eJapanese Toys: Amusing Playthings from the Past\u003c\/em\u003e (Schiffer, 2000) identifies more than 200 Japanese toy trademarks - a good place to start.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA blonde cowgirl in braids with a six-shooter is pure TV Western - Annie Oakley, with Gail Davis in blonde braids, ran from 1954 to 1957.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e📅 How old is it?\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNothing on it carries a date, but the card tells you anyway - look up in the corner: AGE 3 AND UP. American toy packages didn't carry a minimum age as a matter of course until the toy industry's own safety standard took effect on September 22, 1976 and called for every toy package to say what age the toy was meant for. Then in 1979 the Consumer Product Safety Commission banned small parts in toys for children under three, and \"3 and up\" became the line you see on toy packages from then on. So this card is a 1970s card, from the tail end of the years when Japan was still stamping out tin toys for American dime stores.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🖼️ Display ideas\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e🗂️ Pin it to a shadow box alongside other dime store card toys - spinning tops, jacks sets, balsa gliders - for a five-and-dime counter tableau in a mid-century modern or Americana room.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e🪟 Frame it flat behind UV-protective glass, header card and all, as a piece of graphic design - the lithographed cowgirl in red reads as bold pop art, and the \"Cricket\" typography is a wonderful period document.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e📦 Group it in a vintage wooden or wire bin with other small toy finds for a period-retail vignette.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e🎪 Pair it with a small tin advertising piece or a lithographed candy tin for a Japanese export toy vignette on a bookshelf or entry table.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e🧒 Anchor a childhood memory display in a den or playroom alongside other toy pieces - Little Golden Books, tin banks, a View-Master reel.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e🎨 Use it as a teaching piece in a classroom, library or children's exhibit about American consumer culture, trade or toy history - on its card it's a complete primary source.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTo keep it bright: tin lithography is vulnerable to moisture and handling above all else, so a stable, low-humidity spot (not a basement, garage or exterior wall, where temperature swings make condensation), minimal bare-hand handling of the printed face (skin oils speed oxidation of the tin coating), UV-filtering glass or acrylic if it's framed, and an acid-free enclosure if it goes in a drawer. Tin is robust; it just rewards thoughtful storage.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🎁 Who collects these\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe crowd that goes for these is broader than you might expect. \u003cstrong\u003ePostwar Japanese tin toy collectors\u003c\/strong\u003e are the obvious audience. \u003cstrong\u003eDime store and five-and-ten Americana collectors\u003c\/strong\u003e are a passionate and deeply knowledgeable community, people preserving the material culture of American mass retail; for them a cricket on its original header card is a primary document - what was sold, how it was presented, and what the visual language of inexpensive children's retail looked like. \u003cstrong\u003eGraphic design and commercial art fans\u003c\/strong\u003e see serious applied art here: an illustrator and a lithographer made something that had to work under the worst possible display conditions, and the red cowgirl against that blue isn't accidental - someone made thoughtful decisions there. \u003cstrong\u003eNoise toy and mechanical toy specialists\u003c\/strong\u003e (yes, it's a real collecting category) chase crickets as the simplest successful mechanical toy there is: one moving part, one satisfying action, endlessly repeatable. And then there are the \u003cstrong\u003ememory collectors\u003c\/strong\u003e - people who simply remember the sound and the feeling and the dime store light and want that thing again, in the hand.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🎵 About these\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe's the cowgirl cricket, still bagged on her Aigami card, about 1 5\/8 by 3 inches. Like everything I keep, she lives in the dark at under 40% relative humidity and a steady 72°F, climate controlled, so any age she shows, she had before she came to me. It's a great little stocking stuffer, a fun piece for a cowgirl or Western collection, or something to hang on a shadow box wall with other dime store toys. The supply is finite - nobody's carding Aigami crickets anymore, and once these last ones are gone, they'll be very difficult to acquire.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"relatedBlock\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🔎 More From The Vintage \u0026amp; Antique Gifts Archive\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-plorham-park-florham-park-nj-police-tin-litho-toy-badge\"\u003eVintage 1970s Plorham Park NJ Police 🚔 Tin Litho Special Police Toy Badge Pin Error Misprint New Old Stock Made in Japan\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-woodbury-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1970s Woodbury Special Police Toy Badge 🚔 Tin Litho on Original Card, NOS Japan Collectible\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1950s-snake-tin-clicker-noisemaker-japan\"\u003eVintage 1950s Snake Tin Clicker Noisemaker 🧸 Mouth Opens and Closes!\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1960s-sea-captain-tin-clicker-noisemaker-amazing-nautical-nos-find\"\u003eVintage 1960s Sea Captain Tin Litho Clicker Toy 🧸 NOS Japan Nautical Ship Wheel Noisemaker Mid-Century Token Toy - Ahoy! Clicker Surfaces\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/large-vintage-1960s-world-circus-tin-horn-noisemaker-clowns-animals-balloons\"\u003eVintage Large NOS 1960s World Circus Tin Horn Noisemaker 🧸 Litho Menagerie Toy\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":40769806074021,"sku":"VAG-7034838876325","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.3313460279_t80k.jpg?v=1785956115"},{"product_id":"vintage-olde-pub-tavern-brew-beer-label-erie-brewing-co","title":"Vintage 1970s Olde Pub Tavern Brew Beer Label 🍺 Erie Brewing Company Erie PA | New Old Stock","description":"\u003ch2\u003eHow Far Back Does the Erie Brewing Co. Go? 🍺 Olde Pub Tavern Brew Beer Label, The Erie Brewing Co., Erie, Pennsylvania\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 3 1\/2\" x 3\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"max-width:315px;margin:0 auto 20px;\"\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:177.78%;height:0;overflow:hidden;\"\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/t7Yn2gVcwjc\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer;autoplay;clipboard-write;encrypted-media;gyroscope;picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eAn unused quart label for OLDE PUB(R) Tavern Brew Beer - a big lidded tavern stein with \"oLDE PuB\" on its front - with NET CONTENTS 1 QUART up one side and THE ERIE BREWING CO., ERIE, PA. down the other. Yours will look just like this one.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🏭 Erie's Brewery\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere was a brewery on that ground in Erie from 1855. George Frey's name was on it that first year - Frey is the man credited with brewing the first lager in Erie, in 1847, after he helped brew Buffalo's first lager in 1843 - and it soon became the Eagle Brewery, which J. Henry Kalvelage ran for the next 28 years. In 1883 Jackson Koehler bought the Eagle Brewery there and put his own name on it - 6,500 barrels his first year, 30,000 by 1895 - and in 1899 it merged into The Erie Brewing Company, along with Fred. Koehler \u0026amp; Co. (the Koehler family brewery his father Charles had run), C.M. Conrad's National Brewery and the Cascade Brewing Co. Jackson died in 1903, but his name stayed on the beer. Erie Brewing rode out Prohibition (the plant ran as Imperial Beverages from 1920 to 1933), reopened in 1933, and made beer on State Street until it closed in March 1978. Its flagship was Koehler's, alongside names like Yacht Club and Old Dobbin Ale, and Olde Pub was its tavern beer, sold by the quart.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eErie Brewing guarded those names at the U.S. Patent Office - it filed Old Dobbin for its ale in 1946, Koehler's in 1948, Yacht Club in 1962 and Jackson Koehler's Eagle Brew as late as 1971. Olde Pub first went on the market on June 28, 1966, the same day as Koehler's Erie Beer, and it was registered on July 11, 1967. That's what the little ® after OLDE PUB is telling you: these labels were printed after that registration came through, somewhere between mid-1967 and the March 1978 closing, most of that run in the 1970s. The trademark outlived the brewery, too - it ended up with Miller Brewing in Milwaukee and didn't lapse until 2008. The old brewery was put on the National Register in 1982 and torn down in 2006. (Today's Erie Brewing Co. is a separate craft brewery that took up the name in the 1990s.)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e📜 The Stories\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe lore among Erie brewing fans is that Koehler's ads leaned on the idea of what happened when a party ran out of the right beer - collectors still tell of the \"ghost of Jackson Koehler\" turning up to spoil get-togethers where a lesser beer was on the table. The story goes that Olde Pub itself was Erie Brewing's bid to own the neighborhood tap. Local legend also has it that more than one Erie tavern owner kept a stash of labels from the old local breweries tucked behind the bar, a little memorial to the beers the neighborhood grew up on.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePerfect framed for a home bar or anybody with Erie roots. The supply is finite - nobody's printing Olde Pub labels for Erie again, and once these last unused ones are gone, they'll be very difficult to acquire.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"relatedBlock\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🔎 More From The Vintage \u0026amp; Antique Gifts Archive\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1970-1978-dukes-beer-label-allentown-pa-dog-bowler-hat-treasures\"\u003eVintage 1970-1978 Dukes Beer Label 🍺 Horlacher Brewing Company Allentown Pennsylvania Bulldog Bowler Hat Dog 12 oz Bottle\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1960s-perfection-beer-label-allentown-pa-love-gnomes-treasures\"\u003eVintage 1960s Perfection Beer Label 🍺 Horlacher Brewing Co Allentown PA NOS Gnome Breweriana\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1960s-1974s-stegmaier-bock-beer-label-wilkes-barre-pa-treasures\"\u003eVintage Stegmaier Bock Beer Label 🐐 NOS 1960s–1974 Wilkes-Barre PA Brewery Collectible\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1960s-1970s-horlacher-brewing-beer-label-pair-perfection-nine-months-old-gnomes-and-dukes-bulldog-allentown-pa\"\u003eVintage 1960s-1970s Horlacher Brewing Beer Label Pair 🍺 Perfection Nine Months Old Gnomes and Duke's Bulldog, Allentown PA\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/infamous-vintage-bad-frog-beer-label-banned-8-states-being-obscene\"\u003eVintage 1990s Bad Frog Beer Label 🐸 Frankenmuth, MI Brewery NOS Advertising, Banned in 8 States for Being Obscene\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":40796207022245,"sku":"VAG-7041585283237","price":5.5,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/vintage-1970s-olde-pub-tavern-brew-beer-label-erie-brewing-company-erie-pa-new-old-stock.jpg?v=1793926002"},{"product_id":"vintage-domaine-de-laroche-fine-superieure-spirits-label-menin-belgium","title":"Vintage 1970s - 1980s Domaine de Laroche Spiritueux Fine Supérieure Label Pair 🏰 Pink Castle Spirit NOS","description":"\u003ch2\u003eHow Does a Belgian Postcode Date This Domaine de Laroche Label? 🏰 Domaine de Laroche \"Fine Supérieure\" Spirits Label, Menin, Belgium · 1970s - 1980s\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 4 1\/2\" x 4 1\/2\" each ~ little to no wear\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"max-width:315px;margin:0 auto 20px;\"\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:177.78%;height:0;overflow:hidden;\"\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/iD8yNkPWc_E\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer;autoplay;clipboard-write;encrypted-media;gyroscope;picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis one's a pair - two of these Domaine de Laroche labels come to you together.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eA pretty pink one: Domaine de Laroche in gold script, a turreted château over the vineyards in a cloud-shaped frame, and a big swooping \"Fine\" - that's French for brandy - with SUPÉRIEURE under it. Never used. Both of yours will look just like this one.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🔎 The Address Dates It\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLook at the bottom line: Anc. Ets. Rob. Dewaegenare 8600 Menin. That 8600 is a Belgian postcode, and Belgium didn't have postcodes until 1969. Then on October 1, 1990 the whole list was redone - Menen became 8930, and 8600 went to Diksmuide. So this label was printed somewhere between 1969 and 1990, whatever the castle and the old-fashioned script would like you to think.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🥃 What the Fine Print Says\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Anc. Ets.\" is Anciens Établissements - the old firm of Rob. Dewaegenare - and \"Maison fondée 1899\" says the house went back to 1899. R. C. Courtrai 78.466 is its number in the commercial register at Courtrai (Kortrijk), the big town next door, and \"Cont. 98 cl.\" is a 98-centiliter bottle, just shy of a liter. R. C. stands for Registre du Commerce. Belgium created that register by a law of May 30, 1924, and the commercial courts kept it - in Kortrijk that was the Rechtbank van Koophandel, and this house went on its books as number 78.466. The Kortrijk court's registers run from 1927 to 2003 and today take up about 440 meters of shelving at the State Archives in Beveren - that's a lot of paperwork. And \"Fine\" on its own, in French, is a good natural brandy distilled from wine (or cider) - a whole different drink from jenever, the juniper grain spirit that's the traditional pour in Belgium and the Netherlands. The best part is the Dutch paragraph, which says, roughly: \"We guarantee the natural strength of this spirit, which contains no artificial fortifier. Because of its origin it does no harm to your health, causes no stomach or other pains, is very digestible, and is an effective remedy for many illnesses.\" A brandy that's good for what ails you - you've got to love it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🏙️ Menin on the Lys\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMenen - Menin in French - sits on the Lys River right on the French border, facing the French town of Halluin across the water, about 11 kilometers from Kortrijk and 15 from Lille. Louis XIV had his engineer Vauban rebuild the town's fortifications from 1679 to 1689, and stretches of those walls are still there. And if the name rings a bell, it's the Menin Gate at Ypres: the road through that gate led to Menen, the Menin Road became one of the most fought-over few miles of the First World War, and the Menin Gate memorial carries the names of tens of thousands of soldiers with no known grave. Menen itself, about 20 kilometers down that road, was in German hands for most of the war, and the British 34th Division took the town on October 15, 1918. The Germans began a soldiers' cemetery at Menen in 1917, and today 47,864 of their dead lie there - the biggest German war cemetery in Flanders.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e📜 The Stories\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCollectors of French and Belgian labels like to say the château on labels like this wasn't always a real place - printers kept stock castle engravings any bottler could use to look like an old estate. West Flanders lore says the spirits houses there were fussy about their printing, hiring engravers from the Ghent and Brussels traditions to stand up to the French Cognac labels, and even insisted on local paper as a point of Flemish pride. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLovely framed in a kitchen or a home bar - and that pink goes with everything.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"relatedBlock\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🔎 More From The Vintage \u0026amp; Antique Gifts Archive\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/antique-qualite-superieure-french-wine-label-1920s-treasures\"\u003eAntique 1920s French Wine Label Pair 🍷 Qualité Supérieure Gold \u0026amp; Orange 3-Star Collectible\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/antique-1930s-bricks-banquet-hall-mince-meat-label-treasures\"\u003eAntique Brick's Banquet Hall Mince Meat Label Pair 🦁 Edgar Brick \u0026amp; Sons Crosswicks NJ Tin Can Label 1930s\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-sands-peach-wine-label-petersburg-va-treasures\"\u003eVintage Sands Peach Wine Label 🍑 Richards Wine Cellars Petersburg VA Bonded Winery NOS 1950s\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/antique-to-vintage-1920s-1950s-lindbergh-label-set-lone-eagle-crate-label-pair-spirit-of-st-louis-cigar-label\"\u003eAntique to Vintage 1920s-1950s Lindbergh Label Set ✈️ Lone Eagle Crate Label Pair, Spirit of St. Louis Cigar Label\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1960s-south-carolina-gamecocks-decal-mid-century-sports-memorabilia\"\u003eVintage South Carolina Gamecocks Decal 🐓 1960s NOS Great Western Enterprises Water-Transfer Sticker, Brings 1960s Spirit to Life\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":40848668295333,"sku":"VAG-7056668459173","price":12.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/pair_6b9f05e1-b4e3-4242-9da7-028939b6108c.jpg?v=1793344704"},{"product_id":"vintage-coca-cola-matchbook-coke-adds-life-everything-nice-unused-1970s","title":"Vintage NOS 1970s Coca-Cola Matchbook 🔥 \"Coke Adds Life\" Unused Nostalgic Advertising Giveaway","description":"\u003ch2\u003eRemember When Coca-Cola Advertising Fit in Your Shirt Pocket? 🔥 A Vintage 1970s Coca-Cola Coke Adds Life Matchbook, D.D. Bean \u0026amp; Sons, Jaffrey, New Hampshire\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 2\" x 1 1\/2\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"max-width:315px;margin:0 auto 20px;\"\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:177.78%;height:0;overflow:hidden;\"\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/3OKJkRUHBVo\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer;autoplay;clipboard-write;encrypted-media;gyroscope;picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eBefore advertising lived on a screen, it lived in your pocket - a free book of matches off the counter at a diner, a filling station or a corner store, used to light a cigarette or the stove and tossed by the end of the week. This one never got used. It's a single paper matchbook: on the front, the white Enjoy Coca-Cola script and Trade Mark (R) riding the white wave on Coca-Cola red; on the back, white, a red Coke with its trade mark and, in black script, adds life to... everything nice, over a dark brown striker strip, with a metal staple at the fold. Along the bottom flap in small red letters: D.D. BEAN \u0026amp; SONS CO., JAFFREY N.H. Every one I have is unstruck.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e📅 The 1970s\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNothing on it is dated, but the slogan is. Coke Adds Life was Coca-Cola's national campaign from 1976, until Have a Coke and a Smile replaced it in 1979, so this book comes from those late-70s years, when a matchbook by the register was still one of the cheapest ways a brand could ride home in somebody's pocket. The same front-and-back design was also printed by other match makers, like Superior Match of Chicago - Coca-Cola's art, each match company's own book.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🔥 D.D. Bean \u0026amp; Sons\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eD.D. Bean \u0026amp; Sons was started in 1938, right in the Depression, by Delcie D. Bean Sr. and his sons Vernon and Delcie Jack Bean Jr., in Jaffrey, New Hampshire, to make paper book matches with advertising on the covers. Delcie had already been in the match business with wooden matches, and the family bought an old mill in town and used machinery from match companies that hadn't made it, and had their first matchbooks coming off the line by June 1938. Local legend holds that the company earned itself the nickname the last match company standing - a title passed down among collectors and old Jaffrey residents alike as the American match industry consolidated and shrank around it over the decades, while the Bean family kept right on running matchbooks off the same New Hampshire mill floor. And the legend came true: D.D. Bean bought Atlas Match in 2016 and is the last maker of book matches in the United States and Canada.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🏔️ Jaffrey\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJaffrey sits under Mount Monadnock, one of the most climbed mountains in the country, in a corner of southern New Hampshire built on timber, mills and small manufacturing. The white pine that once fed the wooden-match trade grew all around it, and the Beans just swapped the tree for a tiny cardboard billboard.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🥤 Two faces of Coke\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTurn the book over and you get two eras of Coca-Cola selling. The front is the script Frank Robinson wrote out back in Atlanta in 1886, needing nothing but Enjoy and the red. The back is fresh 1970s copywriting meant to make a Coke feel like part of every party, kitchen and holiday - everything nice. Matchbooks were made for brands like that: small, bold, and riding home in everybody's pocket. Collectors call themselves phillumenists, and an unstruck book from a big campaign is exactly what that hobby was built to save.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🔥 About these\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThey're about 2 by 1 1\/2 inches. Drop one in a Coca-Cola collection, a matchbook album or a 70s kitchen shelf - and please don't strike it. The supply is finite - nobody's printing Coke Adds Life matchbooks again, and once these last unstruck ones are gone, they'll be very difficult to acquire.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"relatedBlock\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🔎 More From The Vintage \u0026amp; Antique Gifts Archive\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-lady-diana-prince-charles-wales-wedding-matchbook-unused-1981-treasures\"\u003eVintage 1981 Royal Wedding Matchbook 👑 Prince Charles Lady Diana Souvenir NOS, Eddy Match Canada\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/antique-1900s-1920s-big-five-5-gold-embossed-cigar-label\"\u003eAntique 1900s - 1920s Big Five 🚬 Gold Embossed Cigar Label\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/antique-1900s-abe-martin-embossed-cigar-label-famous-cartoon-kin\"\u003eAntique 1900s Abe Martin Embossed Cigar Label 🚬 Famous Kin Hubbard Cartoon, Burdena Cigar Factory Indianapolis\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1986-87-max-headroom-coca-cola-poster-and-bumper-sticker-catch-the-wave-set-dont-say-the-p-word-mckelvey\"\u003eVintage 1986-87 Max Headroom Coca-Cola Poster \u0026amp; Bumper Sticker 🥤 Catch the Wave Set, Don't Say the P Word, McKelvey\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/diet-coke-magnet-brings-1980s-coca-cola-nostalgia-home-vintage-treasures\"\u003eVintage 1980s Diet Coke Refrigerator Magnet 🧲 NOS Coca-Cola Advertising Promo Collectible, Brings 1980s Nostalgia Home\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":41656052252904,"sku":"VAG-7327388303592","price":7.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.3385691854_ijmr.jpg?v=1785355661"},{"product_id":"vintage-old-mission-crate-label-redbanks-woodlake-ca-treasures","title":"Vintage 1970s Old Mission Grape Crate Label 🍇 — Redbanks Packing Co, Woodlake CA — Mission Bell Tower Art","description":"\u003ch2\u003eWho Owned the Old Mission Grape Brand? 🍇 Old Mission Brand Grape Crate Label, Redbanks Packing Co., Redbanks \u0026amp; Woodlake, Tulare County, California\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 12\" x 4\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"max-width:315px;margin:0 auto 20px;\"\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:177.78%;height:0;overflow:hidden;\"\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1duFYYuLrlg\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer;autoplay;clipboard-write;encrypted-media;gyroscope;picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eA long burgundy strip with a golden California mission at one end - bell tower with a cross, arched belfry, dome, red tile roofs and palms - and OLD in a little red tag over a big yellow script Mission that runs most of the way across, with a little BRAND tucked underneath. \"Packed by Redbanks Packing Co., Redbanks, California, 34825 Road 192, Woodlake, California.\" It's the long, skinny shape that went on the end of a grape lug. Never used. Yours will look just like this one.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🍇 Grapes, Not Oranges\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis one gets called a citrus label a lot - it even was here - but Old Mission was a grape brand. Its federal registrations cover fresh vegetables (1943) and fresh grapes and deciduous fruits (1959), and every other Redbanks Old Mission label you'll find says Sunkist Table Grapes or Emperor grapes right on it. Don't mix it up with the other famous Old Mission, either: that was C. C. Chapman's orange brand down in Fullerton.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e📜 Who Owned Old Mission\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe trademark has a paper trail. Way back in 1915, Redbanks Orchard Co. of Visalia registered OLD MISSION for fresh table grapes, and in 1916 it registered SUNKIST for fresh table grapes too. A. Arena \u0026amp; Co., Ltd., a Los Angeles produce house whose own ARENAS brand was registered for everything from lettuce and cantaloupes to peaches, oranges and grapes, registered the OLD MISSION mark with the mission picture in June 1943 and a script version in July 1959, both claiming even older registrations, that 1915 Redbanks grape mark among them. In January 1969 Arena sold it, goodwill and all, to Griffith Bros. of Anaheim - Harry F. and John D. Griffith - and in March 1974 the Griffiths assigned it to Redbanks Packing Company, a family partnership at 34825 Road 192, Woodlake, the very address on this label. So nearly sixty years after Redbanks Orchard first registered it for grapes, Old Mission was back under a Redbanks name. And look at the notice: REG. U.S. PAT. OFFICE. The agency became the Patent and Trademark Office in 1975, so this label still speaks the old name. Put together, it's a 1970s label, most likely from right around 1974, when the Griffith family's Redbanks Packing took over the brand.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🌿 Redbanks and Woodlake\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRedbanks sits just west of Woodlake on the east side of the San Joaquin Valley in Tulare County, where Redbanks Orchards was started back in 1894 with citrus, vineyards, peaches and other orchard crops. In the early 1900s the Redbanks Orchard Company was shipping trainloads of fruit around the country on the electric railroad - the Visalia Electric, a Southern Pacific subsidiary that was pushed west through what became Woodlake to Redbanks in 1909 and hauled oranges, plums, peaches, lemons and grapes. In 1914 the company built its headquarters, a Spanish-style building that looked like a Southern Pacific depot. The east half had rooms for the bachelor workers, so it got called \"the Hotel,\" and the west end held a big restaurant for the crews. Woodlake itself grew up as a townsite around 1908 and was founded in 1912, a little farm town in the shadow of the Sierra foothills. It was Gilbert F. Stevenson, a Los Angeles millionaire, who started it, dreaming of a resort town with Bravo Lake as its centerpiece - that's the lake Woodlake is named for - and he bought about 13,000 acres of raw land around it to make one of California's great citrus districts. The town didn't incorporate until 1941.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eGreat framed long and skinny over a doorway or a kitchen window.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"relatedBlock\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🔎 More From The Vintage \u0026amp; Antique Gifts Archive\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1960s-swallow-crate-label-woodlake-ca-americana-bird-nature-decor\"\u003eVintage 1960s Swallow Crate Label Pair 🐦 – Redbanks Packing, Woodlake, California\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-prince-wales-crate-label-lake-fl-1950s-treasures-gifts-home\"\u003eVintage Prince of Wales Crate Label 👑 from the 1950s\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-dolly-crate-label-eustis-fl-treasures-gifts-home-gifts\"\u003eVintage 1960s Dolly Brand Citrus Crate Label Pair 🍊 Our Finest Citrus Fruit, H. Jennings Rou Inc., Eustis Florida\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/antique-to-vintage-1930s-1960s-emperor-grape-crate-label-set-east-west-out-west-million-dollar-golden-trout-california\"\u003eAntique to Vintage 1930s-1960s Emperor Grape Crate Label Set 🍇 East West, Out West, Million Dollar, Golden Trout, California\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/antique-to-vintage-1920s-1950s-lindbergh-label-set-lone-eagle-crate-label-pair-spirit-of-st-louis-cigar-label\"\u003eAntique to Vintage 1920s-1950s Lindbergh Label Set ✈️ Lone Eagle Crate Label Pair, Spirit of St. Louis Cigar Label\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":41955157967080,"sku":"VAG-7351475765480","price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.3424374880_82sn.jpg?v=1785355830"},{"product_id":"vintage-rainbow-crate-label-eustis-fl-cheerful-decor-treasures","title":"Vintage 1970s Rainbow Brand Citrus Crate Label 🌈 H. Jennings Rou, Eustis Florida Oranges","description":"\u003ch2\u003eWho Was H. Jennings Rou of Eustis, Florida? 🌈 Rainbow Brand Citrus Fruit Label, H. Jennings Rou, Inc., Eustis, Florida\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 8 3\/4\" x 3 1\/8\" ~ Slight to minor wear see pictures.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"max-width:315px;margin:0 auto 20px;\"\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:177.78%;height:0;overflow:hidden;\"\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/HdKqlt0Xeac\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer;autoplay;clipboard-write;encrypted-media;gyroscope;picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eAbout as cheerful as a fruit label gets: RAINBOW in fat letters going gold to red, a rainbow arching over a deep blue sky, and a big yellow grapefruit sitting behind two oranges in their leaves. Famous Brand Citrus Fruit, packed by H. Jennings Rou, Inc., Eustis, Florida 32726, Produce of U.S.A. Never used. Yours will look just like this one.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt's the slim size, about 3 by 9 inches. Florida packers put the big 9-inch square label on the end of a full wooden crate. The narrow 3-by-9 strips like this one went on half boxes and gift boxes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🍊 Jennings Rou and His Rainbow\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHenry Jennings Rou went into the citrus business in 1962 and formed H. Jennings Rou, Inc. in Eustis in 1966 as a full-service citrus house - the corporation was registered with the state that June and stayed on the rolls until 2018. Rainbow was his pride. His family remembered that he was known for quality fresh fruit and that his famous Rainbow brand topped the New York auction for several years. He spent twenty years as a director of Florida Orange Marketers, the growers' side of Minute Maid, and served as its president from 1988 to 1991 and as chairman of the board. The same packing house also shipped under a Dolly brand.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFull-service meant all of it. Rou's company grew the fruit, picked it, hauled it and packed it at his own packing house in Eustis, and he looked after more than 2,000 acres of groves. Fresh fruit went out under his labels. Fruit that wasn't headed for the fresh market went to the juice plants, mostly to Florida Orange Marketers. Besides Rainbow and Dolly he packed under Rainbow Gold, Busy Bee and Florida's Best, and the Dolly label carried a picture of his first child.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eRainbow didn't start with him, though. It came down through the family. His father-in-law, Leslie Huffstetler, came to the Eustis Packing Company as a bookkeeper in 1926. By the late 1930s he had groves of his own and was a partner in the Harris and Wade packing house, across the road from Lake Eustis a little north of town. That's where he first used the Rainbow name. Later he put it on his own label. He also bought the Eustis Packing Company in the late 1940s and served three terms as mayor of Eustis. In the late 1960s he sold Jennings the smaller of his packing houses, and Rainbow went to Jennings too. Buyers knew it as high-quality fruit, the best you could get.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eTopping the New York auction was a real feat. Florida fruit went north with the label on the end of the box, and it was auctioned off to the wholesalers and retailers of the Northeast. The label was how a buyer told one packer's fruit from the next. While the New York auction was still running, Rainbow tangerines and tangelos topped the market again and again, and Rainbow fruit went into the gift baskets at the Waldorf Astoria.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e💙 Why It's Blue\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat deep blue isn't only there to look good. On these Eustis labels the main color told the buyer what grade of fruit was in the box. Blue meant U.S. No. 1, the best the packer had. Red meant U.S. No. 2, one step down. So Rainbow went out dressed in the color of the top fruit.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e📬 Dating It\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTwo things printed right on it settle the floor. The five-digit ZIP code, 32726, only came in with ZIP codes in July 1963, and the \"Inc.\" can't be older than the June 1966 incorporation. So it's 1966 or later. The 1966 company date leaves only the last few years of the '60s, and the label trade puts Rainbow in the 1970s, so that's where it sits - one of the late Florida labels. By the mid-1950s cardboard boxes with the packer's name printed right on them had taken over from wooden crates, and most paper labels went out with the crates. Rou was still putting Rainbow on paper years after that, and his Rainbow and Dolly labels still turn up clean and unused.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🌴 Eustis, the Orange Capital\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEustis sits on Lake Eustis in Lake County, in the rolling lake country northwest of Orlando, and for years it called itself the Orange Capital of the World. The packing houses there shipped fruit north from the late 1800s; the Great Freeze of 1894-95 and another in 1898-99 wiped out the groves, and they came back. Eustis even got the first citrus experiment station in the world, in 1892. Together with Tavares and Mount Dora it made up the Golden Triangle, groves running right down to the lakes, until the hard freezes of the 1980s pushed most of Florida's citrus south for good. A Rou label is a little piece of that last chapter.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe town grew right up out of the groves. A. S. Pendry homesteaded on the east shore of Lake Eustis in 1876, planted citrus, and opened the Ocklawaha Hotel the next year. The railroad reached Fort Mason, just north of town, in 1880, and Eustis incorporated in 1883. It's named for Col. Abraham Eustis, an Army officer in the Seminole Wars, and the lake it sits on is one of the Harris Chain of Lakes. The two young government scientists sent down to the 1892 experiment station were Walter Swingle and H. J. Webber, and the breeding work they started gave Florida the Orlando and Minneola tangelos.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eLake County is named for its lakes, and those lakes are a big reason the citrus did so well there. On a freezing night the ground on the south and southwest sides of a big lake stays warmer, and that's right where growers wanted their trees. At its peak the county had more than 140,000 acres of citrus, and for years it was the second-biggest citrus county in Florida. In 1980 it still picked 44 million boxes of fruit and ran them through 26 fresh-fruit packing houses and five processing plants. Then the freezes came. Christmas Day 1983 and January 1985 knocked the county from about 117,000 acres of groves down to 12,000. Growers replanted to about 60,000 acres, and the December 1989 freeze left fewer than 10,000.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBright and narrow - perfect in a slim frame for a kitchen or a Florida room.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"relatedBlock\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🔎 More From The Vintage \u0026amp; Antique Gifts Archive\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-dolly-crate-label-eustis-fl-treasures-gifts-home-gifts\"\u003eVintage 1960s Dolly Brand Citrus Crate Label Pair 🍊 Our Finest Citrus Fruit, H. Jennings Rou Inc., Eustis Florida\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-ruby-brand-citrus-crate-label-tavares-florida-1940s\"\u003eVintage 1940s Ruby Brand Citrus Fruit Crate Label 🍊 Tavares Florida, Pretty Girl Portrait \u0026amp; Navy Graphic Art\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-florida-girl-crate-label-weirsdale-fl-treasures-gifts\"\u003eVintage Florida Girl Citrus Crate Label 🍊 1940s Weirsdale Florida Oranges, Little Girl in the Grove Litho Art\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/antique-to-vintage-1920s-1950s-lindbergh-label-set-lone-eagle-crate-label-pair-spirit-of-st-louis-cigar-label\"\u003eAntique to Vintage 1920s-1950s Lindbergh Label Set ✈️ Lone Eagle Crate Label Pair, Spirit of St. Louis Cigar Label\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/antique-to-vintage-1930s-1960s-emperor-grape-crate-label-set-east-west-out-west-million-dollar-golden-trout-california\"\u003eAntique to Vintage 1930s-1960s Emperor Grape Crate Label Set 🍇 East West, Out West, Million Dollar, Golden Trout, California\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":41981125787880,"sku":"VAG-7357172908264","price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/vintage-1970s-rainbow-brand-citrus-crate-label-h-jennings-rou-eustis-florida-oranges.jpg?v=1793926239"},{"product_id":"rare-vintage-1970s-unimed-inc-stock-certificate-madison-nj-treasures","title":"Vintage 1970s Unimed Inc Stock Certificate 💊 Madison NJ, 100 Shares, Pharmaceutical Americana","description":"\u003ch2\u003eWhat Was Unimed, the Drug Company From Madison, New Jersey? 💊 A Vintage 1970s Unimed, Inc. Stock Certificate, Security-Columbian Banknote Company\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 12\" x 8\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"max-width:315px;margin:0 auto 20px;\"\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:177.78%;height:0;overflow:hidden;\"\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/fTyFiuyUsWY\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer;autoplay;clipboard-write;encrypted-media;gyroscope;picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis is a real, issued common stock certificate from UNIMED, INC., a Delaware drug company that was based in Madison, New Jersey when it went public in 1961. It is engraved in blue by the SECURITY-COLUMBIAN BANKNOTE COMPANY. At the top, a classical woman sits holding a scroll between two globes, with factory chimneys and a little steam train working away behind her. Both top corners say 100 SHARES. The body of the certificate says ONE HUNDRED fully paid and non-assessable shares of common stock, $1.00 par value. It can be transferred in New York, N.Y. or in Jersey City, N.J. The Chase Manhattan Bank is the registrar, the CUSIP number is printed in a box (904801 10 7), and the round seal reads CORPORATE SEAL 1961 DELAWARE. Each one was issued to a shareholder, signed, stamped and punch-cancelled.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe one you get will have its own date, number, owner and stamps. It may look a little different from the one in my pictures.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e💊 A Drug Company Out of Madison, New Jersey\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA share certificate is a great way into a company's story, and Unimed left a good paper trail. In December 1961 the company filed to sell 125,000 shares to the public, at no more than $6 each, through the underwriter Andresen \u0026amp; Co. The SEC's daily news digest for December 29, 1961 has a short write-up of that filing. It lists the company's address as Main Street in Madison, New Jersey. It says the company was organized under Delaware law in May 1961, that it had been called Warfield Pharmaceutical, Inc., and that it meant to change its name to Unimed, Inc. A New Jersey corporation organized back in 1948 stood behind it. That is why the seal on this certificate says 1961 and Delaware.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe notice describes the business as developing, making and selling ethical drugs, which means prescription medicines, along with products and devices for hospitals, physicians and the general public. The president was Spencer M. Fossel. The prospectus admitted that the company and its New Jersey predecessor had lost money in 1960 and 1961, and it planned to buy two small outfits in 1962, United Medical Products Co. and Spencer Laboratories. The engraved facsimile signatures on the sheet read S. M. Fossel as President and Kenneth Ericson as Secretary.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🧪 Serc, and the FDA\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eUnimed filed the trademark SERC on August 28, 1961, for a drug to treat circulatory disorders and peripheral vascular disease. Serc was betahistine, and it turned into the company's big early story. The FDA first approved it in November 1966 to treat Ménière's disease, the inner-ear disorder that brings spinning vertigo and ringing in the ears. The approval rested on a single study, and doctors soon questioned how well that study had been done. By 1968 the FDA had issued a notice that it intended to withdraw the approval, but it talked with Unimed about a new trial first, and that delay drew questions from Representative Lawrence Fountain in Congress. In the early 1970s the FDA ended the approval for lack of proof that the drug worked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBetahistine is still prescribed for Ménière's across much of the world, just not as an approved drug in the United States. The company's own later filings say Serc was developed by Unimed in the 1960s. Unimed also filed GLOMA, for glaucoma, in 1965 and BETASERC in 1968. In 1978 it filed SPIRO-32, a drug aimed at sarcomas.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e📈 What Unimed Became\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe company kept going. In July 1992 it changed its name to Unimed Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and by then it was based in Buffalo Grove, Illinois. Its best-known product was Marinol, a prescription drug the FDA first approved in 1985 for the nausea and vomiting that come with cancer chemotherapy. In 1992 the FDA approved Marinol for appetite and weight loss in AIDS patients. In June 1999 the Belgian drug maker Solvay agreed to buy Unimed for $123 million, at $12 a share.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e📅 How I Date It\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe CUSIP number is the clue. The CUSIP system, which gives every American security its own ID, grew out of a 1964 request from the New York Clearing House to the American Bankers Association. Its first directory came out in December 1968, in the middle of what Wall Street called the paper crunch, when mountains of paper stock certificates were swamping the back offices. A certificate printed with a CUSIP number is therefore from 1968 or later, and these are 1970s paper. I won't give you one date for them.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🏦 The Printer and the Paper Trail\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSecurity-Columbian Banknote Company was one of the big American security printers. It engraved stocks, bonds and checks with the same fine-line borders and allegorical vignettes that went on paper money, so the sheets would be next to impossible to fake. The woman between the globes is one of those vignettes, the kind an engraver used to stand for commerce and industry. Her train and chimneys have nothing to do with medicine, and that is part of the fun of this hobby. The Chase Manhattan Bank signs as registrar, and Registrar and Transfer Company of Jersey City countersigns as transfer agent. Between them they kept the share count honest. Having New York and Jersey City as the transfer points puts this certificate in the middle of the Wall Street paper machine, on both sides of the Hudson.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e📜 About These\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThey are 12 by 8 inches, engraved on heavy banknote paper. Frame one for a doctor's office, a pharmacist or a home office wall, or put it with other 1970s scripophily. The supply is finite. Paper stock certificates are a thing of the past, nobody is issuing Unimed stock again, and once the limited supply for sale is gone, they will be very difficult to acquire.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"relatedBlock\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🔎 More From The Vintage \u0026amp; Antique Gifts Archive\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-peekskill-financial-co-stock-certificate-ny-nj-1990s-baltimore-ravens\"\u003eVintage 1990s Peekskill Financial Stock Certificate 📜 Baltimore Ravens and Buffalo Bills Sponsor NY NJ Eagle Vignette Scripophily\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1960s-atlantic-richfield-stock-certificate-orange-oil-americana-arco\"\u003eVintage 1960s Atlantic Richfield Stock Certificate ⛽ Orange, Less Than 100 Shares, ARCO Oil Americana\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1950s-studebaker-packard-stock-certificate-blue-100-shares-detroit\"\u003eVintage 1950s Studebaker-Packard Stock Certificate 🚗 Blue Beauty, 100 Shares, Detroit Michigan Engraved\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1950s-1960s-atlantic-refining-company-stock-certificate-set-all-six-colors-common-preferred-preference-arco-overprint\"\u003eVintage 1950s-1960s Atlantic Refining Company Stock Certificate Set 🛢️ All Six Colors, Common, Preferred, Preference, ARCO Overprint\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/discover-legacy-new-york-central-railroad-vintage-treasures-gifts-home\"\u003eVintage 1960s New York Central Railroad Stock Certificate 🚂 100 Shares Blue, Vanderbilt Portrait, Delaware Seal, Engraved Scripophily, USA Icon\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42021086331112,"sku":"VAG-7436343116008","price":9.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/vintage-1970s-unimed-inc-stock-certificate-madison-nj-100-shares-pharmaceutical-americana.jpg?v=1793926268"},{"product_id":"vintage-1960s-1970s-united-air-lines-5-percent-debenture-chicago-il","title":"Vintage 1960s-1970s United Air Lines 5 Percent Subordinated Debenture 📜 Purple 1000 Dollar Due 1991 Mercury Vignette","description":"\u003ch2\u003eWhat Did a United Air Lines Debenture Look Like? 🪽 Mercury and the Winged Wheel\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 12\" x 8 1\/2\" ~ full document-sized sheets, cancelled and long out of circulation, the purple engraving still crisp. They vary a little one to the next.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"max-width:315px;margin:0 auto 20px;\"\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:177.78%;height:0;overflow:hidden;\"\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/3a7mzM5Lz0g\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer;autoplay;clipboard-write;encrypted-media;gyroscope;picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eLook closely at the little vignette centered across the top of this certificate and you'll see United Air Lines went straight to classical mythology for its imagery: Mercury, the Roman messenger god, caught mid-leap on one bare foot. In his right hand he raises a winged wheel, a fine symbol for an airline, and his drapery sash swirls around him. His left hand carries the real serpent imagery: a caduceus, the traditional staff topped with a small pair of wings and twined with two snakes. Tucked at his feet, small enough to miss, is the engraver's own mark: ©ABNCo. Those initials go back to the 1858 merger that created the company, when the ABNCo monogram started turning up on notes printed from the old plates it inherited from its seven founding firms.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is a United Air Lines, Inc. 5% Subordinated Debenture, a $1,000 bond certificate engraved by the American Bank Note Company in a deep purple guilloché border with ornate scrollwork cornerpieces. Bold lettering spells out UNITED AIR LINES, INC. across the middle, flanked by twin $1,000 medallions. These were working financial instruments — registered to a named holder, certified by a trustee, and cancelled with small punch holes once they left circulation, not blanks made up to look old.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e📋 Two Signatures, Because I Have Both Sides of a Boardroom Coup\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHere's what makes a stack like this interesting to actually handle: the sheets aren't identical. Some carry the signature of G.E. Keck as president, no CUSIP box anywhere on them, and a 1967 trustee's stamp. Others carry a different signature — Edward Carlson's — with a typed CUSIP box in the corner. That matters, because CUSIP numbers didn't exist on paper like this until the industry's first CUSIP directory came out in December 1968. A sheet with a CUSIP box is from 1968 forward, full stop. And some carry a transfer on the back from the mid-1970s. So what's actually in this stack isn't one printed year — it's a run from 1967 into the mid-1970s, and the small punch-cancellation holes on each sheet mark the moment it was surrendered for exactly that kind of transfer, not that the underlying debt itself had been paid off.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe two names on those signatures are the two sides of a real boardroom fight. George E. Keck came up through United's own maintenance department — an engineer, not a finance man — and had been president since 1963. In 1966 he took over the top job from W.A. \"Pat\" Patterson, who had run United for 32 years, and he was still in the chair in 1967, the year United became the first airline in history to cross a billion dollars in annual revenue. By 1971 the board pushed him out anyway, in what's been called a corporate coup, led by two directors, Gardner Cowles and Thomas Gleed. Gleed presided over the showdown meeting at O'Hare where Keck was told he was out, and even Patterson summed him up as a loner who never took the board into his confidence. His replacement, Edward \"Eddie\" Carlson, came in from Western International Hotels, the Seattle hotel chain United's parent company had bought in 1970 (you know it today as Westin). Eddie had started out as a bellboy and had no airline background at all, but he'd already left his mark on Seattle: his 1959 doodle on a napkin is where the Space Needle started. At United he reportedly logged 186,000 miles in a single year visiting every corner of the operation. Hold enough of these sheets and you're holding paper signed by both men.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e💵 What the Fine Print Actually Promised\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe debenture paid 5% annual interest, was due December 1, 1991, and could be converted into United common stock any time up to December 1, 1981 — not for the bond alone, but for the bond plus $35 in cash per $100 of face value, converted at $67.50 a share. First National City Bank served as trustee, and the debentures were subordinated, meaning holders stood behind United's other creditors if the airline ever ran into trouble. United registered $114,676,900 of these with the SEC in November 1966 as a rights offering to its own stockholders, raising money for a wave of new jet aircraft it had on order; $103,420,200 of that authorized amount was the actual issue, a figure printed right on the back of the certificate.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e✈️ From an Idaho Mail Route to a Billion-Dollar Year\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eUnited's own story traces back to April 6, 1926, when pilot Lee Cuddeback flew a fabric-winged Swallow biplane out of Boise, Idaho, on one of the earliest U.S. Air Mail contract routes, hauling mail to the rail junction at Pasco, Washington, for a little outfit called Varney Air Lines. Varney was folded together with Boeing Air Transport, National Air Transport and Pacific Air Transport under a holding company, and in 1931 United Air Lines, Inc. was set up to coordinate them all. That didn't last in that shape: the 1934 Air Mail scandal forced a federal breakup of the whole conglomerate, splitting it into Boeing, United Aircraft (the ancestor of today's RTX) and United Air Lines on its own — the incorporation year, 1934, is what's stamped into the Delaware corporate seal on this certificate.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBy 1933 United had already put the Boeing 247 into service, generally reckoned the first truly modern airliner. During the Second World War, United's Cheyenne, Wyoming base became a modification center that altered thousands of B-17 bombers for combat. On June 1, 1961, United merged with Capital Airlines and became the second-largest commercial airline in the world, behind only Aeroflot — and by 1967, the earliest year in this stack, it had become the first airline anywhere to cross a billion dollars in annual revenue.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🖋️ The Company That Engraved the Promise\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe American Bank Note Company, whose name runs along the foot of every sheet, was formed in New York on April 29, 1858, when seven of the country's leading security-engraving houses merged into one rather than keep competing against each other — and against the counterfeiters who dogged them all individually. The name itself is a few years older than the company, and the man behind it is a good story. Nathaniel Jocelyn was a New Haven portrait painter (he painted Yale professors, the abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, and Cinqué of the Amistad) who gave up painting for bank-note engraving after a fire destroyed his studio in 1849. From 1854 he headed a New York office at 7 Wall Street that was already using the name American Bank Note Co., and it was Jocelyn who negotiated the 1858 merger with Moseley Danforth and Tracy Edson. Afterward he ran the company's art department until 1864. The new company set up in the Merchants' Exchange at 55 Wall Street, on the corner of Wall and William Streets, a building that later housed the U.S. Custom House and, from 1908, the headquarters of National City Bank. I love that little loop, because that's the same bank, by then called First National City Bank, that signs as trustee on this very debenture. Its lineage runs back further still, to 1795 and Robert Scot, the first engraver appointed to the United States Mint. During the Civil War, ABNCo engraved the federal \"Demand Notes\" issued by the Treasury. In 1879 two rivals, National Bank Note and Continental Bank Note, merged into it under the American Bank Note name and brought the federal postage-stamp contract along with them. Over the years it printed U.S. postage stamps (the 1893 Columbian issue among them) and postage stamps for many other countries, Canada included, plus banknotes for more than a hundred countries, Haiti's among them, stock certificates for thousands of businesses (and bonds like this one), and, starting in 1891, American Express's brand-new Travelers Cheques. It kept at it long after these sheets were printed, too: by the late 1990s its parent company, by then renamed American Banknote Corporation, was one of the world's largest printers of security documents, from checks and passports to food stamps. Its 1908 headquarters at 70 Broad Street in Manhattan and its fortress-like printing plant at Hunts Point in the Bronx, finished in 1911, are both designated New York City Landmarks. That's the same house behind the deep intaglio linework — engraving pressed so far into the paper you can feel it with a fingertip — running across every sheet in this stack.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"relatedBlock\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🔎 More From The Vintage \u0026amp; Antique Gifts Archive\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1970-dow-chemical-debenture-bond-due-2000\"\u003eVintage 1970 Dow Chemical 8.875 Percent Debenture 📜 Brown 25000 Dollar Due 2000 Registered American Bank Note\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1970s-united-aircraft-corp-stock-certificate-russian\"\u003eVintage 1960s-1970s United Aircraft Corporation Subordinated Debenture 📜 Bond Certificate\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/cleveland-short-line-gold-bond-certificate-1911-treasures-antique\"\u003eAntique 1911 Cleveland Short Line Railway First Mortgage Gold Bond 📜 1000 Steam Locomotive Vignette\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1970s-pennzoil-united-debenture-bond-set-of-3-1-000-orange-5-000-blue-10-000-purple-514-due-1996\"\u003eVintage 1970s Pennzoil United Debenture Bond 🛢️ Set of 3, $1,000 Orange, $5,000 Blue, $10,000 Purple, 5¼% Due 1996\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1971-transocean-gulf-oil-bond-certificate-deepwater-horizon-spill\"\u003eVintage 1971 Transocean Gulf Oil Bond 📜 8 Percent Guaranteed Debenture with Original Coupons, Petroleum History\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42035991838952,"sku":"VAG-7440768991464","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.3458984988_ev48.jpg?v=1785356129"},{"product_id":"vintage-1970s-coke-sun-rise-orange-soda-bottle-cap-coca-cola-moultrie-ga","title":"Vintage Sun‑Rise Orange Soda Bottle Cap 🍊 Coca‑Cola Bottling, Moultrie GA (1970s)","description":"\u003ch2\u003eHow Did a Virginia Soda End Up at a Georgia Coke Plant? 🍊 Sun-Rise Orange Soda Bottle Cap, Bottled by Moultrie Coca-Cola Bottling Co., Moultrie, Georgia\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1 1\/4\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"max-width:315px;margin:0 auto 20px;\"\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:177.78%;height:0;overflow:hidden;\"\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/rmlYM4yVqPg\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer;autoplay;clipboard-write;encrypted-media;gyroscope;picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eI love a cap that tells you exactly where it was filled. Bright orange, SUN-RISE® over a silver rising sun, ORANGE SODA with a little ingredient panel underneath - and turn it on its edge and the skirt reads BOTTLED BY MOULTRIE COCA-COLA BOTTLING CO., MOULTRIE GA 31768. A Virginia soda, owned out of Minnesota, filled at the Coke plant in south Georgia. Never crimped, never used, plastic-lined. Yours will look just like this one.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e☀️ Born in the Virginia Coalfields\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSun-Rise goes back to W. A. Scott of North Tazewell, Virginia. He was a partner in the wholesale grocery that Lynchburg's Duguid Brothers opened there in the 1890s, bought his partners out, and around 1910 started bottling as the Tazewell Manufacturing Company - his Was-Cott Ginger Ale went out to the rest of the country by train, because he'd built right alongside the Norfolk and Western line. A fire took the grocery and the bottling works on January 18, 1920, and Scott had a new brick plant running by April 1921. The business became the Was-Cott Corporation and then the Sun Rise Bottling Company, which first used the SUN RISE name on September 1, 1931 and kept bottling in North Tazewell until about 1960. James G. Buston was the proprietor in 1931, and the plant turned out house brands of its own - Tazewell Orange, Rhythm Punch, and a cola called Lucky Giant. In March 1947 the company was registered as a partnership of Buston, Earl Stanley Wallace and John Wharton Gillespie, and by October 1948 Buston had sold his share to the other two. When the plant closed it went to the Deskins Supermarket chain as a warehouse. The big white building is still standing there, windows bricked up - in its day it was one of the largest soda bottling plants in Virginia.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🥤 How It Got to a Coke Plant\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe SUN RISE name went to Sun-Rise, Inc. of Marshall, Minnesota, which filed it with the Patent Office on April 27, 1956 - registration 639,773, issued in 1957 and renewed in 1977 - and took the brand national. From there it was the local Coca-Cola bottlers who filled it, on into the 1970s, and that's how a Coke plant in Moultrie came to run Sun-Rise orange down its line. The flavors ran to root beer and fruit drinks like black cherry and lemon sour; the company changed hands a number of times, and it was in the 1950s that Coke's bottlers took over the bottling and distribution. (Sun-Rise, Inc. filed a SUNNY-SKY soft drink mark the very same day.)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMoultrie wasn't the only Coke plant running it, either. A Sun-Rise bottle from the 1960s or '70s that turned up in an antique store in Burlington, North Carolina came out of the Coca-Cola plant there. Virginia, Minnesota and Georgia, all on one little cap.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e📮 Dating It\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe ZIP code on the skirt does the work. ZIP codes started on July 1, 1963, and the two-letter GA came along that October, so this cap was printed in 1963 or later - and the plastic liner, where older Sun-Rise caps had cork, fits right in.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🌾 Moultrie\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMoultrie is the county seat of Colquitt County, named for General William Moultrie of Revolutionary War fame and incorporated in 1859. It's south Georgia farm country - Colquitt County is known for cotton, peanuts, watermelons, sugar cane and corn, with tobacco added in 1925 - and the county's first farm agent helped work out the Colquitt County Plan, a five-year crop-diversification plan the Farm Security Administration used as a model during the Depression. Since 1978 Moultrie's Spence Field has hosted the Sunbelt Agricultural Exposition, one of the biggest farm shows in the country. Its Coca-Cola bottler goes back far enough that the town's name is on old straight-sided Coke bottles, from before the contour bottle took over. And Moultrie's own Riverside Manufacturing Company, started in 1911, made the uniforms for Coca-Cola bottlers' route men - their sample sheets and folders from 1959 and 1963 still turn up. Moultrie had other soda men too: John Morrison Carlton Sr. and Robert M. Carlton ran a Dr Pepper bottling plant in town from 1935 to 1950.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"relatedBlock\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🔎 More From The Vintage \u0026amp; Antique Gifts Archive\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/1970s-sun-rise-grape-soda-cap-coca-cola-minnesota-vintage-treasures\"\u003eVintage Sun‑Rise Grape Soda Bottle Cap 🍇 Coca‑Cola Bottling, Marshall MN (1970s)\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1970s-orange-soda-bottle-cap-uncommon-americana-memorabilia-treasures\"\u003eVintage NOS 1970s Orange Soda Bottle Cap 🍊 Americana Memorabilia\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1970s-sun-crest-orange-soda-bottle-cap-atlanta-ga-treasures\"\u003eVintage 1970s Sun Crest Orange Soda Bottle Cap 🍊 Atlanta, Georgia\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-mountain-dew-bottle-cap-awesome-moonshiner-hillbilly-philadelphia-pa\"\u003eVintage 1990s Mountain Dew Bottle Cap 🍾 Willy the Hillbilly Moonshiner Twist-Off Crown NOS\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/frostie-root-beer-cork-bottle-cap-elf-whs\"\u003eVintage 1960s Frostie Root Beer Cork-Lined Bottle Cap 🥤 Elf Mascot Soda Advertising Crown Cap, Catonsville Maryland\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42050323415272,"sku":"VAG-7445941223656","price":5.5,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.3463785014_nscb.jpg?v=1785356189"},{"product_id":"vintage-virginia-dare-korker-bottle-cap-new-bedford-ma-brooklyn-ny-1970s","title":"Vintage NOS 1970s Virginia Dare Korker Bottle Cap 🥤 Brooklyn NY \u0026 New Bedford MA","description":"\u003ch2\u003eWhat Was a Virginia Dare Korker? 🥤 Vintage NOS 1970s Bottle Cap, Brooklyn NY\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1 1\/4\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cdiv style=\"position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; margin-bottom: 20px;\"\u003e\u003ciframe style=\"position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/BdIC9ViQswk\"\u003e\n  \u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eKorker was Virginia Dare's lemon soda, and this is one of its caps, never used and still flat at the edges. I love that a soda cap had to carry its own ingredient list, and there's a good reason it did, which I'll get to.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🔍 What's On It\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA bright yellow cap with a dark green checkered band around the edge and \u003cstrong\u003eVIRGINIA DARE KORKER\u003c\/strong\u003e in dark green, then \u003cstrong\u003eCONTAINS CARBONATED WATER, SUGAR, CITRIC ACID, AND FLAVOR\u003c\/strong\u003e. Around the skirt, in green and yellow stripes, it says \u003cstrong\u003eUNDER FRANCHISE V.D. EXT. CO.\u003c\/strong\u003e and \u003cstrong\u003eZapatA®\u003c\/strong\u003e. Inside is a molded plastic liner.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat ZapatA isn't a bottler, it's the company that made the cap. Zapata Industries of Frackville, Pennsylvania registered the ZAPATA name for bottle caps in February 1970, and their slogan was \"From Z to A, the best of everything in crowns.\" Because the cap prints the ® after the name, it was made after that 1970 registration. Zapata made crowns in this country until 2003, when the Muskogee, Oklahoma plant closed and production moved to Mexico.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🍋 Why the Cap Tells You What's Inside\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eV.D. EXT. CO. is the Virginia Dare Extract Company of Brooklyn, New York. It didn't bottle anything itself. It sold its syrups to franchise bottlers all over the country, and they bottled Virginia Dare sodas \"under authority.\" The bottlers used one plain Virginia Dare bottle for every flavor, and the bottle sent you to the cap to find out what you were drinking. A New Bedford, Massachusetts bottler's Virginia Dare bottle actually says it on the back: \"TRUE OR ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR (SEE CROWN).\" So the cap was the label.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eKorker was Virginia Dare's 7-Up-style lemon soda, and it was around a long time. Back in 1938 a little bottler in Corinth, Mississippi called Noel's Cola was buying Korker from Virginia Dare, and the owner's son said it was one of his two favorite drinks. They even had an 11-year-old Noel's Cola Queen ride a delivery truck in the parade the day they launched.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🍇 Virginia Dare\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe name goes back to Garrett \u0026amp; Company, the winemakers. Their line traces to a North Carolina vineyard started in 1835, and they put the name Virginia Dare on their wine made from the native scuppernong grape. Before Prohibition, Virginia Dare was the best-selling wine in the country. Garrett moved to Brooklyn around 1920 and spent 45 years in Building 10 of Bush Terminal in Sunset Park, and in 1923 the flavoring side was incorporated on its own as the Virginia Dare Extract Company, under a chemist from Massachusetts named Bernard H. Smith. His grandson Howard Smith Sr. became president in 1961 and ran it until 2009, so a Smith was in charge when this cap was printed, and the company is still making flavors in Brooklyn today.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe real Virginia Dare was born on Roanoke Island on August 18, 1587, the first English child born in the Americas, granddaughter of Governor John White, and she vanished with the rest of the Lost Colony. The legend that grew up around her says she was turned into a white doe, and in Sallie Southall Cotten's 1901 poem the place where she died sprouted a new vine whose grapes were sweet and red as blood, the scuppernong. The story goes that Garrett \u0026amp; Company paid for that poem and gave the book away with bottles of Virginia Dare wine. And Roanoke Island's old Mother Vine, said to be the oldest grapevine in the United States, supplied scuppernong grapes to Paul Garrett.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🏘️ New Bedford and Brooklyn\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThese caps came to me as New Bedford, Massachusetts and Brooklyn, New York, and both fit. Brooklyn is Virginia Dare's home, and New Bedford had a Virginia Dare franchise bottler, the Rodman Club Bottling Co. People who grew up there in the late 1970s remember the soda shop on Nash Road, kids pulling red wagons to fill a wooden case with whatever flavors they wanted, and bringing the bottles back. The cap doesn't name its bottler, but that's the world it comes from.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e📏 Details\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eVintage 1970s Virginia Dare Korker crown bottle cap, yellow and dark green\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSkirt: Under franchise V.D. Ext. Co. and the ZapatA® cap maker's mark\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMolded plastic liner, never crimped onto a bottle, New Old Stock\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAbout 1 1\/4\" across\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eYou'll get one cap like the ones shown\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e🖼️ It's a fun one for a soda cap collection, a Brooklyn or New Bedford shadow box, or anybody who remembers picking flavors out of a wooden case.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"relatedBlock\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🔎 More From The Vintage \u0026amp; Antique Gifts Archive\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1970s-double-cola-bottle-cap-seven-up-bottling-hagerstown-md-treasures\"\u003eVintage 1970s NOS Double Cola Bottle Cap 🥤 Seven Up Bottling Hagerstown MD\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-cream-soda-bottle-cap-hagerstown-md-beautiful-blue\"\u003eVintage NOS 1960s Cream Soda Bottle Cap 🥤 Cork Lined | P.C.C.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1970s-brewers-root-beer-bottle-cap-reading-pa-americana-treasures\"\u003eVintage NOS 1970s Brewers Root Beer Bottle Cap 🍺 Reading Pennsylvania\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-mountain-dew-bottle-cap-awesome-moonshiner-hillbilly-philadelphia-pa\"\u003eVintage 1990s Mountain Dew Bottle Cap 🍾 Willy the Hillbilly Moonshiner Twist-Off Crown NOS\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/frostie-root-beer-cork-bottle-cap-elf-whs\"\u003eVintage 1960s Frostie Root Beer Cork-Lined Bottle Cap 🥤 Elf Mascot Soda Advertising Crown Cap, Catonsville Maryland\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42050781479144,"sku":"VAG-7446021013736","price":5.5,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.7818619957_i5ce.jpg?v=1785356197"},{"product_id":"coach-four-black-raspberry-soda-label-philadelphia-pa","title":"Vintage 1970s Coach and Four Black Raspberry Soda Label 🐎 from Philadelphia, PA","description":"\u003ch2\u003eRemember Black Raspberry Soda? 🐎 Vintage 1970s Coach and Four Soda Label, Philadelphia, PA\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 3 1\/2\" x 2 1\/2\" ~ little to no wear\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"max-width:315px;margin:0 auto 20px;\"\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:177.78%;height:0;overflow:hidden;\"\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/SWczWGJPstU\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer;autoplay;clipboard-write;encrypted-media;gyroscope;picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eBlack raspberry is one of those flavors you just don't see on a soda label much anymore, which is part of why I like this one so much. Add that little stagecoach and the colors, and it's a great Philadelphia label with a real story behind it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🐎 What's on it\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCOACH AND FOUR\u003c\/strong\u003e over a black silhouette of a coachman and four horses, then \u003cstrong\u003eBlack Raspberry SODA\u003c\/strong\u003e, and the fine print, word for word: \u003cem\u003e\"Artificially colored, preserved with sodium benzoate, caramel color added.\"\u003c\/em\u003e Along the foot: \u003cem\u003e\"Bottled under authority of Coach and Four Products Co., Phila., Pa. 19140.\"\u003c\/em\u003e The back is plain paper.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e👬 The people behind the stagecoach\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe name went on soft drinks for the first time on \u003cstrong\u003eJune 26, 1956\u003c\/strong\u003e, spelled COACH'N FOUR back then. \u003cstrong\u003eSheffield Bottling Co.\u003c\/strong\u003e, a Philadelphia partnership doing business as \"Coach 'N Four Products Co.,\" registered it with the U.S. Patent Office on \u003cstrong\u003eJanuary 29, 1957\u003c\/strong\u003e, trademark No. 640,759, for \"maltless soft drinks and carbonated waters.\" \u003cstrong\u003eHarry Labovitz\u003c\/strong\u003e signed for it as a partner.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn \u003cstrong\u003eJuly 11, 1969\u003c\/strong\u003e Sheffield passed the name and its goodwill to \u003cstrong\u003eCoach and Four Products Company\u003c\/strong\u003e, a partnership of \u003cstrong\u003eHarry Labovitz and Arthur Labovitz\u003c\/strong\u003e on North 6th Street in North Philadelphia, ZIP 19140, the same ZIP printed on this label. In January 1971 the registration was amended to the new owner and to the COACH AND FOUR form you see printed here. The trademark was renewed in 1977 and lapsed in 1997. Along the way the line ran to ginger ale, ginger beer, tonic water, bitter lemon, club soda, sarsaparilla and this black raspberry.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🏠 The family bottling works behind the stagecoach\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCoach and Four was a brand of \u003cstrong\u003eSheffield Bottling Co.\u003c\/strong\u003e, a family soda works at 3727-3729 North 6th Street, listed there in a bottlers' trade journal as early as 1945. Sheffield told the Patent Office it had used its mark on soft drinks since \u003cstrong\u003eOctober 6, 1931\u003c\/strong\u003e. In 1949 Mr. Labovitz of Sheffield was president of the Philadelphia Manufacturers of Carbonated Beverages and sat on the board of the Pennsylvania Bottlers Association, and in 1950 Sheffield was packing Logan Beverages for the Penn Mutual Grocery Co. A 1974 Philadelphia industrial directory still lists the Sheffield Beverage company at 3729 N. 6th St., ZIP 19140, making soft drinks with 20 employees, \u003cstrong\u003eHarry and Arthur Labovitz\u003c\/strong\u003e partners.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA grandson of the family got in touch with me about this brand, and the way the family tells it, Coach and Four was meant to be the more polished line next to the everyday Sheffield label. Sheffield bottled a Wishniak cherry of its own, and getting into Philadelphia's tight-knit Polish neighborhoods mattered back then (wiśniak is the Polish name for a cherry cordial). Frank's, the much bigger company, had a Wishniak too, and he says the Polish customers liked Sheffield's best of its three cherry sodas, Wishniak, Cherry and Maraschino, even though all three were the same recipe. A big part of the business was filling seltzer bottles for Philadelphia's hotels and bars and for the dining cars of the Pennsylvania Railroad, headquartered right here in Philadelphia, and when Sheffield bought out smaller bottlers it kept their labels, Girard and Rising Sun among them, running on the old routes so the customers got what they were used to.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e⚖️ The milk company that wanted the name\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn November 1961 Sheffield applied to register its own label: SHEFFIELD on a red-and-gold pennant with a chess knight and the word \"Tingly.\" \u003cstrong\u003eNational Dairy Products Corporation\u003c\/strong\u003e, the company behind New York's Sheffield Farms milk, opposed it, and its own Sheffield Farms carbonated drinks, ginger ale and club soda among them, came up in the case. The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board dismissed the opposition on \u003cstrong\u003eJune 7, 1967\u003c\/strong\u003e. National Dairy appealed to the U.S. Court of Customs and Patent Appeals, and that appeal was dismissed on \u003cstrong\u003eMay 9, 1969\u003c\/strong\u003e. Two months later the Coach and Four name went to its own company. The family remembers the legal bills of fighting for the Sheffield name, with more still coming, as the reason everything moved over to Coach and Four. And that chess knight? The grandson says his dad loved carved chess pieces.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\"Bottled under authority of\" means the company owned the brand and the flavors while the bottles were filled under its label. The bottling was the family's own: Sheffield's works on the same block of North 6th Street.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e📅 How old is it?\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe company name dates it. Five-digit ZIPs began on \u003cstrong\u003eJuly 1, 1963\u003c\/strong\u003e, so the ZIP alone says 1963 or later, but \"Coach and Four Products Co.\" is the Labovitz partnership that took over the name in July 1969, and the COACH AND FOUR form printed here only went onto the registration in January 1971. The family firm is still in the Philadelphia industrial directories in 1971 and 1974, and the mark was renewed in 1977. That makes this a \u003cstrong\u003e1970s\u003c\/strong\u003e label.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🫐 Black raspberries\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe black raspberry is an all-American berry. It grows wild across eastern North America, from New Brunswick out to Nebraska, and it goes by other names too: black caps, scotch caps, even bear's eye blackberry. It's the fruit in France's Chambord liqueur (Korea's bokbunja wine comes from a black raspberry of Korea's own), and it's packed with the deep purple anthocyanins that make it a natural food dye. Today the center of black raspberry growing is Oregon's Willamette Valley, where the berries are tipped by hand in summer and machine-picked, which keeps yields low and prices high.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSo a black raspberry soda that owns up to being \"artificially colored\" on the label is a little bit funny to me. The real berry is about the best natural coloring there is!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🥤 Philadelphia's dark fruit sodas\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePhiladelphia has its own soda legends, and one of the best known is a dark fruit soda: Frank's Black Cherry Wishniak, from the company Jacob Frank started in 1885 selling lemon soda on the city's streets. Coach and Four's black raspberry comes out of that same Philadelphia tradition of small local bottlers making their own flavors.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🎨 A coach and four\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA coach and four is a carriage pulled by four horses, all driven four-in-hand by one driver. Philadelphia's own famous one hangs in the Philadelphia Museum of Art: Thomas Eakins's \u003cem\u003eThe Fairman Rogers Four-in-Hand\u003c\/em\u003e (1879 to 1880), with the horses posed from Eadweard Muybridge's 1878 photographs of horses in motion.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🏡 Display\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrame it in a kitchen, a bar or a game room, or collect all the Coach and Four flavors and hang them as a set. Black raspberry is the odd one out in that lineup, which is exactly why I like it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"relatedBlock\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🔎 More From The Vintage \u0026amp; Antique Gifts Archive\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/coach-four-sarsaparilla-label-philadelphia-pa\"\u003eVintage 1970s Philadelphia Coach and Four 🐎 Sarsaparilla Soda Label Pair\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/coach-and-four-soda-labels-set-of-7-philadelphia\"\u003eVintage Combo Coach and Four Soda Labels 🐎 from the 1970s\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-coach-four-bitter-lemon-soda-beverage-label-philadelphia-pa\"\u003eVintage 1970s Coach and Four Bitter Lemon 🍋 Soda Label Pair — Stagecoach Silhouette, Philadelphia PA\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-70s-high-hand-pear-label-brings-loomis-charm-life-treasures\"\u003eVintage 1970s High Hand Crate Label 🍐 Loomis, CA, Poker, Four Aces, Historic!\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-brownie-root-beer-neck-label-atlas-bottling-detroit\"\u003eVintage Brownie Root Beer 🍺 Neck Label NOS Atlas Bottling Detroit Michigan 1950s Elf Mascot Soda Ephemera\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42053191074024,"sku":"VAG-7446893232360","price":5.5,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/vintage-1970s-coach-and-four-black-raspberry-soda-label-from-philadelphia-pa.jpg?v=1793926311"},{"product_id":"coach-four-sarsaparilla-label-philadelphia-pa","title":"Vintage 1970s Philadelphia Coach and Four 🐎 Sarsaparilla Soda Label Pair","description":"\u003ch2\u003eWho Drank Sarsaparilla in Philadelphia? 🐎 Vintage 1970s Coach and Four Sarsaparilla Soda Label\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 3 1\/2\" x 2 1\/2\" each\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"max-width:315px;margin:0 auto 20px;\"\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:177.78%;height:0;overflow:hidden;\"\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/2giLX-3D2kc\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer;autoplay;clipboard-write;encrypted-media;gyroscope;picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis one's a pair - two of these Coach and Four Sarsaparilla labels come to you together.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eSay \"sarsaparilla\" and half of us picture a dusty cowboy leaning on a saloon bar. This little Philadelphia label is a lot more city than that, but the drink it names has one of the wildest histories on any soda shelf. Great yellow and black colors, that stagecoach, and a story worth telling.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🐎 What's on it\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCOACH AND FOUR\u003c\/strong\u003e over a black coach-and-four silhouette, \u003cstrong\u003eSarsaparilla\u003c\/strong\u003e across the yellow band, and the fine print: \u003cem\u003e\"Contains carbonated water, sugar, caramel coloring, artificial sarsaparilla flavoring, preserved with sodium benzoate.\"\u003c\/em\u003e Along the foot: \u003cem\u003e\"Bottled under authority of Coach and Four Products Co., Phila., Pa. 19140.\"\u003c\/em\u003e Plain paper back.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e👬 The people behind the stagecoach\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe name first went on soft drinks on \u003cstrong\u003eJune 26, 1956\u003c\/strong\u003e, spelled COACH'N FOUR back then. \u003cstrong\u003eSheffield Bottling Co.\u003c\/strong\u003e, a Philadelphia partnership trading as \"Coach 'N Four Products Co.,\" registered the name with the U.S. Patent Office on \u003cstrong\u003eJanuary 29, 1957\u003c\/strong\u003e (trademark No. 640,759), with \u003cstrong\u003eHarry Labovitz\u003c\/strong\u003e signing as partner. On \u003cstrong\u003eJuly 11, 1969\u003c\/strong\u003e the name and goodwill went to \u003cstrong\u003eCoach and Four Products Company\u003c\/strong\u003e, the partnership of \u003cstrong\u003eHarry Labovitz and Arthur Labovitz\u003c\/strong\u003e on North 6th Street in North Philadelphia, ZIP 19140, which is the company named on this label. In January 1971 the registration was amended to the new owner and to the COACH AND FOUR form printed here. The mark was renewed in 1977 and lapsed in 1997.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🏠 The family bottling works behind the stagecoach\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCoach and Four was a brand of \u003cstrong\u003eSheffield Bottling Co.\u003c\/strong\u003e, a family soda works at 3727-3729 North 6th Street, listed there in a bottlers' trade journal as early as 1945. Sheffield told the Patent Office it had used its mark on soft drinks since \u003cstrong\u003eOctober 6, 1931\u003c\/strong\u003e. In 1949 Mr. Labovitz of Sheffield was president of the Philadelphia Manufacturers of Carbonated Beverages and sat on the board of the Pennsylvania Bottlers Association, and in 1950 Sheffield was packing Logan Beverages for the Penn Mutual Grocery Co. A 1974 Philadelphia industrial directory still lists the Sheffield Beverage company at 3729 N. 6th St., ZIP 19140, making soft drinks with 20 employees, \u003cstrong\u003eHarry and Arthur Labovitz\u003c\/strong\u003e partners.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA grandson of the family got in touch with me about this brand, and the way the family tells it, Coach and Four was meant to be the more polished line next to the everyday Sheffield label. Coach and Four got the dressier names, which is why this label says sarsaparilla where the everyday Sheffield label said root beer. A big part of the business was filling seltzer bottles for Philadelphia's hotels and bars and for the dining cars of the Pennsylvania Railroad, headquartered right here in Philadelphia, and when Sheffield bought out smaller bottlers it kept their labels, Girard and Rising Sun among them, running on the old routes so the customers got what they were used to.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e⚖️ The milk company that wanted the name\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn November 1961 Sheffield applied to register its own label: SHEFFIELD on a red-and-gold pennant with a chess knight and the word \"Tingly.\" \u003cstrong\u003eNational Dairy Products Corporation\u003c\/strong\u003e, the company behind New York's Sheffield Farms milk, opposed it, and its own Sheffield Farms carbonated drinks, ginger ale and club soda among them, came up in the case. The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board dismissed the opposition on \u003cstrong\u003eJune 7, 1967\u003c\/strong\u003e. National Dairy appealed to the U.S. Court of Customs and Patent Appeals, and that appeal was dismissed on \u003cstrong\u003eMay 9, 1969\u003c\/strong\u003e. Two months later the Coach and Four name went to its own company. The family remembers the legal bills of fighting for the Sheffield name, with more still coming, as the reason everything moved over to Coach and Four. And that chess knight? The grandson says his dad loved carved chess pieces.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\n\u003ch3\u003e📅 How old is it?\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThree clues on the label itself. The five-digit ZIP, 19140, can't predate \u003cstrong\u003eJuly 1, 1963\u003c\/strong\u003e, when ZIP codes began. And look at the words \"artificial sarsaparilla flavoring.\" Old-time sarsaparilla leaned on sassafras oil, but on \u003cstrong\u003eNovember 30, 1960\u003c\/strong\u003e the FDA banned safrole and sassafras oil from food after safrole was found to cause cancer. Every American sarsaparilla after that had to get its flavor another way, and this label says so right on its face. And the name at the foot, \"Coach and Four Products Co.,\" is the Labovitz partnership that took over in July 1969, printed with the COACH AND FOUR form that only went onto the registration in January 1971. That makes it a \u003cstrong\u003e1970s\u003c\/strong\u003e label.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e💊 From \"blood purifier\" to soda pop\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSarsaparilla started out as medicine. The real thing came from the root of a tropical vine, \u003cem\u003eSmilax\u003c\/em\u003e, and in the 1800s it was sold by the bottle as a cure for \"skin and blood problems.\" One of the biggest names was Charles Ira Hood, a druggist's son from Chelsea, Vermont, who opened a drug store in Lowell, Massachusetts and started compounding \u003cstrong\u003eHood's Sarsaparilla\u003c\/strong\u003e in 1876. His mix had sarsaparilla root, dandelion, gentian, juniper berries and about \u003cstrong\u003e18 percent alcohol\u003c\/strong\u003e, and he claimed it purified the blood and helped everything from rheumatism to heart trouble. It sold like crazy. By 1898 his Lowell laboratory had 175,000 square feet of floor space, the largest building in the world devoted to making patent medicine.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHere's the part I love as a paper collector: Hood was a leader in using color lithography for advertising. He printed everything in-house on twenty presses of his own, trade cards, posters, calendars, cookbooks and pamphlets, which is why so much colorful Hood's ephemera still turns up today. A label like this one comes straight out of that tradition of selling a drink with a great-looking piece of printed paper.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOnce the medicine claims faded, sarsaparilla settled in as a soft drink, and popular culture did the rest: the parched cowboy asking for a sarsaparilla at the saloon. It's much harder to find in America now, but it's still a big seller across Southeast Asia, as \"Sarsi\" in the Philippines and Singapore.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🎨 A coach and four\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA coach and four is a carriage pulled by four horses and driven four-in-hand by one driver. Philadelphia's own famous one is Thomas Eakins's painting \u003cem\u003eThe Fairman Rogers Four-in-Hand\u003c\/em\u003e (1879 to 1880), in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, with the horses posed from Eadweard Muybridge's 1878 photographs of horses in motion.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🏡 Display\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis one's fun framed in a kitchen, a bar, or a western-themed den, and it looks great with the rest of the Coach and Four flavors as a set.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"relatedBlock\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🔎 More From The Vintage \u0026amp; Antique Gifts Archive\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/coach-four-black-raspberry-soda-label-philadelphia-pa\"\u003eVintage 1970s Coach and Four Black Raspberry Soda Label 🐎 from Philadelphia, PA\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/coach-four-sarsaparilla-soda-beverage-label-philadelphia\"\u003eVintage 1970s Coach and Four Sarsaparilla 🍺 Soda Bottle Label Philadelphia PA Coach \u0026amp; Four Products Co.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/coach-and-four-soda-labels-set-of-7-philadelphia\"\u003eVintage Combo Coach and Four Soda Labels 🐎 from the 1970s\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1960s-1970s-horlacher-brewing-beer-label-pair-perfection-nine-months-old-gnomes-and-dukes-bulldog-allentown-pa\"\u003eVintage 1960s-1970s Horlacher Brewing Beer Label Pair 🍺 Perfection Nine Months Old Gnomes and Duke's Bulldog, Allentown PA\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/antique-to-vintage-1920s-1950s-lindbergh-label-set-lone-eagle-crate-label-pair-spirit-of-st-louis-cigar-label\"\u003eAntique to Vintage 1920s-1950s Lindbergh Label Set ✈️ Lone Eagle Crate Label Pair, Spirit of St. Louis Cigar Label\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42096731914472,"sku":"VAG-7463111622888","price":5.5,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/pair_edc07cc5-92ca-4ae7-bf05-af59a7293a3e.jpg?v=1793345052"},{"product_id":"coach-and-four-soda-labels-set-of-7-philadelphia","title":"Vintage Combo Coach and Four Soda Labels 🐎 from the 1970s","description":"\u003ch2\u003eWant All Seven Coach and Four Soda Flavors? 🐎 The Coach and Four Line, All Seven Flavors\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 3 1\/2\" x 2 1\/2\" ~ Unused. ~ little to slight wear.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"max-width:315px;margin:0 auto 20px;\"\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:177.78%;height:0;overflow:hidden;\"\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/mEmpvi-_RaE\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer;autoplay;clipboard-write;encrypted-media;gyroscope;picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis is a set of seven Coach and Four bottle labels - Sarsaparilla, Bitter Lemon, Black Raspberry Soda, Ginger Beer, Ginger Ale, Tonic Water and Club Soda - every one of them wearing the same stagecoach-and-four-horses mark in its own color band. A \"coach and four\" is literally a carriage pulled by four horses, and that's exactly the little scene printed across each label: team out front, coach behind, reins in hand. Whoever built this brand knew what they were doing - it's a mark you'd spot across a whole shelf of flavors without reading a word.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003e📮 The Zip Codes Start the Dating\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEvery label reads \"Bottled under authority of Coach and Four Products Co., Phila., Pa.\" with a five-digit zip code printed right after the address - the Sarsaparilla, Bitter Lemon, Black Raspberry and Ginger Beer say 19140, and the Ginger Ale, Tonic Water and Club Soda say 19117. Five-digit zip codes are younger than you'd think: the Post Office Department didn't introduce them until July 1, 1963, and rolled them out with a cartoon mascot named Mr. ZIP and something like 72 million postcards mailed that day to explain the new system. So any label carrying one of these codes was printed in 1963 or later. I like when the object hands you its own timestamp like that.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003e🍹 More Bar Cart Than Soda Fountain\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLook at the flavor list and this set skews grown-up. Tonic Water says \"Contains Quinine\" right on the label. Bitter Lemon is \"made with whole lemons and quinine salt.\" Ginger Beer lists \"Jamaica ginger, citric acid and citrus oils.\" Between those, Club Soda and Ginger Ale, that's most of a 1970s home bar in one lineup - with Sarsaparilla and Black Raspberry Soda thrown in for whoever at the party wasn't drinking cocktails.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003e🏭 Bottled Under Authority Of\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Bottled under authority of\" is printed right on every label, and it is the brand company signing for its bottler. Here the bottler was family: the Coach and Four partnership and the Sheffield bottling works shared North 6th Street. And the company does have a paper trail, in the U.S. Patent Office. The name first went on soft drinks on \u003cstrong\u003eJune 26, 1956\u003c\/strong\u003e, spelled COACH'N FOUR back then, and it was registered on \u003cstrong\u003eJanuary 29, 1957\u003c\/strong\u003e (trademark No. 640,759, for \"maltless soft drinks and carbonated waters\") by \u003cstrong\u003eSheffield Bottling Co.\u003c\/strong\u003e, a Philadelphia partnership doing business as \"Coach 'N Four Products Co.,\" with \u003cstrong\u003eHarry Labovitz\u003c\/strong\u003e signing as a partner. On \u003cstrong\u003eJuly 11, 1969\u003c\/strong\u003e Sheffield handed the name and its goodwill to a new partnership, \u003cstrong\u003eCoach and Four Products Company\u003c\/strong\u003e, which was \u003cstrong\u003eHarry Labovitz and Arthur Labovitz\u003c\/strong\u003e on North 6th Street in North Philadelphia, ZIP 19140. That's the company name printed on every label in this set, and in January 1971 the registration was amended to the new owner and to the COACH AND FOUR form these labels carry, so these belong to the Labovitz years of the \u003cstrong\u003e1970s\u003c\/strong\u003e. The trademark was renewed in 1977 and finally lapsed in 1997. The other ZIP, 19117 on the Ginger Ale, Tonic Water and Club Soda, is Elkins Park, just over the city line in Cheltenham Township, so the company printed from two addresses over its life.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🏠 The family bottling works behind the stagecoach\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCoach and Four was a brand of \u003cstrong\u003eSheffield Bottling Co.\u003c\/strong\u003e, a family soda works at 3727-3729 North 6th Street, listed there in a bottlers' trade journal as early as 1945. Sheffield told the Patent Office it had used its mark on soft drinks since \u003cstrong\u003eOctober 6, 1931\u003c\/strong\u003e. In 1949 Mr. Labovitz of Sheffield was president of the Philadelphia Manufacturers of Carbonated Beverages and sat on the board of the Pennsylvania Bottlers Association, and in 1950 Sheffield was packing Logan Beverages for the Penn Mutual Grocery Co. A 1974 Philadelphia industrial directory still lists the Sheffield Beverage company at 3729 N. 6th St., ZIP 19140, making soft drinks with 20 employees, \u003cstrong\u003eHarry and Arthur Labovitz\u003c\/strong\u003e partners.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA grandson of the family got in touch with me about this brand, and the way the family tells it, Coach and Four was meant to be the more polished line next to the everyday Sheffield label. This set is the Coach and Four side of that business: the dressier names, sarsaparilla instead of root beer, and tonic water, bitter lemon, ginger beer and club soda for the bar. The Sheffield label carried the everyday flavors, which the family remembers as orange, lemon, grapefruit, lime, cola, root beer, quinine water, club soda, cream, the cherries, ginger ale, Zip Gassosa, grape and wintergreen. The cherries were three: Wishniak, made to win over the Polish neighborhoods (wiśniak is the Polish name for a cherry cordial) against the much bigger Frank's, plus Cherry and Maraschino, all one recipe. Rising Sun, one of the bottlers the family says they took over, had been started by Nicola Di Croce, born in Pianella, Italy, in 1879. A big part of the business was filling seltzer bottles for Philadelphia's hotels and bars and for the dining cars of the Pennsylvania Railroad, headquartered right here in Philadelphia, and when Sheffield bought out smaller bottlers it kept their labels, Girard and Rising Sun among them, running on the old routes so the customers got what they were used to.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e⚖️ The milk company that wanted the name\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn November 1961 Sheffield applied to register its own label: SHEFFIELD on a red-and-gold pennant with a chess knight and the word \"Tingly.\" \u003cstrong\u003eNational Dairy Products Corporation\u003c\/strong\u003e, the company behind New York's Sheffield Farms milk, opposed it, and its own Sheffield Farms carbonated drinks, ginger ale and club soda among them, came up in the case. The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board dismissed the opposition on \u003cstrong\u003eJune 7, 1967\u003c\/strong\u003e. National Dairy appealed to the U.S. Court of Customs and Patent Appeals, and that appeal was dismissed on \u003cstrong\u003eMay 9, 1969\u003c\/strong\u003e. Two months later the Coach and Four name went to its own company. The family remembers the legal bills of fighting for the Sheffield name, with more still coming, as the reason everything moved over to Coach and Four. And that chess knight? The grandson says his dad loved carved chess pieces.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🫚 A Little History in Every Flavor\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTonic water began as medicine: British officers in 19th-century India took bitter quinine against malaria and mixed it with soda and sugar to get it down, the first commercial tonic was patented in London in 1858, and the gin and tonic turns up in print in 1868. Ginger beer is older still, first brewed in Yorkshire in the mid-1700s, and in 1928 a snail in a bottle of it in Paisley, Scotland led to \u003cem\u003eDonoghue v Stevenson\u003c\/em\u003e, the 1932 case that founded modern negligence law. Sarsaparilla was sold in the 1800s as a \"blood purifier,\" and after the FDA banned sassafras oil in 1960 it had to be flavored another way, which is why Coach and Four's label says \"artificial sarsaparilla flavoring.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🎨 The Name\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePhiladelphia's most famous coach and four is Thomas Eakins's painting \u003cem\u003eThe Fairman Rogers Four-in-Hand\u003c\/em\u003e (1879 to 1880), in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, with the horses posed from Eadweard Muybridge's 1878 photographs of horses in motion. A Philadelphia soda company picked a great Philadelphia image for its mark.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"relatedBlock\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🔎 More From The Vintage \u0026amp; Antique Gifts Archive\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/coach-four-black-raspberry-soda-label-philadelphia-pa\"\u003eVintage 1970s Coach and Four Black Raspberry Soda Label 🐎 from Philadelphia, PA\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/coach-four-sarsaparilla-label-philadelphia-pa\"\u003eVintage 1970s Philadelphia Coach and Four 🐎 Sarsaparilla Soda Label Pair\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/coach-four-club-soda-label-philadelphia-pa\"\u003eVintage 1970s Coach and Four Club Soda 🍾 Label Pair Philadelphia PA Lithograph Stagecoach Four Horses\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/antique-1910s-1930s-poison-label-set-carbolic-nitric-sulphuric-oxalic-acid-and-arsenate-of-lead-druggist-antidote-labels\"\u003eAntique 1910s-1930s Poison Label Set ☠️ Carbolic, Nitric, Sulphuric, Oxalic Acid and Arsenate of Lead, Druggist Antidote Labels\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/antique-1930s-artesian-birch-beer-sarsaparilla-labels-dwyer-clinton-mass\"\u003eAntique 1930s M. T. Dwyer Artesian Birch Beer Sarsaparilla Bottle Labels 🍺 NOS Paper Unused Clinton Massachusetts Combo Pair\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42102116155624,"sku":"VAG-7464868085992","price":26.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.3535430631_e9zn.jpg?v=1785356351"},{"product_id":"coach-four-club-soda-label-philadelphia-pa","title":"Vintage 1970s Coach and Four Club Soda 🍾 Label Pair Philadelphia PA Lithograph Stagecoach Four Horses","description":"\u003ch2\u003eWhat Made Club Soda Plain? 🍾 Vintage 1970s Coach and Four Club Soda Label, Philadelphia PA\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 3 1\/2\" x 2 1\/2\" each ~ little to no wear\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"max-width:315px;margin:0 auto 20px;\"\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:177.78%;height:0;overflow:hidden;\"\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/25ucDHNb-Jc\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer;autoplay;clipboard-write;encrypted-media;gyroscope;picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis one's a pair - two of these Coach and Four Club Soda labels come to you together.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis label is becoming uncommon now and is very collectible. Really cool stagecoach and colors! Club soda is the plainest thing a soda company ever bottled, just water and fizz, and it still has one of the best stories behind its name, so pull up a chair.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🐎 What's on it\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA small paper bottle label for Coach and Four Club Soda in royal blue, red and white. Across the top, \u003cstrong\u003eCOACH AND FOUR ®\u003c\/strong\u003e in tall white letters on blue. Through the middle, a bright red band between two thin gold rules, and on it a white silhouette of a coachman driving four horses at full gallop. Then \u003cstrong\u003eClub Soda\u003c\/strong\u003e in a big white script, and along the foot: \u003cem\u003e\"Bottled under authority of Coach and Four Products Co., Phila., Pa. 19117.\"\u003c\/em\u003e Unlike its ginger beer and sarsaparilla brothers, this one prints no ingredient list at all, because there isn't much to list. The back is plain paper. It's New Old Stock, printed and never pasted on a bottle.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e👬 The people behind the stagecoach\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe name went on soft drinks for the first time on \u003cstrong\u003eJune 26, 1956\u003c\/strong\u003e, spelled COACH'N FOUR back then, and a month later it was filed with the U.S. Patent Office by \u003cstrong\u003eSheffield Bottling Co.\u003c\/strong\u003e, a Philadelphia partnership doing business as \"Coach 'N Four Products Co.\" It was registered on \u003cstrong\u003eJanuary 29, 1957\u003c\/strong\u003e as trademark No. 640,759, for \"maltless soft drinks and carbonated waters.\" That's the little ® on the label. Signing for Sheffield, as a partner, was \u003cstrong\u003eHarry Labovitz\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn \u003cstrong\u003eJuly 11, 1969\u003c\/strong\u003e, Sheffield handed the name and all its goodwill to a new partnership, \u003cstrong\u003eCoach and Four Products Company\u003c\/strong\u003e, made up of \u003cstrong\u003eHarry Labovitz and Arthur Labovitz\u003c\/strong\u003e, on North 6th Street in North Philadelphia. That is the exact company name printed on this label, and in January 1971 the registration was amended to the new owner and to the COACH AND FOUR form printed here. The trademark was renewed in 1977 and finally lapsed in 1997, forty-one years after that first bottle in 1956.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🏠 The family bottling works behind the stagecoach\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCoach and Four was a brand of \u003cstrong\u003eSheffield Bottling Co.\u003c\/strong\u003e, a family soda works at 3727-3729 North 6th Street, listed there in a bottlers' trade journal as early as 1945. Sheffield told the Patent Office it had used its mark on soft drinks since \u003cstrong\u003eOctober 6, 1931\u003c\/strong\u003e. In 1949 Mr. Labovitz of Sheffield was president of the Philadelphia Manufacturers of Carbonated Beverages and sat on the board of the Pennsylvania Bottlers Association, and in 1950 Sheffield was packing Logan Beverages for the Penn Mutual Grocery Co. A 1974 Philadelphia industrial directory still lists the Sheffield Beverage company at 3729 N. 6th St., ZIP 19140, making soft drinks with 20 employees, \u003cstrong\u003eHarry and Arthur Labovitz\u003c\/strong\u003e partners.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA grandson of the family got in touch with me about this brand, and the way the family tells it, Coach and Four was meant to be the more polished line next to the everyday Sheffield label. Club soda, the drink on this label, was right at the heart of it. A big part of the business was filling seltzer bottles for Philadelphia's hotels and bars and for the dining cars of the Pennsylvania Railroad, headquartered right here in Philadelphia, and when Sheffield bought out smaller bottlers it kept their labels, Girard and Rising Sun among them, running on the old routes so the customers got what they were used to.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e⚖️ The milk company that wanted the name\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn November 1961 Sheffield applied to register its own label: SHEFFIELD on a red-and-gold pennant with a chess knight and the word \"Tingly.\" \u003cstrong\u003eNational Dairy Products Corporation\u003c\/strong\u003e, the company behind New York's Sheffield Farms milk, opposed it, and its own Sheffield Farms carbonated drinks, ginger ale and club soda among them, came up in the case. The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board dismissed the opposition on \u003cstrong\u003eJune 7, 1967\u003c\/strong\u003e. National Dairy appealed to the U.S. Court of Customs and Patent Appeals, and that appeal was dismissed on \u003cstrong\u003eMay 9, 1969\u003c\/strong\u003e. Two months later the Coach and Four name went to its own company. The family remembers the legal bills of fighting for the Sheffield name, with more still coming, as the reason everything moved over to Coach and Four. And that chess knight? The grandson says his dad loved carved chess pieces.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\"Bottled under authority of\" is the brand owner signing for the bottler: the company owned the name and the recipes, and the bottles were filled and capped at the family's own Sheffield works on the same block of North 6th Street. The Coach and Four line ran to ginger ale, ginger beer, tonic water, bitter lemon, club soda, sarsaparilla and black raspberry, and a club soda is exactly what you'd expect a mixer line to lead with. The big boys were in town too. Coca-Cola opened its Philadelphia bottling plant at 725 East Erie Avenue in Harrowgate in 1946, and all around it ran a whole world of smaller local bottlers making ginger ales, birch beers and mixers for the corner bars, delis and family basements of the city. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e📅 How old is it?\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat five-digit ZIP, 19117, can't be earlier than \u003cstrong\u003eJuly 1, 1963\u003c\/strong\u003e, the day the Post Office's Zone Improvement Plan, the ZIP code, began. And 19117 isn't in the city at all: it's \u003cstrong\u003eElkins Park\u003c\/strong\u003e, just over Philadelphia's northern line in Cheltenham Township, Montgomery County, even though the label still says \"Phila.\" The company's ginger beer label prints 19140, North Philadelphia, where the 1969 partnership was on North 6th Street, so Coach and Four printed labels from two addresses over the years. The 1969 company name at the foot, and the COACH AND FOUR form across the top that only went onto the registration in January 1971, make this a \u003cstrong\u003e1970s\u003c\/strong\u003e label, true vintage Philadelphia soda history.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🫧 Why is it called club soda?\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBubbly water is older than the United States. The English chemist \u003cstrong\u003eJoseph Priestley\u003c\/strong\u003e worked out how to force \"fixed air,\" carbon dioxide, into water and published his method in \u003cstrong\u003e1772\u003c\/strong\u003e. In \u003cstrong\u003e1783\u003c\/strong\u003e a Geneva jeweler and amateur scientist named \u003cstrong\u003eJohann Jacob Schweppe\u003c\/strong\u003e started making carbonated mineral water to sell, and yes, that's the Schweppes on the tonic bottle.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePhiladelphia likes to claim the next step. The story goes that around \u003cstrong\u003e1807\u003c\/strong\u003e the city's famous surgeon, \u003cstrong\u003eDr. Philip Syng Physick\u003c\/strong\u003e, had carbonated water made up for his patients, and that a Philadelphia druggist named Townsend Speakman stirred fruit juice into it and sold it as \"Nephite Julep,\" which Philly still calls the first American soft drink. The details get argued over, but it's a hometown legend worth keeping.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe name itself came from Ireland. In \u003cstrong\u003e1877\u003c\/strong\u003e the Dublin firm of \u003cstrong\u003eCantrell \u0026amp; Cochrane\u003c\/strong\u003e registered \"Club Soda\" as a trademark for a carbonated water made for the \u003cstrong\u003eKildare Street Club\u003c\/strong\u003e, one of Dublin's grand gentlemen's clubs, which had asked them to make it. The name stuck to the whole drink. And club soda isn't quite the same as seltzer: seltzer is just carbonated water, while club soda has a pinch of minerals added, things like sodium bicarbonate and potassium sulfate, to taste like a natural mineral spring.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn America, club soda's real job was the highball. Around \u003cstrong\u003e1895\u003c\/strong\u003e \"highball\" turned up as the new word for the Scotch and soda that had just come over from Britain, and after the great French wine blight, whiskey and soda settled into American bars for good. Where the word came from is still argued: one camp says \"ball\" was old Irish slang for a glass, so a highball was a tall one, and another ties it to a railroad whistle code. Either way, every one of them needed a bottle of club soda, and a mixer line like Coach and Four kept the club soda, ginger ale and ginger beer side by side for the highball, the Moscow Mule and everything in between.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🎨 A coach and four\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA coach and four is a carriage drawn by four horses, all four driven \"four-in-hand\" by one driver holding every rein. Philadelphia has the most famous one in American art. Around 1879 to 1880, Fairman Rogers, a Philadelphia engineer and devoted coachman, had Thomas Eakins paint him driving a coaching party through Fairmount Park. The painting, \u003cem\u003eThe Fairman Rogers Four-in-Hand\u003c\/em\u003e, hangs in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and Eakins posed its horses from Eadweard Muybridge's 1878 photographs of horses in motion, which makes it one of the first paintings to show exactly how horses move. A Philadelphia soda company choosing a coach and four for its label was picking one of the city's own great images.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🏡 Display\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eImagine hanging this vintage advertising on your wall as home decor in any room! That blue and red really pops in a simple frame, it's right at home over a bar cart or in a game room, and it pairs up nicely with the rest of the Coach and Four flavors if you want the whole set together.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"relatedBlock\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🔎 More From The Vintage \u0026amp; Antique Gifts Archive\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-coach-four-bitter-lemon-soda-beverage-label-philadelphia-pa\"\u003eVintage 1970s Coach and Four Bitter Lemon 🍋 Soda Label Pair — Stagecoach Silhouette, Philadelphia PA\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/coach-four-ginger-ale-soda-beverage-label-philadelphia-pa\"\u003eVintage 1970s Stage Coach and Four Ginger Ale Soda Beverage Label 🥤 Philadelphia, PA\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/coach-four-sarsaparilla-soda-beverage-label-philadelphia\"\u003eVintage 1970s Coach and Four Sarsaparilla 🍺 Soda Bottle Label Philadelphia PA Coach \u0026amp; Four Products Co.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1960s-1970s-horlacher-brewing-beer-label-pair-perfection-nine-months-old-gnomes-and-dukes-bulldog-allentown-pa\"\u003eVintage 1960s-1970s Horlacher Brewing Beer Label Pair 🍺 Perfection Nine Months Old Gnomes and Duke's Bulldog, Allentown PA\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/antique-to-vintage-1920s-1950s-lindbergh-label-set-lone-eagle-crate-label-pair-spirit-of-st-louis-cigar-label\"\u003eAntique to Vintage 1920s-1950s Lindbergh Label Set ✈️ Lone Eagle Crate Label Pair, Spirit of St. Louis Cigar Label\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42116687429864,"sku":"VAG-7470454276328","price":5.5,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/pair_1433457e-b146-49e2-b4e3-a734f7fbce35.jpg?v=1793345122"},{"product_id":"coach-four-tonic-water-label-philadelphia-pa","title":"Vintage 1970s Coach and Four Tonic Water Label Pair 🐎 from Philadelphia","description":"\u003ch2\u003eWho Mixed With Coach and Four Tonic Water? 🐎 Vintage 1970s Soda Label, Philadelphia\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 3 1\/2\" x 2 1\/2\" each ~ little to no wear\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"max-width:315px;margin:0 auto 20px;\"\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:177.78%;height:0;overflow:hidden;\"\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/NFSx6C0XnpU\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer;autoplay;clipboard-write;encrypted-media;gyroscope;picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis one's a pair - two of these Coach and Four Tonic Water labels come to you together.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eOf all the Coach and Four labels, I think this Tonic Water one is one of the sharpest: that little stagecoach, those clean colors, and two words on it, CONTAINS QUININE, that carry about four hundred years of history. Here's the story.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🐎 What's on it\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCOACH AND FOUR ®\u003c\/strong\u003e across the top in cream letters on black, then a bright red band edged in cream with a black coach-and-four silhouette on it, \u003cstrong\u003eTonic Water\u003c\/strong\u003e in big white script below, then \u003cem\u003e\"Contains quinine. Preserved with sodium benzoate.\"\u003c\/em\u003e and along the foot, \u003cem\u003e\"Bottled under authority of Coach and Four Products Co., Phila., Pa. 19117.\"\u003c\/em\u003e The back is plain paper.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e👬 The people behind the stagecoach\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe name was first used on soft drinks on \u003cstrong\u003eJune 26, 1956\u003c\/strong\u003e, spelled COACH'N FOUR back then. \u003cstrong\u003eSheffield Bottling Co.\u003c\/strong\u003e, a Philadelphia partnership doing business as \"Coach 'N Four Products Co.,\" filed it with the U.S. Patent Office that July and had it registered on \u003cstrong\u003eJanuary 29, 1957\u003c\/strong\u003e (trademark No. 640,759, for \"maltless soft drinks and carbonated waters\"). \u003cstrong\u003eHarry Labovitz\u003c\/strong\u003e signed as a partner.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn \u003cstrong\u003eJuly 11, 1969\u003c\/strong\u003e the name and its goodwill passed to \u003cstrong\u003eCoach and Four Products Company\u003c\/strong\u003e, a partnership of \u003cstrong\u003eHarry Labovitz and Arthur Labovitz\u003c\/strong\u003e, then on North 6th Street in North Philadelphia, ZIP 19140. In January 1971 the registration was amended to the new owner and to the COACH AND FOUR form printed on this label. The trademark was renewed in 1977 and lapsed in 1997.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🏠 The family bottling works behind the stagecoach\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCoach and Four was a brand of \u003cstrong\u003eSheffield Bottling Co.\u003c\/strong\u003e, a family soda works at 3727-3729 North 6th Street, listed there in a bottlers' trade journal as early as 1945. Sheffield told the Patent Office it had used its mark on soft drinks since \u003cstrong\u003eOctober 6, 1931\u003c\/strong\u003e. In 1949 Mr. Labovitz of Sheffield was president of the Philadelphia Manufacturers of Carbonated Beverages and sat on the board of the Pennsylvania Bottlers Association, and in 1950 Sheffield was packing Logan Beverages for the Penn Mutual Grocery Co. A 1974 Philadelphia industrial directory still lists the Sheffield Beverage company at 3729 N. 6th St., ZIP 19140, making soft drinks with 20 employees, \u003cstrong\u003eHarry and Arthur Labovitz\u003c\/strong\u003e partners.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA grandson of the family got in touch with me about this brand, and the way the family tells it, Coach and Four was meant to be the more polished line next to the everyday Sheffield label. Sheffield's own flavor list had quinine water on it. On the Coach and Four label it's Tonic Water, the dressier name, which is just what the family says the brand was for. A big part of the business was filling seltzer bottles for Philadelphia's hotels and bars and for the dining cars of the Pennsylvania Railroad, headquartered right here in Philadelphia, and when Sheffield bought out smaller bottlers it kept their labels, Girard and Rising Sun among them, running on the old routes so the customers got what they were used to.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e⚖️ The milk company that wanted the name\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn November 1961 Sheffield applied to register its own label: SHEFFIELD on a red-and-gold pennant with a chess knight and the word \"Tingly.\" \u003cstrong\u003eNational Dairy Products Corporation\u003c\/strong\u003e, the company behind New York's Sheffield Farms milk, opposed it, and its own Sheffield Farms carbonated drinks, ginger ale and club soda among them, came up in the case. The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board dismissed the opposition on \u003cstrong\u003eJune 7, 1967\u003c\/strong\u003e. National Dairy appealed to the U.S. Court of Customs and Patent Appeals, and that appeal was dismissed on \u003cstrong\u003eMay 9, 1969\u003c\/strong\u003e. Two months later the Coach and Four name went to its own company. The family remembers the legal bills of fighting for the Sheffield name, with more still coming, as the reason everything moved over to Coach and Four. And that chess knight? The grandson says his dad loved carved chess pieces.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eNow look at the ZIP on this one: \u003cstrong\u003e19117\u003c\/strong\u003e. That's Elkins Park, in Cheltenham Township, just over Philadelphia's northern city line. Most of the Coach and Four flavors carry 19140, but this Tonic Water, the Ginger Ale and the Club Soda carry 19117, so the company printed labels from two different addresses over its life. Two printings, two addresses, one little stagecoach.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe whole Coach and Four line ran to ginger ale, ginger beer, tonic water, bitter lemon, club soda, sarsaparilla and black raspberry, a full lineup of mixers.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e📅 How old is it?\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA five-digit ZIP can't be earlier than \u003cstrong\u003eJuly 1, 1963\u003c\/strong\u003e, when ZIP codes began, and the name printed here, Coach and Four Products Co., is the company the brand passed to in July 1969 - before that, the partnership signed its papers under the Coach 'N Four name - and the COACH AND FOUR form across the top only went onto the registration in January 1971. That makes this a 1970s printing, a real vintage Philadelphia mixer label.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🌿 Quinine, the reason tonic exists\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eQuinine comes from the bark of the cinchona tree. The Spanish learned to use it in the 1600s from the Indigenous peoples of Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador, and it became the first real treatment for malaria. In early 19th-century India, British officers and soldiers were told to take their quinine every day, and it was so bitter that they mixed it with soda and sugar to get it down. That was tonic water.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe first commercial tonic water was patented in \u003cstrong\u003e1858\u003c\/strong\u003e by Erasmus Bond of Pitt \u0026amp; Co. in London. Soldiers were already adding their gin ration to it, and the gin and tonic shows up in print for the first time in the \u003cem\u003eOriental Sporting Magazine\u003c\/em\u003e in \u003cstrong\u003e1868\u003c\/strong\u003e. Medicine became a cocktail.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eModern tonic is much gentler than the old medicine. In the United States the FDA caps quinine in tonic water at 83 parts per million. And here's my favorite bit of tonic trivia: put a glass of it under a blacklight and it glows blue, because the quinine soaks up the ultraviolet and gives it back as visible light.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🎨 A coach and four\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA coach and four is a carriage pulled by four horses, driven four-in-hand by one driver holding every rein. Philadelphia's most famous one is in the Philadelphia Museum of Art: Thomas Eakins's \u003cem\u003eThe Fairman Rogers Four-in-Hand\u003c\/em\u003e (1879 to 1880), which shows the engineer and coachman Fairman Rogers driving a coaching party through Fairmount Park. Eakins posed the horses from Eadweard Muybridge's 1878 photographs of horses in motion, so it's one of the first paintings to get a horse's stride exactly right. There's an old legal saying too, that a clever lawyer can drive a coach and four through any Act of Parliament, meaning there's always a loophole. A good name for a Philadelphia soda.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🏡 Display\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis looks great framed behind a home bar, especially next to an old tonic bottle or a gin bottle, and it's even better with the rest of the Coach and Four flavors as a set.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"relatedBlock\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🔎 More From The Vintage \u0026amp; Antique Gifts Archive\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/coach-four-sarsaparilla-label-philadelphia-pa\"\u003eVintage 1970s Philadelphia Coach and Four 🐎 Sarsaparilla Soda Label Pair\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/coach-four-sarsaparilla-soda-beverage-label-philadelphia\"\u003eVintage 1970s Coach and Four Sarsaparilla 🍺 Soda Bottle Label Philadelphia PA Coach \u0026amp; Four Products Co.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/coach-four-black-raspberry-soda-label-philadelphia-pa\"\u003eVintage 1970s Coach and Four Black Raspberry Soda Label 🐎 from Philadelphia, PA\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1960s-1970s-horlacher-brewing-beer-label-pair-perfection-nine-months-old-gnomes-and-dukes-bulldog-allentown-pa\"\u003eVintage 1960s-1970s Horlacher Brewing Beer Label Pair 🍺 Perfection Nine Months Old Gnomes and Duke's Bulldog, Allentown PA\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/antique-to-vintage-1920s-1950s-lindbergh-label-set-lone-eagle-crate-label-pair-spirit-of-st-louis-cigar-label\"\u003eAntique to Vintage 1920s-1950s Lindbergh Label Set ✈️ Lone Eagle Crate Label Pair, Spirit of St. Louis Cigar Label\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42127808790760,"sku":"VAG-7480507924712","price":5.5,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/pair_733d956e-5147-4c3e-99c3-bcec704e9c73.jpg?v=1793345271"},{"product_id":"vintage-coach-four-bitter-lemon-soda-beverage-label-philadelphia-pa","title":"Vintage 1970s Coach and Four Bitter Lemon 🍋 Soda Label Pair — Stagecoach Silhouette, Philadelphia PA","description":"\u003ch2\u003eWho Drank Bitter Lemon? 🍋 Vintage 1970s Coach and Four Bitter Lemon Soda Label, Philadelphia PA\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 3 1\/2\" x 2 1\/2\" each ~ little to no wear\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"max-width:315px;margin:0 auto 20px;\"\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:177.78%;height:0;overflow:hidden;\"\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/xiVKzec76Xg\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer;autoplay;clipboard-write;encrypted-media;gyroscope;picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis one's a pair - two of these Coach and Four Bitter Lemon labels come to you together.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis label is becoming uncommon now and is very collectible. Really cool stagecoach and colors! Bitter lemon is a grown-up soda, tart and a little bitter, and this Philadelphia label comes with a surprising amount of history packed into three lines of fine print.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🐎 What's on it\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA small paper bottle label for Coach and Four Bitter Lemon, black with a bright yellow band. Across the top, \u003cstrong\u003eCOACH AND FOUR ®\u003c\/strong\u003e in cream letters. Through the middle, the yellow band between two thin gold rules, and on it a black silhouette of a coachman driving four horses at full gallop. Then \u003cstrong\u003eBitter Lemon\u003c\/strong\u003e in a big white script with a little star at the front, and the fine print, word for word: \u003cem\u003e\"Preserved with sodium benzoate. Made with whole lemons and quinine salt. Bottled under authority of Coach and Four Products Co., Phila., Pa., U.S.A. 19140.\"\u003c\/em\u003e The back is plain paper. It's New Old Stock, printed and never pasted on a bottle.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e👬 The people behind the stagecoach\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe name went on soft drinks for the first time on \u003cstrong\u003eJune 26, 1956\u003c\/strong\u003e, spelled COACH'N FOUR back then, and a month later it was filed with the U.S. Patent Office by \u003cstrong\u003eSheffield Bottling Co.\u003c\/strong\u003e, a Philadelphia partnership doing business as \"Coach 'N Four Products Co.\" It was registered on \u003cstrong\u003eJanuary 29, 1957\u003c\/strong\u003e as trademark No. 640,759, for \"maltless soft drinks and carbonated waters.\" That's the little ® on the label. Signing for Sheffield, as a partner, was \u003cstrong\u003eHarry Labovitz\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn \u003cstrong\u003eJuly 11, 1969\u003c\/strong\u003e, Sheffield handed the name and all its goodwill to a new partnership, \u003cstrong\u003eCoach and Four Products Company\u003c\/strong\u003e, made up of \u003cstrong\u003eHarry Labovitz and Arthur Labovitz\u003c\/strong\u003e, on North 6th Street in North Philadelphia, ZIP 19140, the very ZIP printed on this label. In January 1971 the registration was amended to the new owner and to the COACH AND FOUR form printed here. The trademark was renewed in 1977 and finally lapsed in 1997, forty-one years after that first bottle in 1956.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🏠 The family bottling works behind the stagecoach\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCoach and Four was a brand of \u003cstrong\u003eSheffield Bottling Co.\u003c\/strong\u003e, a family soda works at 3727-3729 North 6th Street, listed there in a bottlers' trade journal as early as 1945. Sheffield told the Patent Office it had used its mark on soft drinks since \u003cstrong\u003eOctober 6, 1931\u003c\/strong\u003e. In 1949 Mr. Labovitz of Sheffield was president of the Philadelphia Manufacturers of Carbonated Beverages and sat on the board of the Pennsylvania Bottlers Association, and in 1950 Sheffield was packing Logan Beverages for the Penn Mutual Grocery Co. A 1974 Philadelphia industrial directory still lists the Sheffield Beverage company at 3729 N. 6th St., ZIP 19140, making soft drinks with 20 employees, \u003cstrong\u003eHarry and Arthur Labovitz\u003c\/strong\u003e partners.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA grandson of the family got in touch with me about this brand, and the way the family tells it, Coach and Four was meant to be the more polished line next to the everyday Sheffield label. Lemon was an old Sheffield flavor, along with lime, grapefruit and one the family remembers as Zip Gassosa (gassosa is the Italian word for a light lemon soda). Bitter lemon, made with whole lemons and quinine salt, was the grown-up stagecoach version for the bar. Rising Sun, one of the bottlers the family says they took over, had been started by Nicola Di Croce, born in Pianella, Italy, in 1879, and it registered a lemon soda of its own in 1938. A big part of the business was filling seltzer bottles for Philadelphia's hotels and bars and for the dining cars of the Pennsylvania Railroad, headquartered right here in Philadelphia, and when Sheffield bought out smaller bottlers it kept their labels, Girard and Rising Sun among them, running on the old routes so the customers got what they were used to.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e⚖️ The milk company that wanted the name\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn November 1961 Sheffield applied to register its own label: SHEFFIELD on a red-and-gold pennant with a chess knight and the word \"Tingly.\" \u003cstrong\u003eNational Dairy Products Corporation\u003c\/strong\u003e, the company behind New York's Sheffield Farms milk, opposed it, and its own Sheffield Farms carbonated drinks, ginger ale and club soda among them, came up in the case. The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board dismissed the opposition on \u003cstrong\u003eJune 7, 1967\u003c\/strong\u003e. National Dairy appealed to the U.S. Court of Customs and Patent Appeals, and that appeal was dismissed on \u003cstrong\u003eMay 9, 1969\u003c\/strong\u003e. Two months later the Coach and Four name went to its own company. The family remembers the legal bills of fighting for the Sheffield name, with more still coming, as the reason everything moved over to Coach and Four. And that chess knight? The grandson says his dad loved carved chess pieces.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe 19140 ZIP covers Hunting Park and Nicetown-Tioga, good hard-working North Philadelphia. Nicetown made steel: the works that became Midvale Steel opened there in 1867 making steel wheels for railroad cars, had 11,500 people on the payroll during World War I, and kept the Nicetown plant running until 1976. I like that a lemon soda with a stagecoach on it called that part of town home.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Bottled under authority of\" names the brand owner, and the bottler answering to it was family: the name and the recipes belonged to the Coach and Four partnership, and the filling and capping went on at the Labovitzes' Sheffield plant on North 6th Street. The Coach and Four line ran to ginger ale, ginger beer, tonic water, bitter lemon, club soda, sarsaparilla and black raspberry, a full lineup of mixers for a Philadelphia bar or a family's basement fridge. Some of the flavors print this 19140 address and some print 19117, which is Elkins Park just over the city line, so the company printed labels from two addresses over the years.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e📅 How old is it?\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat ZIP can't be earlier than \u003cstrong\u003eJuly 1, 1963\u003c\/strong\u003e, the day ZIP codes began, the maker's name reads exactly the way the 1969 Labovitz partnership was named, and the COACH AND FOUR form across the top only went onto the registration in January 1971. Bitter lemon itself was still a young flavor: Schweppes created its Bitter Lemon in London in \u003cstrong\u003e1957\u003c\/strong\u003e. So this is a \u003cstrong\u003e1970s\u003c\/strong\u003e label, true vintage Philadelphia soda history.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🍋 Whole lemons and quinine\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat line \"made with whole lemons and quinine salt\" is the whole recipe for bitter lemon in six words. The difference between tonic water and bitter lemon is the lemon, and not just the juice: the peel and the bitter white pith go in too, and the quinine backs up that bitterness. Sour from the juice, bitter from the pith and the quinine, sweet to balance it all out.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe quinine has a long story of its own. It comes from the bark of the cinchona tree. The Spanish learned to use it in the 1600s from the Indigenous peoples of Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador, and it became the first real treatment for malaria. In early 19th-century India, British officers were told to take their quinine every day, and it was so bitter they mixed it with soda and sugar to get it down. That was tonic water, and bitter lemon is its tart cousin.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🧪 \"Preserved with sodium benzoate\"\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat little disclosure has a big history. In 1902 \u003cstrong\u003eHarvey Wiley\u003c\/strong\u003e, the chemist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, started feeding food preservatives to a group of young volunteers to see what they did, and the newspapers named them the \u003cstrong\u003e\"Poison Squad.\"\u003c\/strong\u003e Sodium benzoate was one of the chemicals they swallowed, in gelatin capsules with their meals. Wiley's crusade helped pass the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, and in 1908 the fight over benzoate went to a board of scientists led by \u003cstrong\u003eIra Remsen\u003c\/strong\u003e of Johns Hopkins. Sodium benzoate stayed in American sodas, and a label like this one names it right out loud.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🎨 A coach and four\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA coach and four is a carriage drawn by four horses, all four driven \"four-in-hand\" by one driver holding every rein. Philadelphia has the most famous one in American art. Around 1879 to 1880, Fairman Rogers, a Philadelphia engineer and devoted coachman, had Thomas Eakins paint him driving a coaching party through Fairmount Park. The painting, \u003cem\u003eThe Fairman Rogers Four-in-Hand\u003c\/em\u003e, hangs in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and Eakins posed its horses from Eadweard Muybridge's 1878 photographs of horses in motion, which makes it one of the first paintings to show exactly how horses move. A Philadelphia soda company choosing a coach and four for its label was picking one of the city's own great images.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🏡 Display\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eImagine hanging this vintage advertising on your wall as home decor in any room! That black and yellow is sharp in a simple frame, it's right at home behind a bar next to a gin bottle, and it pairs up nicely with the rest of the Coach and Four flavors if you want the whole set together.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"relatedBlock\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🔎 More From The Vintage \u0026amp; Antique Gifts Archive\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/coach-four-club-soda-label-philadelphia-pa\"\u003eVintage 1970s Coach and Four Club Soda 🍾 Label Pair Philadelphia PA Lithograph Stagecoach Four Horses\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/coach-four-sarsaparilla-soda-beverage-label-philadelphia\"\u003eVintage 1970s Coach and Four Sarsaparilla 🍺 Soda Bottle Label Philadelphia PA Coach \u0026amp; Four Products Co.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/coach-four-ginger-ale-soda-beverage-label-philadelphia-pa\"\u003eVintage 1970s Stage Coach and Four Ginger Ale Soda Beverage Label 🥤 Philadelphia, PA\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1960s-1970s-horlacher-brewing-beer-label-pair-perfection-nine-months-old-gnomes-and-dukes-bulldog-allentown-pa\"\u003eVintage 1960s-1970s Horlacher Brewing Beer Label Pair 🍺 Perfection Nine Months Old Gnomes and Duke's Bulldog, Allentown PA\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/antique-to-vintage-1920s-1950s-lindbergh-label-set-lone-eagle-crate-label-pair-spirit-of-st-louis-cigar-label\"\u003eAntique to Vintage 1920s-1950s Lindbergh Label Set ✈️ Lone Eagle Crate Label Pair, Spirit of St. Louis Cigar Label\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42130609537256,"sku":"VAG-7484375073000","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/pair_eb97f4fa-5cdb-4693-8c9e-5cfec349111f.jpg?v=1793345345"},{"product_id":"coach-four-ginger-beer-soda-beverage-label-philadelphia","title":"Vintage 1970s Coach and Four Ginger Beer Label Pair 🐎 from Philadelphia","description":"\u003ch2\u003eGinger Beer or Ginger Ale? 🐎 Vintage 1970s Coach and Four Ginger Beer Label, Philadelphia\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 3 1\/2\" x 2 1\/2\" each\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"max-width:315px;margin:0 auto 20px;\"\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:177.78%;height:0;overflow:hidden;\"\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/hLEXXcGhj9U\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer;autoplay;clipboard-write;encrypted-media;gyroscope;picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis one's a pair - two of these Coach and Four Ginger Beer labels come to you together.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis label is very collectible. Really cool stagecoach and colors! And the story behind that little stagecoach turned out to be a good one, so pull up a chair.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🐎 What's on it\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA small paper bottle label for Coach and Four Ginger Beer. Across the top, \u003cstrong\u003eCOACH AND FOUR ®\u003c\/strong\u003e over a white silhouette of a coachman driving four horses at full trot, on a black band. Then \u003cstrong\u003eGinger Beer\u003c\/strong\u003e, and the fine print, word for word: \u003cem\u003e\"Contains carbonated water, sugar, Jamaica ginger, citric acid and citrus oils. Preserved with sodium benzoate.\"\u003c\/em\u003e Along the foot: \u003cem\u003e\"Bottled under authority of Coach and Four Products Co., Phila., Pa. 19140.\"\u003c\/em\u003e The back is plain paper.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e👬 The people behind the stagecoach\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is my favorite part. The name went on soft drinks for the first time on \u003cstrong\u003eJune 26, 1956\u003c\/strong\u003e, spelled COACH'N FOUR back then, and a month later it was filed with the U.S. Patent Office by \u003cstrong\u003eSheffield Bottling Co.\u003c\/strong\u003e, a Philadelphia partnership doing business as \"Coach 'N Four Products Co.\" It was registered on \u003cstrong\u003eJanuary 29, 1957\u003c\/strong\u003e as trademark No. 640,759, for \"maltless soft drinks and carbonated waters.\" That's the little ® you see on the label. Signing for Sheffield, as a partner, was \u003cstrong\u003eHarry Labovitz\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn \u003cstrong\u003eJuly 11, 1969\u003c\/strong\u003e, Sheffield handed the name and all its goodwill to a new partnership, \u003cstrong\u003eCoach and Four Products Company\u003c\/strong\u003e, made up of \u003cstrong\u003eHarry Labovitz and Arthur Labovitz\u003c\/strong\u003e, on North 6th Street in North Philadelphia. That is the exact company name printed on this label, and in January 1971 the registration was amended to the new owner and to the COACH AND FOUR form printed here. The trademark was renewed in 1977 and finally lapsed in 1997, forty-one years after that first bottle in 1956.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🏠 The family bottling works behind the stagecoach\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCoach and Four was a brand of \u003cstrong\u003eSheffield Bottling Co.\u003c\/strong\u003e, a family soda works at 3727-3729 North 6th Street, listed there in a bottlers' trade journal as early as 1945. Sheffield told the Patent Office it had used its mark on soft drinks since \u003cstrong\u003eOctober 6, 1931\u003c\/strong\u003e. In 1949 Mr. Labovitz of Sheffield was president of the Philadelphia Manufacturers of Carbonated Beverages and sat on the board of the Pennsylvania Bottlers Association, and in 1950 Sheffield was packing Logan Beverages for the Penn Mutual Grocery Co. A 1974 Philadelphia industrial directory still lists the Sheffield Beverage company at 3729 N. 6th St., ZIP 19140, making soft drinks with 20 employees, \u003cstrong\u003eHarry and Arthur Labovitz\u003c\/strong\u003e partners.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA grandson of the family got in touch with me about this brand, and the way the family tells it, Coach and Four was meant to be the more polished line next to the everyday Sheffield label. Sheffield's own list ran to ginger ale; the stronger ginger beer, with its Jamaica ginger, is one of the mixers that carried the stagecoach instead. A big part of the business was filling seltzer bottles for Philadelphia's hotels and bars and for the dining cars of the Pennsylvania Railroad, headquartered right here in Philadelphia, and when Sheffield bought out smaller bottlers it kept their labels, Girard and Rising Sun among them, running on the old routes so the customers got what they were used to.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e⚖️ The milk company that wanted the name\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn November 1961 Sheffield applied to register its own label: SHEFFIELD on a red-and-gold pennant with a chess knight and the word \"Tingly.\" \u003cstrong\u003eNational Dairy Products Corporation\u003c\/strong\u003e, the company behind New York's Sheffield Farms milk, opposed it, and its own Sheffield Farms carbonated drinks, ginger ale and club soda among them, came up in the case. The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board dismissed the opposition on \u003cstrong\u003eJune 7, 1967\u003c\/strong\u003e. National Dairy appealed to the U.S. Court of Customs and Patent Appeals, and that appeal was dismissed on \u003cstrong\u003eMay 9, 1969\u003c\/strong\u003e. Two months later the Coach and Four name went to its own company. The family remembers the legal bills of fighting for the Sheffield name, with more still coming, as the reason everything moved over to Coach and Four. And that chess knight? The grandson says his dad loved carved chess pieces.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\"Bottled under authority of\" names the brand owner: the company owned the name and the recipes, and the bottles were filled and capped by the family's own Sheffield works on the same North 6th Street block. Two Labovitzes, a stagecoach, and a lineup of mixers. The Coach and Four line ran to ginger ale, ginger beer, tonic water, bitter lemon, club soda, sarsaparilla and black raspberry, the kind of set you'd find behind a Philadelphia bar or in a family's basement fridge.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e📅 How old is it?\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe label dates itself three ways. That five-digit ZIP, 19140, can't be earlier than \u003cstrong\u003eJuly 1, 1963\u003c\/strong\u003e, the day ZIP codes began. The maker's name reads exactly the way the 1969 Labovitz partnership was named. And the COACH AND FOUR form across the top only went onto the registration in January 1971. So this is a \u003cstrong\u003e1970s\u003c\/strong\u003e label, a true vintage piece of Philadelphia soda history.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🫚 Ginger beer, the real thing\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGinger beer is older and fiercer than ginger ale: more ginger, less sweet. It was first brewed in Yorkshire, England, in the mid-1700s and reached North America around 1790. The old brewed kind could run about 11 percent alcohol until England capped it at 2 percent in 1855. It was fermented with a \"ginger beer plant,\" which isn't a plant at all but a living partnership of a yeast and a bacterium, first described by the botanist Harry Marshall Ward in 1892. In the United States ginger beer hit its peak around 1920, before Prohibition pushed the milder ginger ale to the front.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTwo ginger beer stories every collector should know. On \u003cstrong\u003eAugust 26, 1928\u003c\/strong\u003e, May Donoghue sat in the Wellmeadow Café in Paisley, Scotland, and poured out a ginger beer float. Out came, she said, the remains of a snail. Her case, \u003cem\u003eDonoghue v Stevenson\u003c\/em\u003e, reached the House of Lords in 1932, and Lord Atkin's \"neighbour\" principle, that a maker owes care to the people who will use what he makes, became the foundation of modern negligence law. A bottle of ginger beer changed the law across the English-speaking world.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd in \u003cstrong\u003e1941\u003c\/strong\u003e ginger beer met vodka. Jack Morgan, whose company made Cock 'n' Bull ginger beer, got together with John G. Martin of Heublein and Rudolph Kunett of Smirnoff, and the Moscow Mule was born: two ounces of vodka, a squeeze of lemon and Morgan's ginger beer. (A bartender named Wes Price later claimed he invented it to clear dead stock out of the cellar. Take your pick!)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🌎 Why \"Jamaica ginger\"?\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe label names its ginger: Jamaica ginger. It's a proud line on a soda label, but those two words carry a dark bit of American history too. During Prohibition, \"Jamaica ginger\" was also a patent medicine, an extract that was 70 to 80 percent alcohol and sold legally while liquor wasn't. In 1930 Harry Gross and Max Reisman of Hub Products swapped in a cheap industrial plasticizer to get their extract past government tests. Somewhere between 30,000 and 50,000 people were left partly paralyzed, lifting their feet high with the toes flopping, a tap-click walk that became known as the \"jake walk,\" and blues singers like Tommy Johnson and Ishman Bracey sang about it. That was a different product entirely from the ginger in this soda, but it's why \"Jamaica ginger\" still makes an old-timer's ears prick up.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🎨 A coach and four\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA coach and four is a carriage drawn by four horses, all four driven \"four-in-hand\" by one driver holding every rein. Philadelphia has the most famous one in American art. Around 1879 to 1880, Fairman Rogers, a Philadelphia engineer and devoted coachman, had Thomas Eakins paint him driving a coaching party through Fairmount Park. The painting, \u003cem\u003eThe Fairman Rogers Four-in-Hand\u003c\/em\u003e, hangs in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and Eakins posed its horses from Eadweard Muybridge's 1878 photographs of horses in motion, which makes it one of the first paintings to show exactly how horses move. A Philadelphia soda company choosing a coach and four for its label was picking one of the city's own great images.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🏡 Display\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eImagine hanging this vintage advertising on your wall as home decor in any room! It's right at home in a bar, a kitchen or a game room, and it pairs up nicely with the rest of the Coach and Four flavors if you want the whole set together.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"relatedBlock\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🔎 More From The Vintage \u0026amp; Antique Gifts Archive\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/coach-four-ginger-ale-soda-beverage-label-philadelphia-pa\"\u003eVintage 1970s Stage Coach and Four Ginger Ale Soda Beverage Label 🥤 Philadelphia, PA\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/coach-four-sarsaparilla-soda-beverage-label-philadelphia\"\u003eVintage 1970s Coach and Four Sarsaparilla 🍺 Soda Bottle Label Philadelphia PA Coach \u0026amp; Four Products Co.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/coach-four-sarsaparilla-label-philadelphia-pa\"\u003eVintage 1970s Philadelphia Coach and Four 🐎 Sarsaparilla Soda Label Pair\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1960s-1970s-horlacher-brewing-beer-label-pair-perfection-nine-months-old-gnomes-and-dukes-bulldog-allentown-pa\"\u003eVintage 1960s-1970s Horlacher Brewing Beer Label Pair 🍺 Perfection Nine Months Old Gnomes and Duke's Bulldog, Allentown PA\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/antique-to-vintage-1920s-1950s-lindbergh-label-set-lone-eagle-crate-label-pair-spirit-of-st-louis-cigar-label\"\u003eAntique to Vintage 1920s-1950s Lindbergh Label Set ✈️ Lone Eagle Crate Label Pair, Spirit of St. Louis Cigar Label\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42130625790184,"sku":"VAG-7484407480552","price":5.5,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/pair_aab10f13-be6d-4b21-b2d6-1b4646f28d4b.jpg?v=1793345413"},{"product_id":"coach-four-ginger-ale-soda-beverage-label-philadelphia-pa","title":"Vintage 1970s Stage Coach and Four Ginger Ale Soda Beverage Label 🥤 Philadelphia, PA","description":"\u003ch2\u003eRemember Everyday Ginger Ale? 🥤 Vintage 1970s Stage Coach and Four Ginger Ale Label, Philadelphia, PA\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 3 1\/2\" x 2 1\/2\" ~ little to slight wear\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"max-width:315px;margin:0 auto 20px;\"\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:177.78%;height:0;overflow:hidden;\"\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ewqm-x0wH_Q\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer;autoplay;clipboard-write;encrypted-media;gyroscope;picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis label is becoming uncommon now and is very collectible. Really cool stagecoach and colors! Ginger ale was the everyday workhorse of the whole Coach and Four line, and it has a family tree that runs from Belfast to Toronto to Detroit before it ever reached this Philadelphia label.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🐎 What's on it\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA small paper bottle label for Coach and Four Ginger Ale in deep brown, bright green and gold. Across the top, \u003cstrong\u003eCOACH AND FOUR ®\u003c\/strong\u003e in cream letters. Through the middle, a bright green band between two thin gold rules, and on it a black silhouette of a coachman driving four horses at full gallop. Then \u003cstrong\u003eGinger Ale\u003c\/strong\u003e in a big cream script with a little star at the front, and the fine print: \u003cem\u003e\"Caramel colored. Bottled under authority of Coach and Four Products Co., Phila., Pa. 19117.\"\u003c\/em\u003e The back is plain paper. It's New Old Stock, printed and never pasted on a bottle.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e👬 The people behind the stagecoach\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe name went on soft drinks for the first time on \u003cstrong\u003eJune 26, 1956\u003c\/strong\u003e, spelled COACH'N FOUR back then, and a month later it was filed with the U.S. Patent Office by \u003cstrong\u003eSheffield Bottling Co.\u003c\/strong\u003e, a Philadelphia partnership doing business as \"Coach 'N Four Products Co.\" It was registered on \u003cstrong\u003eJanuary 29, 1957\u003c\/strong\u003e as trademark No. 640,759, for \"maltless soft drinks and carbonated waters.\" That's the little ® on the label. Signing for Sheffield, as a partner, was \u003cstrong\u003eHarry Labovitz\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn \u003cstrong\u003eJuly 11, 1969\u003c\/strong\u003e, Sheffield handed the name and all its goodwill to a new partnership, \u003cstrong\u003eCoach and Four Products Company\u003c\/strong\u003e, made up of \u003cstrong\u003eHarry Labovitz and Arthur Labovitz\u003c\/strong\u003e, on North 6th Street in North Philadelphia. That is the exact company name printed on this label, and in January 1971 the registration was amended to the new owner and to the COACH AND FOUR form printed here. The trademark was renewed in 1977 and finally lapsed in 1997, forty-one years after that first bottle in 1956.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🏠 The family bottling works behind the stagecoach\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCoach and Four was a brand of \u003cstrong\u003eSheffield Bottling Co.\u003c\/strong\u003e, a family soda works at 3727-3729 North 6th Street, listed there in a bottlers' trade journal as early as 1945. Sheffield told the Patent Office it had used its mark on soft drinks since \u003cstrong\u003eOctober 6, 1931\u003c\/strong\u003e. In 1949 Mr. Labovitz of Sheffield was president of the Philadelphia Manufacturers of Carbonated Beverages and sat on the board of the Pennsylvania Bottlers Association, and in 1950 Sheffield was packing Logan Beverages for the Penn Mutual Grocery Co. A 1974 Philadelphia industrial directory still lists the Sheffield Beverage company at 3729 N. 6th St., ZIP 19140, making soft drinks with 20 employees, \u003cstrong\u003eHarry and Arthur Labovitz\u003c\/strong\u003e partners.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA grandson of the family got in touch with me about this brand, and the way the family tells it, Coach and Four was meant to be the more polished line next to the everyday Sheffield label. Ginger ale is right there on Sheffield's own flavor list, and it turns up in the lawsuit below as well. A big part of the business was filling seltzer bottles for Philadelphia's hotels and bars and for the dining cars of the Pennsylvania Railroad, headquartered right here in Philadelphia, and when Sheffield bought out smaller bottlers it kept their labels, Girard and Rising Sun among them, running on the old routes so the customers got what they were used to.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e⚖️ The milk company that wanted the name\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn November 1961 Sheffield applied to register its own label: SHEFFIELD on a red-and-gold pennant with a chess knight and the word \"Tingly.\" \u003cstrong\u003eNational Dairy Products Corporation\u003c\/strong\u003e, the company behind New York's Sheffield Farms milk, opposed it, and its own Sheffield Farms carbonated drinks, ginger ale and club soda among them, came up in the case. The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board dismissed the opposition on \u003cstrong\u003eJune 7, 1967\u003c\/strong\u003e. National Dairy appealed to the U.S. Court of Customs and Patent Appeals, and that appeal was dismissed on \u003cstrong\u003eMay 9, 1969\u003c\/strong\u003e. Two months later the Coach and Four name went to its own company. The family remembers the legal bills of fighting for the Sheffield name, with more still coming, as the reason everything moved over to Coach and Four. And that chess knight? The grandson says his dad loved carved chess pieces.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\"Bottled under authority of\" names the brand owner: the company owned the name and the recipes, and the family's own Sheffield plant on North 6th Street filled and capped the bottles under its label. The Coach and Four line ran to ginger ale, ginger beer, tonic water, bitter lemon, club soda, sarsaparilla and black raspberry, a full lineup of mixers for a Philadelphia bar or a family's basement fridge.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e📅 How old is it?\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat five-digit ZIP, 19117, can't be earlier than \u003cstrong\u003eJuly 1, 1963\u003c\/strong\u003e, the day ZIP codes began. And 19117 isn't in the city itself: it's \u003cstrong\u003eElkins Park\u003c\/strong\u003e, just over Philadelphia's northern line in Cheltenham Township, Montgomery County, even though the label still says \"Phila.\" Other Coach and Four flavors print 19140, North Philadelphia, where the 1969 partnership was on North 6th Street, so the company printed labels from two addresses over the years. The 1969 company name at the foot, and the COACH AND FOUR form across the top that only went onto the registration in January 1971, make this a \u003cstrong\u003e1970s\u003c\/strong\u003e label, true vintage Philadelphia soda history.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🐴 What collectors pass along\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEvery little brand like this picks up a story or two. Delaware Valley bottling historians tell how the region's independent bottlers faded as the national brands built their own local plants and the business changed around them, and Coach and Four's own paper trail fits that story: a family partnership, a trademark that ran from 1956 to 1997, and a lineup of flavors people remember.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🫚 Golden or dry? The ginger ale family tree\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGinger ale comes in two styles, and they come from two different men. The first ginger ale came out of \u003cstrong\u003eBelfast, Ireland, in the 1850s\u003c\/strong\u003e, from \u003cstrong\u003eThomas Joseph Cantrell\u003c\/strong\u003e, an Irish apothecary and surgeon, and his was the golden style: darker and stronger on the ginger. Cantrell's name lived on in the Dublin firm of Cantrell \u0026amp; Cochrane, the same company that gave the world the name \"club soda.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe second style came from Canada. \u003cstrong\u003eJohn McLaughlin\u003c\/strong\u003e, who had opened a soda water bottling plant in Toronto in 1890, began working on flavor extracts in \u003cstrong\u003e1904\u003c\/strong\u003e and that year introduced a \"Pale Dry\" ginger ale, paler and much milder on the ginger. He registered the \u003cstrong\u003eCanada Dry\u003c\/strong\u003e name in \u003cstrong\u003e1907\u003c\/strong\u003e, and the pale style's big break came in the States during Prohibition, when its clean taste was just the thing for hiding the flavor of homemade liquor. Meanwhile Detroit had \u003cstrong\u003eVernors\u003c\/strong\u003e, a golden ginger ale aged in oak barrels, dating to \u003cstrong\u003e1866\u003c\/strong\u003e and counted as one of the very first American soft drinks.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCoach and Four's says \u003cstrong\u003e\"Caramel colored\"\u003c\/strong\u003e right on the label, so it poured a deeper amber than an uncolored pale ginger ale. And whatever the style, ginger ale has always pulled double duty: a mixer for the highball and the holiday punch, and the old family remedy for an upset stomach.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🎨 A coach and four\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA coach and four is a carriage drawn by four horses, all four driven \"four-in-hand\" by one driver holding every rein. Philadelphia has the most famous one in American art. Around 1879 to 1880, Fairman Rogers, a Philadelphia engineer and devoted coachman, had Thomas Eakins paint him driving a coaching party through Fairmount Park. The painting, \u003cem\u003eThe Fairman Rogers Four-in-Hand\u003c\/em\u003e, hangs in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and Eakins posed its horses from Eadweard Muybridge's 1878 photographs of horses in motion, which makes it one of the first paintings to show exactly how horses move. A Philadelphia soda company choosing a coach and four for its label was picking one of the city's own great images.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🏡 Display\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eImagine hanging this vintage advertising on your wall as home decor in any room! That brown and bright green look great with a wide mat in either color, it's right at home on a bar cart or in a dining room, and it pairs up nicely with the rest of the Coach and Four flavors if you want the whole set together.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"relatedBlock\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🔎 More From The Vintage \u0026amp; Antique Gifts Archive\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/coach-four-club-soda-label-philadelphia-pa\"\u003eVintage 1970s Coach and Four Club Soda 🍾 Label Pair Philadelphia PA Lithograph Stagecoach Four Horses\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/coach-four-ginger-beer-soda-beverage-label-philadelphia\"\u003eVintage 1970s Coach and Four Ginger Beer Label Pair 🐎 from Philadelphia\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-coach-four-bitter-lemon-soda-beverage-label-philadelphia-pa\"\u003eVintage 1970s Coach and Four Bitter Lemon 🍋 Soda Label Pair — Stagecoach Silhouette, Philadelphia PA\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-70s-high-hand-pear-label-brings-loomis-charm-life-treasures\"\u003eVintage 1970s High Hand Crate Label 🍐 Loomis, CA, Poker, Four Aces, Historic!\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/1990s-funky-monkey-ale-label-zoobrew-sold-denver-zoo-broadway-brewing-vintage\"\u003eVintage 1990s Funky Monkey Ale Beer Label 🐒 Broadway Brewing Denver Zoo Zoobrew Colorado Craft Beer Collectible\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42130644664552,"sku":"VAG-7484450767080","price":5.5,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/vintage-1970s-stage-coach-and-four-ginger-ale-soda-beverage-label-philadelphia-pa.jpg?v=1793926326"},{"product_id":"coach-four-sarsaparilla-soda-beverage-label-philadelphia","title":"Vintage 1970s Coach and Four Sarsaparilla 🍺 Soda Bottle Label Philadelphia PA Coach \u0026 Four Products Co.","description":"\u003ch2\u003eRemember Coach and Four Sarsaparilla? Sarsaparilla After the Sassafras Ban 🥤\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 3 1\/2\" x 2 1\/2\" ~ little to no wear.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"max-width:315px;margin:0 auto 20px;\"\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:177.78%;height:0;overflow:hidden;\"\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/RQLMi9OiYPc\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer;autoplay;clipboard-write;encrypted-media;gyroscope;picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eClassic American sarsaparilla was not made from the sarsaparilla vine at all. It was made from birch oil and sassafras root bark. Then, effective November 30, 1960, the Food and Drug Administration refused to allow safrole or oil of sassafras in food, on laboratory evidence that safrole caused cancer in test animals, and every commercial maker had to find the old flavor without its oldest ingredient. This 1970s Philadelphia label, printed well after ZIP codes arrived in 1963, answers the question in its own fine print with two words: ARTIFICIAL SARSAPARILLA FLAVORING. It comes from Coach and Four Products Co., in the city where American soda began, and it was never put on a bottle.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🏷️ What the Label Prints\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBrand:\u003c\/strong\u003e COACH AND FOUR in white serif capitals, the word AND set small between them, with the ® registered-trademark mark\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePicture:\u003c\/strong\u003e a black silhouette of a stagecoach behind four galloping horses, the driver's whip curling overhead and passengers riding up top, on a tan band edged in olive gold\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eFlavor:\u003c\/strong\u003e Sarsaparilla in white italic script, a small star over the i\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eFine print:\u003c\/strong\u003e CONTAINS CARBONATED WATER, SUGAR, CARAMEL COLORING, ARTIFICIAL SARSAPARILLA FLAVORING, PRESERVED WITH SODIUM BENZOATE. BOTTLED UNDER AUTHORITY OF COACH AND FOUR PRODUCTS CO., PHILA., PA. 19140\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eColors:\u003c\/strong\u003e near-black ground, tan and olive-gold band, white lettering\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBack:\u003c\/strong\u003e plain paper, the front's design faintly visible through it in mirror image\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eCondition:\u003c\/strong\u003e unused, never applied to a bottle\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🧪 Reading the Fine Print: Sarsaparilla After 1960\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSafrole is the main aromatic oil of sassafras root bark; oil of sassafras is about 80 percent safrole. FDA laboratory studies showed safrole to be a carcinogen in test animals, and the order published in the Federal Register of December 3, 1960 made any food with added safrole or sassafras oil adulterated under federal law. The prohibition still stands in the Code of Federal Regulations, at 21 CFR 189.180. The ban changed the drink: commercial root beer and sarsaparilla makers turned to artificial flavorings and safrole-free extracts, with wintergreen, long part of the root beer recipe, ready to fill in.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePut that beside this label. Its ZIP code means it went to press after July 1, 1963, well after the ban took effect, and its ingredient panel lists carbonated water, sugar, caramel coloring and sodium benzoate along with the flavoring it names plainly as artificial. It is the post-sassafras sarsaparilla, spelled out on a label the size of a playing card.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🤠 Sarsaparilla: Patent Medicine, Then the Cowboy's Drink\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe name belongs to Smilax, a tropical vine whose root was sold as medicine. In nineteenth-century America sarsaparilla was a patent medicine, its advertisements promising help for skin and blood problems, and like most soft drinks of the day it was first poured at drugstore soda counters. The Old West legend did the rest. Sarsaparilla still conjures, in a phrase quoted in its Wikipedia entry, \"languid belles and parched cowboys,\" and the cowboy who orders one at a saloon bar is the picture most Americans carry of it. The twist the legend leaves out is that the American drink usually held no sarsaparilla root at all, only birch oil and sassafras. Today it is not easy to find in most countries, yet it stays a common soft drink in the Philippines, Taiwan, Singapore and Australia.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🔔 Philadelphia, Where American Soda Began\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe city printed on this label has a fair claim to the whole business. Dr. Philip Syng Physick, a Philadelphia physician, added carbon dioxide to plain water for his patients, and in 1807 the pharmacist Townsend Speakman began selling fruit juice mixed with carbonated water, often counted as the first American soft drink. Sixty-eight years later another Philadelphia pharmacist, Charles E. Hires, blended sarsaparilla, sassafras, wild cherry, wintergreen and ginger into a root beer he sold at his drugstore at Sixth and Spruce Streets. At the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Fairmount Park he gave away samples to a huge audience, and heavy advertising with trade cards carried Hires root beer to national fame. The temperance movement helped, handing drinkers a nonalcoholic glass with the name of a beer.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🏭 Coach and Four Products Co. and \"Bottled Under Authority Of\"\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe label names one company: Coach and Four Products Co., Philadelphia. Its wording repays a close read. \"Bottled under authority of\" is the phrase a label carries when a bottler fills bottles with the permission of the company that owns the brand. Here the bottler was family: the Labovitzes' own Sheffield works, on the same North 6th Street block as the brand. So the name on the bottom line is the brand's owner, and the ® beside COACH AND FOUR shows the name was a registered trademark. The same stagecoach picture turns up on the brand's Ginger Beer, Ginger Ale and Club Soda labels, a family of mixers and soft drinks sharing one design.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe people behind it are on file at the U.S. Patent Office. The name first went on soft drinks on \u003cstrong\u003eJune 26, 1956\u003c\/strong\u003e, spelled COACH'N FOUR back then, and was registered on \u003cstrong\u003eJanuary 29, 1957\u003c\/strong\u003e (trademark No. 640,759) by \u003cstrong\u003eSheffield Bottling Co.\u003c\/strong\u003e, a Philadelphia partnership trading as \"Coach 'N Four Products Co.,\" with \u003cstrong\u003eHarry Labovitz\u003c\/strong\u003e signing as a partner. On \u003cstrong\u003eJuly 11, 1969\u003c\/strong\u003e the name and its goodwill passed to \u003cstrong\u003eCoach and Four Products Company\u003c\/strong\u003e, the partnership of \u003cstrong\u003eHarry Labovitz and Arthur Labovitz\u003c\/strong\u003e on North 6th Street in North Philadelphia, ZIP 19140, which is the company named on this label. In January 1971 the registration was amended to the new owner and to the COACH AND FOUR form printed here. The trademark was renewed in 1977 and lapsed in 1997.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🏠 The family bottling works behind the stagecoach\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCoach and Four was a brand of \u003cstrong\u003eSheffield Bottling Co.\u003c\/strong\u003e, a family soda works at 3727-3729 North 6th Street, listed there in a bottlers' trade journal as early as 1945. Sheffield told the Patent Office it had used its mark on soft drinks since \u003cstrong\u003eOctober 6, 1931\u003c\/strong\u003e. In 1949 Mr. Labovitz of Sheffield was president of the Philadelphia Manufacturers of Carbonated Beverages and sat on the board of the Pennsylvania Bottlers Association, and in 1950 Sheffield was packing Logan Beverages for the Penn Mutual Grocery Co. A 1974 Philadelphia industrial directory still lists the Sheffield Beverage company at 3729 N. 6th St., ZIP 19140, making soft drinks with 20 employees, \u003cstrong\u003eHarry and Arthur Labovitz\u003c\/strong\u003e partners.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA grandson of the family got in touch with me about this brand, and the way the family tells it, Coach and Four was meant to be the more polished line next to the everyday Sheffield label. That is the whole reason this label says Sarsaparilla: the Sheffield label sold the same kind of drink as plain root beer, and Coach and Four was where the fancier name went. A big part of the business was filling seltzer bottles for Philadelphia's hotels and bars and for the dining cars of the Pennsylvania Railroad, headquartered right here in Philadelphia, and when Sheffield bought out smaller bottlers it kept their labels, Girard and Rising Sun among them, running on the old routes so the customers got what they were used to.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e⚖️ The milk company that wanted the name\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn November 1961 Sheffield applied to register its own label: SHEFFIELD on a red-and-gold pennant with a chess knight and the word \"Tingly.\" \u003cstrong\u003eNational Dairy Products Corporation\u003c\/strong\u003e, the company behind New York's Sheffield Farms milk, opposed it, and its own Sheffield Farms carbonated drinks, ginger ale and club soda among them, came up in the case. The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board dismissed the opposition on \u003cstrong\u003eJune 7, 1967\u003c\/strong\u003e. National Dairy appealed to the U.S. Court of Customs and Patent Appeals, and that appeal was dismissed on \u003cstrong\u003eMay 9, 1969\u003c\/strong\u003e. Two months later the Coach and Four name went to its own company. The family remembers the legal bills of fighting for the Sheffield name, with more still coming, as the reason everything moved over to Coach and Four. And that chess knight? The grandson says his dad loved carved chess pieces.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\n\u003ch2\u003e📮 19140: Hunting Park and Nicetown–Tioga\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe ZIP code both dates the label and places it. The Post Office Department introduced five-digit ZIP codes on July 1, 1963, so a label printing 19140 was printed that summer or later, and the Coach and Four Products Co. name at its foot, under the COACH AND FOUR form that went onto the registration only in January 1971, makes this one a \u003cstrong\u003e1970s\u003c\/strong\u003e label. 19140 covers roughly Hunting Park and Nicetown–Tioga in North Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Hunting Park takes its name from a nineteenth-century park laid out on the James Logan estate and a race track known as the Hunting Park Course. Nicetown, the story goes, is named for Hans te Neues, a Mennonite immigrant who bought the land in 1699; another account credits the de Neus family, Dutch Huguenots who settled there about 1700. Tioga is a Mohawk and Iroquois word for a place where a stream forks or runs swiftly, and the name has been used in North Philadelphia since at least the mid-nineteenth century.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis was factory country. In 1918 women worked the ordnance shops of the Midvale Steel and Ordnance Company in Nicetown, and the district's industrial life peaked during World War II before declining right after the war. The Coach and Four address sits in that same working North Philadelphia.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🐎 The Coach and Four: A Philadelphia Painting and an Old Saying\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA coach and four is a coach drawn by four horses, driven four-in-hand by one driver holding the reins of all four. Philadelphia has a famous one. Fairman Rogers, a civil engineer and retired University of Pennsylvania professor, founded the Philadelphia Coaching Club and commissioned Thomas Eakins to paint him driving a coaching party through Fairmount Park. The painting, first titled \u003cem\u003eA May Morning in the Park\u003c\/em\u003e (1879–80) and now known as \u003cem\u003eThe Fairman Rogers Four-in-Hand\u003c\/em\u003e, is in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Eakins posed its horses from Eadweard Muybridge's 1878 photographs of horses in motion, which makes it one of the first paintings to show precisely how horses move.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe phrase has a lawyer's history too. Around 1670 the Irish lawyer Stephen Rice, fighting the Act of Settlement, is said to have vowed to drive a coach and six horses through it, and the saying that a coach and four can be driven through an Act of Parliament came to mean that a clever lawyer can always find a loophole. The silhouette on this label, whip raised and horses at full stretch, is the coach and four at speed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🖼️ Condition and Display\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eUnused and never applied, so the white lettering stays crisp against the dark ground. The back is plain, with the design readable through the paper in reverse. At 3.5 by 2.5 inches it suits a small frame, a shadow box beside an old soda bottle, or a kitchen or home bar wall.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCollectors of soda labels and soft drink advertising\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePhiladelphia history, especially North Philadelphia, Hunting Park and Nicetown–Tioga\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRoot beer and sarsaparilla fans, and anyone who remembers ordering a sarsaparilla\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWestern and stagecoach collectors\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eA home bar or kitchen display\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🥤 About these\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe supply is finite - nobody's printing Coach and Four labels again, and once these last unused ones are gone, they'll be very difficult to acquire.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"relatedBlock\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🔎 More From The Vintage \u0026amp; Antique Gifts Archive\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-coach-four-bitter-lemon-soda-beverage-label-philadelphia-pa\"\u003eVintage 1970s Coach and Four Bitter Lemon 🍋 Soda Label Pair — Stagecoach Silhouette, Philadelphia PA\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/coach-four-club-soda-label-philadelphia-pa\"\u003eVintage 1970s Coach and Four Club Soda 🍾 Label Pair Philadelphia PA Lithograph Stagecoach Four Horses\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/coach-four-sarsaparilla-label-philadelphia-pa\"\u003eVintage 1970s Philadelphia Coach and Four 🐎 Sarsaparilla Soda Label Pair\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-oregon-loganberries-crate-label-salem-1950s-treasures-gifts\"\u003eVintage 1950s Oregon Loganberries Crate Label 🍓 Oregon Fruit Products Co. Salem\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-70s-high-hand-pear-label-brings-loomis-charm-life-treasures\"\u003eVintage 1970s High Hand Crate Label 🍐 Loomis, CA, Poker, Four Aces, Historic!\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42130681135336,"sku":"VAG-7484520399080","price":5.5,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.3502507478_hzge.jpg?v=1785356486"},{"product_id":"rare-vintage-robin-hood-beer-label-columbus-1970s-treasures-gifts-home","title":"Vintage 1970s Robin Hood Beer Label - Columbus 🍺 OH Memorabilia","description":"\u003ch2\u003eWho Brewed Robin Hood Beer in Columbus? 🏹 Robin Hood Beer Label, August Wagner Breweries, Columbus, Ohio, 1971 - 1974\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 4\" x 2 1\/2\" ~ Unused.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"max-width:315px;margin:0 auto 20px;\"\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:177.78%;height:0;overflow:hidden;\"\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Oxv0IeJPxBs\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer;autoplay;clipboard-write;encrypted-media;gyroscope;picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis is a rare vintage Robin Hood Beer label from August Wagner Breweries, Inc. of Columbus, Ohio. Robin himself is drawing his longbow, bearded and squinting down the arrow in a green hood and a russet tunic, out in a sunlit forest, with Robin Hood Beer in big red Old English letters across the trees.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis company was started in 1906 and is one of the few that survived prohibition. These labels are from the last few years it was produced in OH. Most of the labels you see out there are from later when they moved to PA.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🏷️ What's Printed on It\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCONTENTS 12 FL. OZ.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRobin Hood Beer\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBREWED AND BOTTLED BY AUGUST WAGNER BREWERIES INC., COLUMBUS, OHIO\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere's a tiny boxed emblem at the lower left and a small mark at the lower right. The back is blank. Notice what isn't there, too. American beer labels had to carry the words \"Internal Revenue Tax Paid\" until 1950, and these don't, which fits a label from the brewery's later years.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🍺 August Wagner and Gambrinus\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAugust Wagner was one of the many German brewers who came over in the late 1800s, a Bavarian by birth, and in 1906 he founded the Gambrinus Brewing and Bottling Company in Columbus. The company made it through Prohibition as The August Wagner and Sons Products Company, Incorporated, went back to beer when repeal came in 1933, and from 1937 it was August Wagner Breweries, Inc., the very name printed along the bottom of these labels. It sold its beer in Ohio, Indiana and West Virginia under the Augustiner, Mark V, Robin Hood and Gambrinus names.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRobin Hood was no short-timer in Columbus. When Pittsburgh Brewing registered the Robin Hood trademark in 1977, the filing gave February 6, 1961 as the date the name was first used. Pittsburgh didn't own the brand until 1974, so that first use was Wagner's. Robin Hood came out of Columbus for about thirteen years before it ever went to Pennsylvania.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e👑 The King Over the Door\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWagner picked King Gambrinus as his brewery's symbol, a way of holding on to his Bavarian roots. Gambrinus is the legendary king of beer. One old story has it that he invented beer to win the heart of his boss's daughter while he was an apprentice glass maker. A statue of the King, more than 12 feet tall, stood over the brewery entrance on South Front Street, and August Wagner himself is credited as the model for it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen the brewery was headed for demolition, the Columbus Dispatch bought the King in 1975, had him restored and set him up in a little park near his old spot. He's still there. The neighborhood around him is the Brewery District, traditionally known as the Old German Brewing District. Its first brewery was opened in 1836 by Louis Hoster, Jacob Silbernagel and George M. Herancourt, and Wagner's was one of 29 breweries that operated in the area.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🏭 The Last Years in Columbus\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn 1968 the company was bought by a group of investors from Detroit, Michigan. In 1970 Wagner bought The Little Switzerland Brewing Company of Huntington, West Virginia. That was the old Fesenmeier brewery in Huntington's Central City, which the Fesenmeier family had been forced to sell shortly before, and the new owner renamed it Little Switzerland. Wagner closed the Huntington plant in 1971 and moved production to Columbus, and the Columbus brewery itself closed in January 1974. The brewery was sold to the Dispatch Printing Company, which later razed it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Pittsburgh Brewing Company bought the brand names and other assets and kept on selling Mark V, Robin Hood and Gambrinus, which is why so many of the Robin Hood labels you'll see come from Pennsylvania. Robin Hood Cream Ale became one of Pittsburgh's own, and in 2020 Pittsburgh Brewing and Dancing Gnome of Sharpsburg brewed a 20-barrel batch to bring it back.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🏡 Display\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThey aren't making any more vintage labels once the limited supply for sale is gone and on display with collectors or in galleries then they will be very difficult to acquire. Imagine this vintage advertising hanging on your wall as home decor in any room!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"relatedBlock\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🔎 More From The Vintage \u0026amp; Antique Gifts Archive\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1970s-mini-coors-beer-vending-gumball-never-opened-treasures\"\u003eVintage 1970s Mini Coors Beer Can 🍺 Gumball Vending Machine Prize, Never Opened Breweriana\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/infamous-vintage-bad-frog-beer-label-banned-8-states-being-obscene\"\u003eVintage 1990s Bad Frog Beer Label 🐸 Frankenmuth, MI Brewery NOS Advertising, Banned in 8 States for Being Obscene\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-sterling-beer-song-sheet-fun-sings-best-drinking\"\u003eVintage 1970s-80s Sterling Beer Schnitzelbank Song Sheet 🍺 German Sing-Along on Weaved Paper\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/antique-to-vintage-1930s-1950s-ivanhoe-california-crate-label-set-knight-lady-rowena-robin-hood-splendid-lemons-klink\"\u003eAntique to Vintage 1930s-1950s Ivanhoe California Crate Label Set 🛡️ Knight, Lady Rowena, Robin Hood, Splendid Lemons, Klink\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1960s-1970s-horlacher-brewing-beer-label-pair-perfection-nine-months-old-gnomes-and-dukes-bulldog-allentown-pa\"\u003eVintage 1960s-1970s Horlacher Brewing Beer Label Pair 🍺 Perfection Nine Months Old Gnomes and Duke's Bulldog, Allentown PA\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43492988977384,"sku":"VAG-7878167199976","price":5.5,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.4079646773_30e8.jpg?v=1785357337"},{"product_id":"vintage-clockwork-tin-wind-up-boy-beating-drum-collectible-toy-unopened-box","title":"Vintage 1970s NOS Clockwork Tin Boy Drummer Wind-Up Toy 🥁 with Original Box, Nostalgic","description":"\u003ch2\u003eRemember the Clockwork Tin Boy Drummer? 🥁 Meet the Child Beating Drum\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 6\" ~ New old stock in the box; the boxes show shelf wear.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"max-width:315px;margin:0 auto 20px;\"\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:177.78%;height:0;overflow:hidden;\"\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/MXK_RyPYuOA\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer;autoplay;clipboard-write;encrypted-media;gyroscope;picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI love the name on this box almost as much as the toy inside it: \"Child Beating Drum.\" It sounds like an accident of translation, and it is — but it is also exactly right, in the plain, literal way these old export toys tended to name themselves. \"Beating\" a drum just means playing one, same as a marching band \"beats\" its drums, and once you know that, the name stops being funny-strange and turns into something kind of wonderful. This little wind-up drummer was made in China for export and carries the model number MS 765, printed on the box and again on his own tin base as \"MADE IN CHINA \/ 616 MS 765.\" He's New Old Stock, still sitting exactly as he was packed, never opened.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🎠 What He's Made Of\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe's a small mix of materials doing a lot of work. His head is molded orange vinyl with a painted face and a neatly combed forelock. His arms are dressed in real cloth sleeves, gathered and puffed at the cuff — that bit of actual fabric is what makes him feel like a toy someone dressed, not just a stamped-out figure. His torso is lithographed tin in a busy hearts-and-triangles pattern over a printed belt, his lower body is a candy-striped tin cylinder, and he stands on a sky-blue tin base with a scalloped, dotted border, rolling on small wheels with pinwheel hubs. One arm is raised, holding a brass-toned cymbal.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🐻 A Bear and a Rabbit on the Drum\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe drum in front of him is the real showpiece. It's laced like a snare drum, and each side carries its own little cartoon — a brown bear waving one paw, mid-dance on one head, and a white rabbit in a blue jacket capering across the other. Whoever designed this toy knew a child would rather watch a drumming bear than stare at plain red tin, and honestly, it still works on me.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e📦 What the Box Says\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHalf the fun here is the box itself. The front panel shows a rosy, big-eyed cartoon child mid-swing at a drum, under blue balloon lettering that reads \"CHILD BEATING DRUM,\" with the Chinese title 小弟打銅鼓 underneath it — \"little brother beats the brass drum.\" The end flaps repeat the name and add the export details: \"CLOCKWORK,\" \"MADE IN CHINA,\" and \"MS 765.\" Two of the flaps even carry a second little illustration of their own, a grinning kid with a black fringe of hair, drumstick up in one hand and a cymbal in the other, over a drum with a yellow cymbal on top — the box artist clearly liked drawing children playing drums. That plain, word-for-word translation is something of a small tradition among these old export toys, and I think it's part of the charm rather than something to smile at sideways.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🏮 The \"MS\" on the Box\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat \"MS\" isn't a maker's initials — it's a type code. Chinese export tin toy makers sorted what they built by kind: MF for cars and trucks, ME for military vehicles, and MS for figures and dolls, this drummer among them. The code tells you what the toy is, not who made it — China's numbered tin toy works, known as Shanghai Toy Factory No. 1 through No. 5, put no maker's name, logo or year on anything they shipped. In 1962 the workers at the largest of those factories alone turned out 3.5 million toys, most of them, like this one, headed overseas. So there's no name to give you beyond the code stamped on the box — but there's a real story behind that anonymity, and now you know it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e⚙️ Wound, Not Wired\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is a clockwork toy through and through — a coiled spring and a set of gears do the work, no batteries anywhere. The box says so twice, in the English \"CLOCKWORK\" and the Chinese 发条, which literally means \"spring.\" It's the sort of mechanism that once made a whole generation of kids crowd around a counter just to watch, and it still carries a little of that charm sitting still on a shelf.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🧡 A Note From Me\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe's exactly the kind of thing I go looking for — cheerful, a little odd in the best way, and honestly made. Stand him next to your other tin wind-ups, keep the box propped up behind him for the full effect, and let that name make you smile every time you read it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"relatedBlock\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🔎 More From The Vintage \u0026amp; Antique Gifts Archive\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/very-rare-vintage-los-angeles-county-sheriff-tin-litho-special-police\"\u003eVintage 1970s Los Angeles County Sheriff 🌟 Special Police Badge Tin Litho Card Japan Toy Novelty\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/retro-2000s-tin-wind-up-duck-family-toy-bandwagon-k7521\"\u003eRetro 2000s Tin Wind-Up Duck Family Mechanical Toy 🦆 Bandwagon Wilmington MA Lithographed Tin Keywind Collectible, Nursery Decor, Item K7521\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-bendable-poseable-skeleton-figure-halloween-toy\"\u003eVintage 1980s I SPY Skelly Bendable Skeleton Figure 🦴 Spooky Night Poseable Halloween Décor, Nostalgic Toy That Brings Back Memories\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1960s-tin-globe-pencil-sharpener-unopened-box-memories-childhood\"\u003eVintage 1960s Mid-Century Globe Pencil Sharpener 🧸 Unopened in Box No. 7204 Nostalgic Novelty Desk Toy Schoolroom Collectible\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/limited-edition-heinz-ketchup-puzzle-brings-nostalgic-fun-home-vintage\"\u003eVintage Heinz Ketchup Mascot Mini Puzzle 🍅 20-Piece Buzzy Brands Toronto NOS, Brings Nostalgic Fun Home\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43659110383848,"sku":"VAG-7920680861928","price":20.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.4073678476_61hv.jpg?v=1785357841"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/collections\/original-1970s-vintage-collectibles-toys-tins-americana-rare-tin-tin-wind-soda.webp?v=1781397769","url":"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/collections\/70s.oembed?page=9","provider":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","version":"1.0","type":"link"}