{"title":"Vintage Toys | Tin Toys, Figures, Games \u0026 Novelties","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe toy box. Tin litho clickers and wind-ups, dime-store dexterity puzzles on their header cards, Gumby and Pokey bendables, Looney Tunes mini pinball games, vending-machine charms and rubber stamps, Trash Can Tots stickers, and the McDonald's Happy Meal toys a lot of us grew up with.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe tin toys have their own spot in the menu too, if that's what you came looking for.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"vintage-1980s-clown-mouse-dexterity-puzzle-game-hong-kong-nos","title":"Vintage 1980s Clown \u0026 Mouse Dexterity Puzzle Game on Stapled Header Card 🎪 NOS Plastic Toys Hong Kong Dime Store Circus Novelty","description":"\u003ch2\u003eRemember Clown and Mouse Dexterity Puzzles? 🤡 A Clown Who Never Got Opened\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 2\" ~ Still stapled to its red header card, still bagged, new old stock and never opened.\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\/2etvxpl5IJ8\" 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\u003eThese came to me the same way: stapled to a bright red header card, still in the bag, never sold, never played with. They've got the clown and the mouse - a wild-haired, white-faced circus clown grinning under a polka-dotted harlequin collar, set against a red-yellow-blue-green lightning-bolt background straight off a circus banner, with a small dark cartoon mouse tucked in at his shoulder. Two little white balls sit up top, waiting for a steadier hand than mine to walk them down into their holes - that's the whole game, a tilt-and-catch dexterity puzzle under a clear plastic dome, two inches across, with a plain black back.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe card above it reads, in flowing white script, \"Plastic Toys,\" then in small block capitals \"NOT RECOMMENDED FOR CHILDREN UNDER 3 YEARS OF AGE,\" and along the bottom, \"MADE IN HONG KONG.\" No maker's name anywhere - not on the card, not on the puzzle. And that exact template turns up in other colors: the same wording and the same blank disc in the corner, printed on a yellow card wrapped around a toy helicopter. So \"Plastic Toys\" isn't a company - it's a stock header an export house printed by the thousand and slapped on whatever novelty needed a card that week.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🏭 Hong Kong Made It Cheap, and Made It Well\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat MADE IN HONG KONG line carries real weight. Hong Kong was a British Crown Colony when its plastics trade got going, and the China Plastic Company was already up and running by 1946 or 1947. After 1949, refugees and industrialists poured into the colony from the mainland with almost nothing but skill and nerve, and small plastics workshops went up fast. Most of them were tiny cottage factories tucked into old tenement buildings and ground-floor shops - a few hundred square feet and a few hand-set presses - while the bigger works were mostly started by entrepreneurs from Shanghai. Plenty of the owners had started out as workers themselves and lived by the motto \"fortune comes from hard work\" - out chasing orders all day, then back at the factory at night handling the production, sometimes working straight through till morning. By 1950 there were already eight registered plastics factories running there - Kader, Tai Nam, Cheung Kong and Winsome among them. One of the men behind that boom, Lam Leung-tim, got his start running the Lee Man Plastics and Bakelite works in Guangzhou with about a hundred hands on the floor, then founded Forward Products in Hong Kong in 1955 and merged it with Winsome Plastic Works in 1960 to build Forward Winsome Industries - one of the colony's great early plastics houses. Nobody put a factory name on this card, but the industry that turned it out belongs to men like him.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBy 1972 Hong Kong had passed Japan as the world's biggest toy exporter, and the colony went on to count more than 2,000 toy factories employing something like 56,000 people. A card that says MADE IN HONG KONG is a small piece of that story - millions of cheap, bright little novelties like this one, turned out fast and shipped everywhere.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🐷 The Game Is Much Older Than the Plastic\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRoll-the-ball puzzles like this one go back a lot further than Hong Kong plastics. In 1889, toymaker Charles Martin Crandall put out Pigs in Clover at his Waverly Toy Works in Waverly, New York - a round puzzle where you steered marbles through rings into a pen in the center - and it turned into a genuine national craze. The factory was running eight thousand a day and still twenty days behind on orders; sales passed a million. The story that made it famous: Senator William Evarts carried one into the Senate on March 13, 1889, Senator George Vest got his hands on it, and a page was sent out to buy five more. Four days later a cartoon in the New York World showed President Harrison's own advisers hunched over the game.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEvery little ball-and-hole puzzle since - tin, glass or plastic - is living off that craze. By the time these were made, it had long since become penny-arcade and dime-store fare: a peg-rack impulse buy, cheap enough for pocket money, with whatever cartoon character happened to be on hand printed on the face.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🎪 Circus Art, No License Required\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe clown is drawn in the full big-top style - painted white face with a little X on his brow, wild blue hair, a yellow ruff collar dotted in red - the kind of figure that circus posters and carnival banners stamped into American memory for generations. Ringling Bros. and Barnum \u0026amp; Bailey carried that painted face from town to town: the Ringlings bought Barnum \u0026amp; Bailey in 1907, and the two shows debuted as one combined circus in New York in 1919. Lou Jacobs clowned in its rings for 64 years, and in 1966 his painted face went onto a U.S. postage stamp. By 1968 so many of the circus's clowns were getting on in years that it opened its own Clown College to teach the trade to a new crowd. The mouse beside him is round-eared, big-eyed, drawn in the loose spirit of the famous cartoon mice without actually being one of them - no studio name, no license line, anywhere on the card or the puzzle. That was the norm for cheap novelty toys: borrow a look everybody already loved, skip the royalty.\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-1980s-clown-girl-gargoyle-dexterity-puzzle-game-hong-kong-nos\"\u003eVintage 1980s NOS Clown Girl and Gargoyle Dexterity Puzzle Game 🧸 Plastic Toys Made in Hong Kong Circus Ball Maze\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1980-galactic-battleships-vending-display-card-diamond-vending\"\u003eVintage 1980 Galactic Battleships Vending Display Card 🃏 Diamond Vending Supply Co. Sci-Fi Header C-23 NOS Hong Kong\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/rare-1950s-tin-special-police-badges-uncover-detective-history-vintage\"\u003eVintage Tin Toy Badge 🕵️ Private Detective \u0026amp; Special Police on Original Card | 1950s–60s Japan Dime Store\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":40769713373349,"sku":"VAG-7034818625701","price":16.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.3346398755_qorb.jpg?v=1785353610"},{"product_id":"vintage-blair-township-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan","title":"Vintage 1960s-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\u003cp\u003eMost toy police badges on a five-and-dime rack said SPECIAL POLICE and nothing else. This one 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\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 1960s-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 1960s-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 1960s-1970s Royal Oak Auxiliary Police Tin Litho Toy Badge 🚔 NOS on Card Michigan Seal 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 1960s-1970s Indianapolis Police Special Toy Badge Pin 🚔 Tin Litho on Card Mid-Century 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\u003cp\u003eHere's one for anybody who grew up anywhere near Monument Circle. It's a little 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.\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 and a San Francisco button copying the patch the SFPD added around 1970, so these were hanging on the racks in the 1970s.\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 1960s-1970s Abilene Police Special Police Toy Badge 🦅 Tin Litho Pin-Back Button NOS Japan Card Mid-Century\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 1960s-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 1960s-1970s Royal Oak Auxiliary Police Tin Litho Toy Badge 🚔 NOS on Card Michigan Seal 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":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 Tin Litho Special Police Toy Badge 🌟 Laurens County Sheriff's Dept — 1960s-1970s 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\u003cp\u003eHere's a little 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, and a San Francisco badge copying the patch the SFPD added around 1970. That puts this whole run of cards on the rack in the 1970s.\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 mid-century toy badge. 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 1960s-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 1960s-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-sauk-county-wisconsin-sheriffs-dept-tin-litho-toy-badge\"\u003eVintage 1960s-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\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 1960s-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\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 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, and a San Francisco button copying the patch the SFPD added around 1970 — so these were on the racks in the 1970s.\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. 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 Tin Litho Special Police Toy Badge 🚔 Department of Defense DOD Eagle Seal Pinback Made in Japan 1960s-1970s\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 1960s-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 1960s-1970s Indianapolis Police Special Toy Badge Pin 🚔 Tin Litho on Card Mid-Century Japan Dime Store 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":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 1960s-1970s Woodbury Special Police Toy Badge 🚔 Tin Litho on Original Pin, 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\u003cp\u003eHere's a good one. This is a 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, and a San Francisco button copying the patch the SFPD added around 1970 - so this whole run was sitting on dime-store racks in the 1970s. 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. 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. 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. 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 1960s-1970s Abilene Police Special Police Toy Badge 🦅 Tin Litho Pin-Back Button NOS Japan Card Mid-Century\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 1960s-1970s Florida Highway Patrol 🍊 Special Police Toy Badge Pin NOS Carded Tin Litho Made in Japan Mid-Century\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 Tin Litho Special Police Toy Badge 🚔 Department of Defense DOD Eagle Seal Pinback Made in Japan 1960s-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 1960s-1970s Gainesville 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\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 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. So this card series was still in production in the 1970s, which fits the badge's 1960s-1970s place in the long run 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 1960s-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 1960s-1970s Abilene Police Special Police Toy Badge 🦅 Tin Litho Pin-Back Button NOS Japan Card Mid-Century\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 1960s-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\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 1960s-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\u003cp\u003eHere's a badge with a whole state seal packed onto it. It's a 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, and with a San Francisco button, which copies a patch SFPD added around 1970. That puts these on the racks in the 1970s. 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 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. 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 1960s-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 1960s-1970s Florida Highway Patrol 🍊 Special Police Toy Badge Pin NOS Carded Tin Litho Made in Japan Mid-Century\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 1960s-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\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\/il_fullxfull.3292502554_lymj.jpg?v=1785353791"},{"product_id":"vintage-town-of-conway-new-hampshire-police-tin-litho-toy-badge","title":"Vintage 1960s-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 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\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 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. That fits the 1960s–1970s window these carded badges belong to.\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 comes from just about those same years.\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. The last Boston-bound passenger train left in 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\u003eA dealer who sold off a retiring friend's old store stock of carded Japanese Special Police badges described the master cases as old rice paper, marked Made in Japan, and 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 1960s-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 1960s-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 1960s-1970s Indianapolis Police Special Toy Badge Pin 🚔 Tin Litho on Card Mid-Century Japan Dime Store 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":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 1960s-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\u003cp\u003eThis one's for anybody with Royal Oak or metro Detroit roots. It's a 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. 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 1960s-1970s Indianapolis Police Special Toy Badge Pin 🚔 Tin Litho on Card Mid-Century 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 1960s-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-blair-township-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1960s-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\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 1960s-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\u003cp\u003eRead the top of this 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. I've got a little stack of these, and every one of them says PLORHAM, 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 in my shop turns up with a New York button copying the NYPD patch that was adopted July 1, 1971, and a San Francisco button copying the SFPD patch added around 1970 — so this whole run was on the racks in the 1970s. 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 1960s-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 1960s-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\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\/il_fullxfull.3290433850_hjz2.jpg?v=1785353819"},{"product_id":"vintage-phoenix-arizona-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan","title":"Vintage 1960s-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\u003cp\u003eThis one's a 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. 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 mid-century toy badge. 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 Tin Litho Special Police Toy Badge 🌟 Laurens County Sheriff's Dept — 1960s-1970s 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 1960s-1970s Florida Highway Patrol 🍊 Special Police Toy Badge Pin NOS Carded Tin Litho Made in Japan Mid-Century\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 1960s-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\u003cp\u003eThis is a little 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.\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 1960s-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 1960s-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\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 Tin Litho Special Police Toy Badge 🌟 Laurens County Sheriff's Dept — 1960s-1970s 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 1960s-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 1960s-1970s Lee County Georgia Sheriff Tin Litho Special Police Toy Badge Pin 🚔 New Old Stock on Card\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-hancock-county-tennessee-sheriffs-melungeons-tin-litho-toy-badge","title":"Vintage Hancock County TN Sheriffs Dept Tin Litho Toy Pinback Button 🚔 Home of the Melungeons Bicentennial 1776 1976 Japan","description":"\u003ch2\u003eWho Was Sheriff of Hancock County, Tennessee? 🦅 Hancock County, Packed Onto One Little Button\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\/5qJqpyOfokc\" 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 tin litho pinback on its original yellow \"SPECIAL POLICE BADGE\" card, sealed in its sleeve just the way it hung on the rack. The button itself runs about an inch and a half across, same as the rest of this card family, and it's not some blank \"Special Police\" stamp with a town name dropped in. A green eagle spreads its wings over a pair of crossed flags - the Stars and Stripes and Tennessee's own three-star flag - inside a shield that reads HANCOCK COUNTY across the top and SHERIFFS DEPT below. A red ribbon wraps the bottom and says it outright: HOME OF THE MELUNGEONS. Not bad for a dime-store toy. They seldom turn up for sale, carded or loose.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🛡️ A Toy Copying a Real Patch\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat ribbon isn't the artist's own idea. Hancock County's actual sheriff and deputies wore a shoulder patch reading \"Home of the Melungeons,\" and this button is doing exactly what the rest of this card's badges do - copying a real emblem, wording and all. Look at the small medallion the eagle is perched on, right where the two flagstaffs meet, and you'll see WALK TOWARD THE SUNSET lettered around a red ring, with two dates stacked inside it: 1776 in black, 1976 in red right underneath. That's the Bicentennial pairing, the country's 200th birthday, worked right into the sheriff's emblem.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🌄 Sneedville and the Drama That Named It\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWalk Toward the Sunset was a real outdoor drama, staged outside Sneedville - the Hancock County seat - starting in 1969, and it closed for good after its 1976 season once the crowds got too thin to keep it running. Kermit Hunter wrote it, a man who turned out more than forty outdoor dramas for towns across the South, from Cherokee, North Carolina to Tahlequah, Oklahoma to Beckley and Boone. County leaders brought him in hoping the show would pull in tourists and jobs - this was, in the 1960s, the eighth-poorest county in the entire country, its population cut nearly in half over the previous hundred years. Not everyone welcomed the spotlight on the county's Melungeon heritage; a bomb threat kept volunteers up all night guarding the new amphitheater before opening night ever happened. The show went on anyway, and it turned \"Melungeon\" - once slung as an insult - into something the county could put on a marquee.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd this is Appalachia through and through. They built the drama's stage at the foot of Newman's Ridge, the old stomping grounds of the Melungeon families. Wayne Winkler, who wrote Walking Toward the Sunset: The Melungeons of Appalachia and a whole book on the drama itself, calls the Melungeon story \"Appalachian concentrate\" - in their small story you can see the bigger story of Appalachia as a whole. I like thinking of this little button that way: a whole mountain county's story, pressed onto about an inch and a half of tin.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWho the Melungeons actually are has been argued over for longer than the drama ran. The earliest known use of the word turns up in a Baptist church's minutes in Scott County, Virginia, in 1813. Historians don't agree on where the community came from: a 1950 study traced them to free people of color who moved into Hancock County from the Virginia-North Carolina piedmont in the late 1700s and early 1800s, mixed European, African, and Native American; a 1994 book argued for Moorish and Turkish refugees of the 1500s; a 1969 study makes the case for a mostly English background with some African or Cherokee roots, maybe both, and possibly Portuguese too. The community itself is real, rooted around Newman's Ridge, where the Vardy Community School once taught Melungeon children. The county was carved out of Hawkins and Claiborne counties in 1844 and named for John Hancock - Hawkins sued over it, but the state supreme court upheld the new county in 1848 - and named its seat, Sneedville, after William H. Sneed, the lawyer who argued that case.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🗓️ When These Were Made\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere's no year printed anywhere on the card itself, but the rest of the family gives it away. The same yellow card carries a New York button copying the NYPD patch adopted in July 1971 and a San Francisco button copying a patch the SFPD started using around 1970 - so these were on the racks in the 1970s, same as the rest of this set.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🚔 Badges Like This Weren't Just Toys\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSheriffs really did hand out tin badges just like this one as prizes in their youth programs - that's not particular to this county, just how it worked back then. Police departments also backed school safety patrols starting in the 1920s, putting belts and badges on schoolchildren all over the country. A card like this one landed in some kid's hands somewhere in that world, and for a minute, a tin button made them somebody.\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-phoenix-arizona-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1960s-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 1960s-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-department-of-defense-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage Tin Litho Special Police Toy Badge 🚔 Department of Defense DOD Eagle Seal Pinback Made in Japan 1960s-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":40769731854501,"sku":"VAG-7034822590629","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.3335968277_m8nl.jpg?v=1785353864"},{"product_id":"vintage-commonwealth-of-massachusetts-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan","title":"Vintage 1960s-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 1960s-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\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 1960s-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: 1960s-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.\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 1960s-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 Tin Litho Special Police Toy Badge 🌟 Laurens County Sheriff's Dept — 1960s-1970s 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\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\/il_fullxfull.3335952563_f5f8.jpg?v=1785353874"},{"product_id":"vintage-1970s-san-francisco-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan","title":"Vintage 1960s-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? A San Francisco Police Toy Badge That Dates Itself by Its Phoenix 🚔\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\/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\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\u003eThe display card measures 4 x 2.25 inches. A red band across the top reads SPECIAL POLICE BADGE in white capitals. Beneath it, on a golden-yellow ground, a cartoon motorcycle officer rides in front of a pale city skyline: white peaked cap with a cap badge, riding goggles pulled 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 in the lower right corner say JAPAN.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe button is 1.5 inches across. A red rim and a black ring frame a yellow-outlined shield on a deep purple-blue field. SAN FRANCISCO arches across the top with POLICE beneath it, and a white-headed phoenix spreads red and yellow wings over a burst of red and yellow flame. 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.\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\u003eA dealer who sold off a retiring friend's old store stock of carded Japanese Special Police badges described how they had come packed: the master cases were 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 Tin Litho Special Police Toy Badge 🚔 Herb Cooper Special Security Patrol Pin — Made in Japan, 1960s-1970s\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 1960s-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 1960s-1970s Abilene Police Special Police Toy Badge 🦅 Tin Litho Pin-Back Button NOS Japan Card Mid-Century\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 1960s-1970s Florida Highway Patrol 🍊 Special Police Toy Badge Pin NOS Carded Tin Litho Made in Japan Mid-Century","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\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. 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. 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 mid-century toy badge. 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 1960s-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-abilene-texas-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1960s-1970s Abilene Police Special Police Toy Badge 🦅 Tin Litho Pin-Back Button NOS Japan Card Mid-Century\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-woodbury-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1960s-1970s Woodbury Special Police Toy Badge 🚔 Tin Litho on Original Pin, NOS Japan 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":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\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.\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.\" 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.\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 1960s-1970s Florida Highway Patrol 🍊 Special Police Toy Badge Pin NOS Carded Tin Litho Made in Japan Mid-Century\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 1960s-1970s Mississippi Highway Patrol Tin Litho Toy Police Badge 🚔 NOS on Special Police 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":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 Tin Litho Special Police Toy Badge 🚔 Herb Cooper Special Security Patrol Pin — Made in Japan, 1960s-1970s","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\u003ch2\u003e🚔 What You've Got Here\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis is a 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.\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. 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 1960s-1970s Florida Highway Patrol 🍊 Special Police Toy Badge Pin NOS Carded Tin Litho Made in Japan Mid-Century\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 1960s-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 1960s-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\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":40769735229605,"sku":"VAG-7034823606437","price":20.0,"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 1960s-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\u003cp\u003eHere's a little piece of Wisconsin off the dime-store rack. It's a round 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\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.\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 mid-century toy badge. 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 1960s-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 Tin Litho Special Police Toy Badge 🌟 Laurens County Sheriff's Dept — 1960s-1970s 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 1960s-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\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 1960s-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\u003cp\u003eThis is a 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. 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. 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.\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 Tin Litho Special Police Toy Badge 🌟 Laurens County Sheriff's Dept — 1960s-1970s 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 Tin Litho Special Police Toy Badge 🚔 Herb Cooper Special Security Patrol Pin — Made in Japan, 1960s-1970s\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 1960s-1970s Special Police Toy Badge 🚔 Commonwealth of Massachusetts Tin Litho New Old Stock on Original Card\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 Tin Litho Special Police Toy Badge 🚔 Department of Defense DOD Eagle Seal Pinback Made in Japan 1960s-1970s","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\u003cp\u003eThis is a little 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 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 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. 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 1960s-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 1960s-1970s Woodbury Special Police Toy Badge 🚔 Tin Litho on Original Pin, 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 1960s-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\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 1960s-1970s Abilene Police Special Police Toy Badge 🦅 Tin Litho Pin-Back Button NOS Japan Card Mid-Century","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\u003cp\u003eHere's a little 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\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.\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 1960s-1970s Indianapolis Police Special Toy Badge Pin 🚔 Tin Litho on Card Mid-Century Japan Dime Store NOS\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 1960s-1970s Florida Highway Patrol 🍊 Special Police Toy Badge Pin NOS Carded Tin Litho Made in Japan Mid-Century\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-woodbury-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1960s-1970s Woodbury Special Police Toy Badge 🚔 Tin Litho on Original Pin, NOS Japan 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":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 1960s-1970s Sheriff's Halifax County Special Police Badge Pin 🚔 Japan Tin Litho Star Button, Cracker Jack Era 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\u003cp\u003eThis one skips the big city and goes straight for the county. The button is a round 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\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 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.\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. 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 1960s-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 Tin Litho Special Police Toy Badge 🚔 Herb Cooper Special Security Patrol Pin — Made in Japan, 1960s-1970s\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 1960s-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\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 1960s-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 1960s-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\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-1980s-clown-girl-gargoyle-dexterity-puzzle-game-hong-kong-nos","title":"Vintage 1980s NOS Clown Girl and Gargoyle Dexterity Puzzle Game 🧸 Plastic Toys Made in Hong Kong Circus Ball Maze","description":"\u003ch2\u003eRemember Clown Girl and Gargoyle Dexterity Puzzles? 🤹 A Clown Girl and Her Fanged Companion\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 2\" ~ Still stapled to its red header card, still bagged, new old stock and never opened.\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\/m0gya-LfgRE\" 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\u003eThese are still stapled to their cards, still bagged, never opened - the same red \"Plastic Toys\" header as the clown-and-mouse puzzle I list alongside it, but a different face under the dome. Here it's a wide-eyed clown girl with rosy cheeks and painted lashes, and tucked right up against her, a blue, pink-snouted, big-toothed little creature boxed inside a green oval - a gargoyle, or close enough to one, grinning out from a scatter of green and yellow triangles. Two small white balls sit loose at the left, waiting to be tilted down into their holes - a two-inch tilt-and-catch dexterity puzzle under a clear dome, plain black on the back.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe card above it: white script \"Plastic Toys,\" small block capitals \"NOT RECOMMENDED FOR CHILDREN UNDER 3 YEARS OF AGE,\" and \"MADE IN HONG KONG\" along the bottom. No maker printed anywhere - and the same wording, the same blank white disc in the corner, turns up in yellow on a completely different toy, a bagged helicopter. \"Plastic Toys\" was a stock header an export house reused, not a brand of its own.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🏭 Where the Card Comes From\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMADE IN HONG KONG means something real here. After 1949, refugees and entrepreneurs from the mainland flooded into the colony and built a plastics industry practically overnight - eight registered factories running by 1950, among them Kader, Tai Nam, Cheung Kong and Winsome. Lam Leung-tim, who'd cut his teeth running a plastics and bakelite works in Guangzhou, founded Forward Products in Hong Kong in 1955 and merged it with Winsome Plastic Works in 1960 to build Forward Winsome Industries. No factory name made it onto this card, just the country of origin, but it came out of that same fast-growing industry - one of thousands of cheap, bright little novelties Hong Kong shipped out by the million. And a whole lot of those millions were headed for America. Once the 1960s were out, the United States was the main market for Hong Kong's plastic goods - toys most of all - and in 1972 Hong Kong passed Japan to become the biggest toy exporter in the world. Twenty years later we were still Hong Kong's largest toy customer, taking about 30 percent of its toy exports, which is how a little red-carded puzzle like this one ends up on this side of the Pacific.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🎭 Clown and Creature, Side by Side\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePutting a friendly clown face next to a fanged little monster on the same toy wasn't unusual - carnival and sideshow art always lived comfortably together, and a dime-store novelty rack didn't draw a hard line between cute and creepy. Neither figure carries a studio name or a license line; both are drawn in the same bold, flat, made-to-be-seen-from-three-feet-away style that Hong Kong's export artists turned out by the thousand. Ball-and-hole tilting puzzles like this one are older than the plastic they're molded from - the format's great American moment was Charles Crandall's Pigs in Clover, launched in 1889 and sold by the million, while in London R. Journet \u0026amp; Co. built a name on little glass-topped dexterity puzzles from the 1890s on and kept making them for most of the next century - and by the time these came off the line, the game had long since settled into cheap, cheerful peg-rack fare: pocket money, a rainy afternoon, and whatever cartoon face happened to be on the press that week.\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-1980s-clown-mouse-dexterity-puzzle-game-hong-kong-nos\"\u003eVintage 1980s Clown \u0026amp; Mouse Dexterity Puzzle Game on Stapled Header Card 🎪 NOS Plastic Toys Hong Kong Dime Store Circus Novelty\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1980-galactic-battleships-vending-display-card-diamond-vending\"\u003eVintage 1980 Galactic Battleships Vending Display Card 🃏 Diamond Vending Supply Co. Sci-Fi Header C-23 NOS Hong Kong\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1950s-jumbo-clown-circus-popcorn-bag-patriotic-red-white-blue\"\u003eVintage Jumbo Pop Corn Bag 🤡 - Clown Face Circus Carnival Concession Sack, Mid-Century Americana Paper Ephemera, NOS Unused\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":40769746960549,"sku":"VAG-7034826195109","price":17.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.7779946878_3pni.jpg?v=1785353989"},{"product_id":"vintage-cowgirl-tin-clicker-cricket-1950s-original-packaging-treasures","title":"Vintage 1950s 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 1950s 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\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\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 - had a pegboard of them. U.S. Metal Toy and Kirchhof made them here, and the Japanese made them by the thousands. 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\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. 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. Aigami 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd a cowgirl with a six-shooter was exactly what a kid wanted in the 1950s. Westerns were all over TV, and Annie Oakley, with Gail Davis in blonde braids, ran from 1954 to 1957.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e📅 How old is it?\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNothing on it is dated. The MADE IN JAPAN card puts it after the occupation, and I've always had these as 1950s.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🎵 About these\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEvery one I have is this same cowgirl cricket, still bagged on its Aigami card, about 1 5\/8 by 3 inches. 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 1960s-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-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-woodbury-police-tin-litho-toy-badge-japan\"\u003eVintage 1960s-1970s Woodbury Special Police Toy Badge 🚔 Tin Litho on Original Pin, NOS Japan 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":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-planters-mr-peanut-whistle-1950s-rip-1916-2020-highly-collectible","title":"Vintage 1950s Planters Mr. Peanut Figural Whistle 🥜 NOS Advertising Collectible Red \u0026 Beige Plastic Figure Top Hat Monocle","description":"\u003ch2\u003eCan You Whistle With Mr. Peanut? 🥜 Vintage 1950s Planters Figural Whistle, NOS, Red \u0026amp; Beige\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 2 1\/2\" x 1\" ~ New old stock, never used.\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\/bFee6AIITC4\" 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\u003ch2\u003e🥜 The Whistle\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn January 2020 Planters killed off Mr. Peanut in a Super Bowl ad, and in Suffolk, Virginia — the town where a 14-year-old schoolboy first drew him back in 1916 — fans built him a little shrine. He didn't stay dead. This whistle is that same dapper little peanut man from decades earlier, small enough for a kid to carry in a pocket and blow: top hat, monocle, one hand on his hip and the other on a cane, standing on a little rectangular base, his body textured like a peanut shell. Mr. is molded on the crown of the hat and PEANUT right across the band. You blow into the open crown of the hat; there's an oval opening cut into the back of his head behind the face. I have it in red and in beige — the beige is the harder of the two to find.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🎩 A Prize You Sent Away For\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA 1957 railroad employee magazine has children saving up Planters peanut bags so they could send off for a \"Peanut Pencil,\" and \"maybe some day even a Peanut Whistle\" — this whistle's own premium, a send-away prize rather than a store giveaway, in the 1950s and on into the '60s.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🇮🇹 A Boy From Oderzo\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAmedeo Obici was born July 15, 1877, in Oderzo, Italy, and came to America in March 1889, bound for Scranton, Pennsylvania, but ended up in Wilkes-Barre instead. He worked in the Musante family's fruit store, built a peanut roaster out of scrapyard parts, and put one letter of his last name into each bag of peanuts he sold — the lucky bags that spelled it out won an Ingersoll watch. In 1897 he partnered with Mario Peruzzi, who'd worked out his own method for blanching whole roasted peanuts, and in 1906 the two founded the Planters Peanut Company in Wilkes-Barre.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🎩 Five Dollars and a Monocle\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn 1916 Planters ran a contest for a company trademark, and a 14-year-old Suffolk, Virginia schoolboy named Antonio Gentile won it with a drawing of a peanut with arms and legs, walking with a cane. His family got five dollars. Somebody then added the monocle, the top hat and the gloves — usually credited to commercial artist Andrew S. Wallach, though the credit is disputed in favor of Frank P. Krize Sr., a Wilkes-Barre artist who ran the Suffolk plant. Obici thought five dollars wasn't enough: he put Antonio and four of his siblings through college, and paid for Antonio's medical school besides. Antonio Gentile became a doctor in Newport News, Virginia, and died of a heart attack in 1939. His drawing went a long way. By the mid-1930s Mr. Peanut stood for the whole peanut industry, not just Planters, and he's still one of the best-known characters advertising ever made. When Advertising Week opened the Madison Avenue Walk of Fame in 2004, he was one of the first five in, third behind the red and yellow M\u0026amp;M's and the Aflac Duck and ahead of the Pillsbury Doughboy and Tony the Tiger. Not bad for a five-dollar sketch.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🥜 Wilkes-Barre and Suffolk\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor nearly half a century Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania was the peanut capital of the world — Planters' headquarters sat off Public Square on East Market Street, and every summer an eight-foot Mr. Peanut walked the shopping district handing out roasted peanuts to children, while smaller Mr. Peanut figures rode the big grinders in the store window. By 1913 the company had opened its Suffolk, Virginia plant, which grew into the largest peanut-processing operation in the world; Obici and his wife Louise moved to Suffolk in 1924 and bought Bay Point Farm on the Nansemond River. Louise died in 1938, and Obici endowed a hospital in her memory before his own death in 1947; the hospital opened in 1951, and Bay Point Farm is Sleepy Hole Golf Course today. A full-color Mr. Peanut statue has stood on a granite pedestal in downtown Suffolk since 1991 — where the flowers and candles went in January 2020.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🎡 The Boardwalk\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMr. Peanut began walking the Atlantic City Boardwalk in 1930, and a store selling the five-cent \"Nickel Lunch\" opened across from the Steel Pier. The manager's son, Leo Yeager III, opened his own Mr. Peanut shop at 10th Street on the Ocean City, New Jersey boardwalk in 1972 — it's still there — and he now holds some 25,000 pieces of Mr. Peanut merchandise. The Atlantic City store closed in 1978.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🪦 RIP 1916–2020\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePlanters itself changed hands over the years — Standard Brands bought roughly half the company in 1960 for $12 million, Standard Brands merged into Nabisco in 1981, Kraft acquired Nabisco in 2000, and Hormel bought Planters in 2021 for $3.35 billion. On January 22, 2020, Planters announced that Mr. Peanut had died, in a campaign built around Super Bowl LIV. Baby Nut sprouted from the grave with the line \"Just kidding, I'm back,\" grew into Peanut Jr. that August, and by February 2021 the grown-up Mr. Peanut was back in his top hat and monocle, same as they've been since 1916.\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-planters-mr-peanut-swizzle-stick-stirrer-rip-1916-2020\"\u003eVintage 1990s Mr. Peanut Swizzle Stick 🥜 NOS Planters \"Everybody Loves a Nut\" White Plastic Barware\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1950s-planters-mr-peanut-cloth-sticker-rip-another-american-icon\"\u003eVintage Planters Mr. Peanut Cloth Sticker 🥜 1950s-1960s Printed Cloth Patch\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/bunny-rabbit-toothpick-holder-stash-box-treasures\"\u003eRetro 2000s Bunny Toothpick Holder 🐰 Amber Yellow Figural Rabbit in Magic Hat, New Old Stock in Original Box, Bandwagon Item K4670\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"Red","offer_id":41990526468328,"sku":"VAG-7049488629925","price":13.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Beige","offer_id":41990526533864,"sku":"VAG-7049488629925-2","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.6386267414_jch6.jpg?v=1785354790"},{"product_id":"4-8-12-vintage-gumby-pokey-figurines-1970s-1980s-both-colors-highly","title":"Vintage Gumby \u0026 Pokey Bendable Figures 🟢 Set of 5 or 4, 1970s-1980s Teal \u0026 Orange Plastic Toys, CHINA Mark Figurine","description":"\u003ch2\u003eWhere Did Gumby's Slanted Head Come From? 🟢 Vintage Gumby \u0026amp; Pokey Bendable Figures, 1970s-1980s\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e Approx. 2\" tall — molded plastic construction ~ New old stock, sold loose.\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\/aBiwK3gqE9c\" 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\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe story goes that Gumby's slanted head came from an old photograph of Art Clokey's father, who died in a car accident when Art was nine. The boy grew up to animate clay, and he gave the hairstyle in that photograph to the little green figure who made him famous.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eThese are the little flat Gumby and Pokey minis that came out of gumball and vending machines, and I have them in two groups. Set 1 is five figures: one teal Gumby, two orange Gumbys and two teal Pokeys. Set 2 is the same group without the teal Gumby, four figures in all.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🧸 What You Get\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGumby stands in his familiar pose, one arm raised beside his slanted head, his legs a long split V that flares out at the feet. The teal Gumby has white eyes and a red smile, some with painted brows too. The orange Gumbys share the same molded shape, with white-and-black eyes and painted brows, and a faint molded mark on the back. Pokey is a long-faced pony with a white eye, an open grin, and a glossy black mane and tail painted over the teal.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe word CHINA is molded in raised letters on Pokey's flank, and if you flip a Gumby over you'll find the same word running right down his back. The paint varies a little from figure to figure, which is half the fun of a set.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🎬 Art Clokey and the Clay Boy\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eArt Clokey was born Arthur Charles Farrington in Detroit, Michigan, on October 12, 1921. After his father's death he was adopted, at 11, by the composer Joseph Waddell Clokey. He studied geology at Pomona College, served as an Air Corps reconnaissance photographer in World War II, and at the University of Southern California came under the influence of the film teacher Slavko Vorkapich. In 1953 he made \u003cem\u003eGumbasia\u003c\/em\u003e, a three-minute film of clay shapes moving to music, its title a wink at Disney's \u003cem\u003eFantasia\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat student film caught the eye of Samuel G. Engel, president of the Motion Picture Producers Association, who paid for a pilot. Gumby first appeared on \u003cem\u003eHowdy Doody\u003c\/em\u003e and then got his own program, \u003cem\u003eThe Gumby Show\u003c\/em\u003e, in 1957. His name, as the story is told, came from \"gumbo,\" the sticky, muddy clay on Clokey's grandparents' farm. The story goes that Clokey chose green because it was both racially neutral and a symbol of life, and he gave Gumby wide feet for a practical reason: a clay figure has to stand up on its own between frames.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePokey, the talking orange pony, was invented by Al Eggleston in the early episodes, and Clokey himself gave Pokey his voice. Dallas McKennon voiced Gumby from 1957, and Norma MacMillan took over in the 1960s episodes. Clokey went on to make \u003cem\u003eDavey and Goliath\u003c\/em\u003e for the Lutheran Church in America, built his business around Gumby as Premavision and its toy arm, Prema Toy Company, and died on January 8, 2010, in Los Osos, California, at 88.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🧸 Gumby in Your Hand: The Toy Line\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe character was made to bend, and toy makers built real bendable figures to match. Lakeside Toys introduced Gumby Super-Flex bendable figures to the public in 1965, filing a trademark on May 20 of that year for \"Gumby's Pal Pokey\" as a flexible plastic doll. Lakeside paid $102,676.45 for the rights to make Gumby and Pokey dolls, a sum large enough that the deal ended up in a tax dispute that reached the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. In the 1980s Jesco made Gumby minis of its own, and Clokey's Prema Toy Company filed its own trademark for Gumby figurines in February 1986. Trendmasters made them in the mid-1990s.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe company that makes Gumby toys today has a family story of its own. Nick Croce Sr. started selling gift lines in 1953, carrying Hagen-Renaker, Josef Originals and Goebel, the maker of Hummel figurines, and consulted for Disney. His son co-founded N.J. Croce Co. in 1981 to import European brassware. In 1983 Nick Sr. signed the company's very first licensing agreement, for Gumby, with Art Clokey himself, and the brass importer reinvented itself as a character-toy company.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e📺 \"I'm Gumby, Dammit!\"\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn March 27, 1982, Eddie Murphy walked onto \u003cem\u003eSaturday Night Live\u003c\/em\u003e as a cranky, cigar-chomping Gumby, a show-business has-been who was nothing like the gentle original, and \"I'm Gumby, dammit!\" became one of the show's best-loved catchphrases. That first night he sat down with Joe Piscopo, playing talk-show host Tom Snyder, to plug his tell-all book, \u003cem\u003eI'm Gumby, Dammit\u003c\/em\u003e. Clokey approved of the parody, and Murphy brought the character back through 1984. The sketches led to a real Gumby revival: merchandise sales rose, the original episodes came out on home video, a new series called \u003cem\u003eGumby Adventures\u003c\/em\u003e followed in 1988, and in 1993 \u003cem\u003eTV Guide\u003c\/em\u003e named Gumby the best cartoon series of the 1950s.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🐴 The Green Pony Who Should Be Orange\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn television Pokey is orange and Gumby is green. In this group the colors trade places: every Pokey is teal with a black mane, and every set includes two orange Gumbys. Set 1 adds a teal Gumby, so both of Gumby's colors stand side by side. I love that swap - it's the first thing anybody notices when they pick them up.\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-bendable-poseable-skeleton-figure-halloween-toy\"\u003eVintage Bendable Skeleton Figure 🦴 Poseable Halloween Toy Bendy Skeleton, 1980s-1990s\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/8-16-vintage-1980s-animals-on-a-swing-pencil-toppers\"\u003eVintage 1980s Animals on a Swing Pencil Toppers 🎨 Set of 8 or 16\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-bendable-poseable-dog-toy-figure-anime-promotional-item-1978-treasures\"\u003eVintage 1978 Barone Bendable Poseable Dog Toy Figure 🧸 Perrine Story Nippon Animation Anime Collectible\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"Set 1","offer_id":43654073286888,"sku":"VAG-7062670246053","price":13.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Set 2","offer_id":43654073319656,"sku":"VAG-7062670246053-2","price":12.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.6593604705_3dji.jpg?v=1785355089"},{"product_id":"retro-2000s-tin-wind-up-duck-family-toy-bandwagon-k7521","title":"Retro 2000s Tin Wind-Up Duck Family Toy 🦆 Bandwagon Wilmington MA Lithographed Tin Keywind Collectible, Item K7521","description":"\u003ch2\u003eRemember Wind-Up Tin Toys? 🦆 Retro 2000s Tin Wind-Up Duck Family, Bandwagon, Wilmington MA\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 13\" x 2\" ~ New in its box, with the wind-up key still sealed in its bag.\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\/FymDcWEnyds\" 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🦆 Meet the Family\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis is a mother duck on wheels, towing three ducklings behind her on rigid metal rods, so the whole little line moves, and stops, together. Every one of them wears its own striped racing cap and goggles, all lithographed straight onto the tin. It's the same kind of tin wind-up old-timers remember off the five-and-dime counter, and it knows it's grown up now: the mother duck's back carries a sticker that reads \"FOR COLLECTORS NOT FOR CHILDREN,\" just above \"MADE IN CHINA\" printed in a little oval on the tin.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🏭 Bandwagon, Inc., Wilmington, Massachusetts\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe box gives you the company outright: Bandwagon, Inc., Wilmington, MA 01887, item number K7521, \"TIN DUCK FAMILY.\" And right under that, the box calls it a \"COLLECTIBLE ITEM – NOT FOR CHILDREN UNDER 8 YEARS.\" Bandwagon is a gifts-and-novelties importer, a Massachusetts corporation, on the books with the Secretary of the Commonwealth, working out of 54 Industrial Way right there in Wilmington. It claims the BANDWAGON name as far back as 1969, in a trademark filing it made in 2022, and its earliest registered mark, CEDAR SCENTER aromatic wood chips, was first used in 1983. It filed for DENTAPICKS toothpicks along the way too, and most of what it sold came in from China and Taiwan. Bandwagon wasn't running a tin-stamping line in Massachusetts; they were the American name on the box, sourcing a playful little novelty like this one and putting their own label on it for the gift-shop trade. I've come across other Bandwagon tin wind-ups on the resale market too — a motorcycle with a sidecar, an ice-cream vendor cart — so this duck family wasn't a one-off for them.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🚚 A Semi-Truck Out of Massachusetts\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI bought these ducks in 2007, off a semi-truck load of Bandwagon's unsold stock out of Massachusetts. That K7521 on the box tells the same story: Bandwagon gives every item a letter and four digits, and its numbers climb with the years. A K4801 color wheel is molded \"© 2001 BANDWAGON, INC.,\" and a cookie tree kit numbered K9730 carries a © 2006. K7521 falls between the two, so this is a 2000s Bandwagon import, through and through.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🍎 Wilmington, Massachusetts\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI always look up the town printed on the box, and Wilmington turned out to be a good one. It's a Middlesex County town north of Boston, first settled in 1665 and incorporated in 1730 out of pieces of Woburn, Reading and Billerica, and named for Spencer Compton, the 1st Earl of Wilmington. It was farm country for a long time. Middlesex County was known for its hop yards, and Wilmington was where the hop craze first ran hottest, with cranberries alongside. It's also the birthplace of the Baldwin apple: a chance seedling that came up on John Ball's farm soon after 1740, found near Wood Hill by William Butters, as local tradition tells it, and brought to the attention of Colonel Loammi Baldwin, whose name stuck to it. Through the 1800s it was the most popular apple in New England, until the hard winter of 1934 wiped out a lot of the orchards. There's still a monument marking where the first tree grew wild. It blew down in the gale of 1815. Since World War II the town's population has quadrupled, and that newer, busier Wilmington is the one Bandwagon was shipping tin ducks out of.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🗓️ What the Warning Label Tells You\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNothing on the toy or the box prints an actual year, but the box does print something federal law dated for us: \"WARNING: CHOKING HAZARD – Small parts. Not for Children under 3 years.\" That's the wording the Child Safety Protection Act made mandatory, starting January 1, 1995, on every small-parts toy made or imported into the U.S., so any box carrying it is 1995 or later. The Bandwagon item numbers and my 2007 truckload take it from there.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🌏 One Duck, More Than One Name\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis isn't a design Bandwagon dreamed up on their own. The same mother-and-ducklings toy turns up in other importers' boxes too, sold as \"Duck Family Funny Action\" and marked Made in China — same lithographed tin, same rod-linked family, just a different company's name on the front. It's a Chinese-made toy that reached American shelves under more than one label, and Bandwagon's box is simply the version that made it to you.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🔑 The Key's Still in the Bag\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe wind-up key comes in its own little sealed bag, and it stays sealed until it's yours to open.\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-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-white-cat-cigar-label-wood-grain-look-1900s-treasures\"\u003eAntique 1900s–1920s “White‑Cat” Wood‑Grain Cigar Box Label 😺 NOS\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/1910s-antique-formalin-pharmacy-label-aka-formaldehyde-cure-throat\"\u003eAntique 1910s Formalin Pharmacy Label 🧪 AKA Formaldehyde to cure your throat?\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":41657297174760,"sku":"VAG-7327537758440","price":26.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.4413767075_icq3.jpg?v=1785355669"},{"product_id":"vintage-25-magic-tricks-kit-unopened-original-packaging-1970s-treasures","title":"Vintage 1975–1976 25 Magic Tricks Kit 🪄 NOS Reiss Games","description":"\u003ch2\u003eWhere Did Reiss Games Magic Kits Come From? 🪄 A Vintage 1975-1976 Reiss Games 25 Magic Tricks Kit, Still Sealed in Its Bag\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 10\" x 6\"\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\/eo6TAAG1YVo\" 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\u003eIf you grew up in the mid-1970s, you may remember magic kits like this hanging in the stationery aisle of a department store. It is a beginner's magic set, still stapled shut in its clear bag. The red, black and white card on the front says 25 MAGIC TRICKS and promises \"A super collection of fun magic you can quickly learn and easily perform. No special props needed!\" Inside the bag are a sheet marked MAGIC ACT 4, THE MAGICIAN'S SECRET, another marked MAGIC ACTS with THE MAGIC CARDS, a clock-face card, a flesh-colored rubber thumb tip, and a round black button that says I believe in magic. in white letters.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe fine print reads Copyright 1975, Reiss Games, Inc., Made in U.S.A., Collected and Edited by Show-Biz Services, Brooklyn, New York, and Copyright 1976, Reiss Games, Inc., New York, New York\/Orange, California. A little white rabbit with stars over its ears sits above the word reiss. It has never been opened.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🐇 Where Reiss magic came from\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eReiss Games was a New York game company. In the 1970s it put out a numbered line of single-trick sets called Magic Acts. Magic Act 1 was The Impossible Ropes, Magic Act 8 was The Rising Card, Magic Act 9 was Spirit Photography, Magic Act 13 was The Mystic Vase and Magic Act 16 was The Money Dissolve. Magic collectors on the Magic Cafe forum count twenty-three of these single-trick sets, nearly all from 1975. Then came the bigger combination sets, The Great Magic Show, Hat Full of Magic, the 35 Trick Magic Show, the Deluxe Magic Show and Advanced Magic. The 25 Magic Tricks booklet turns up at a magic dealer as a ten-page booklet that came with one of the Reiss sets back in 1975.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCollectors remember finding the sets in the stationery departments of JC Penney and Sears and in their catalogs. A New York toy-trade legend says the numbers were no accident, because a kid who got one trick would want the next one.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e💼 Bob Reiss\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Reiss in Reiss Games was Robert \"Bob\" Reiss, Harvard Business School class of 1956. Harvard's Baker Library keeps his story. He waited tables at resorts in upstate New York as a young man, and after business school he ran the personalized-pencil division of a small New York company. He treated it as a way to learn how to run a business while somebody else picked up the tab. Then he started a sales representative company and saw openings in chess and magic.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe story of his chess sets is a good one. A supplier kept pushing a decorative Roman-themed chess set until Reiss got it into department stores in New York, and it sold better than he expected. After that he dropped his other lines and went after games for grown-ups. He later sold the business to a needlecraft company, Paragon Needlecraft by his own account, and went on to found R\u0026amp;R to make games. His TV Guide trivia game came out of the Trivial Pursuit craze of the 1980s. Harvard wrote it up as a case study, and it helped professor Howard Stevenson shape his well-known definition of entrepreneurship: the pursuit of opportunity beyond resources currently controlled.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e📚 Show-Biz Services and a New York magician\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe credit line on the kit says the tricks were collected and edited by Show-Biz Services of Brooklyn. Reiss also published books by a New York magician named George Schindler. Magic with Cards, written with Frank Garcia, came out in 1975, and Magic with Everyday Objects followed in 1976. Magic-forum lore says Schindler put together the magic and wrote the instruction sheets for the Reiss sets.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🍁 What happened to the line\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eReiss Games ended up under National Paragon, a needlepoint company. In 1981 some of the combination sets were sold at Woolworth's and Walgreens as Paragon-Reiss. Collector lore says National Paragon went bankrupt in the 1980s as needlepoint faded and sold off its pieces, and that the magic line went to a Canadian toy company called AMAV. AMAV brought the original tricks back in 1987 as The Great Houdini Magic, with new boxes, the same photos and instructions, and a 1987 copyright date.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e👍 The thumb tip\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe flesh-colored rubber thumb is a classic. You slip it over your thumb, and a silk handkerchief or a pinch of salt vanishes in front of everybody. The magician Milbourne Christopher wrote a whole book of 50 tricks with a thumb tip in 1948, which tells you how much magic fits on one thumb.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e📅 How old is it?\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt says so right on it. The copyright lines are 1975 and 1976, so these kits are 1975-1976.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🪄 About these\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEvery one I have is still sealed in its bag, about 10 by 6 inches. Leave it sealed as a time capsule of 1970s toy-rack magic, or open it and learn the tricks. It makes a great gift for a kid ready for a first show, or for a grown-up who had one and still remembers the button. The supply is finite. Reiss is not making these anymore, and once the last sealed ones are 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-rocky-bullwinkle-fan-light-pull-chain-in-box-treasures\"\u003eVintage 1990s Rocky and Bullwinkle Fan Pull Chain Set 🐿️ NOS in Box - Moose Squirrel Ceiling Fan Pulls, Universal Licensed Jay Ward Cartoon Collectible\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1980s-sad-lad-pin-madballs-garbage-pail-kids-inspired-treasures\"\u003eVintage 1980s Sad Lad Gross-Out Pin 📌 Droopy Bloodshot Monster Face, Pin-Back Button in the Spirit of the 80s Gross-Out Craze\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/rare-vintage-1976-ca-va-etre-ta-fete-robin-belgium-movie-poster-hood\"\u003eVintage 1976 Ça Va Être Ta Fête Robin Belgium Movie Poster 🏹 Robin Hood Karate Comedy\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":43421465182440,"sku":"VAG-7856582197480","price":12.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.7221484519_jx68.jpg?v=1785356909"},{"product_id":"vintage-1980s-mcdonalds-ronald-mcdonald-grimace-puffy-stickers-treasures","title":"Vintage 1985 McDonald's Ronald \u0026 Grimace Puffy Stickers 🍟 McDonaldland Set","description":"\u003ch2\u003eWas Grimace Really a Milkshake Thief? 💜 A Vintage 1985 McDonald's Ronald McDonald and Grimace Puffy Sticker Set, McDonaldland\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 2\" x 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\/woVUadgN_EE\" 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\u003eIf you grew up anywhere near a McDonald's in the 1980s, that purple is filed away in your head for good. This is a card of two puffy vinyl stickers: Grimace, arms thrown wide over GRIMACE (TM), and Ronald McDonald, grinning head and shoulders over RONALD McDONALD (R), each one printed © 1985 McDonald's. The peel-off backing is printed over and over SAFETY TESTED FOR CHILDREN 3 AND OLDER and MADE IN TAIWAN. Every card I have is unpeeled, never stuck on a notebook. The same pair turns up on lists of McDonald's Happy Meal giveaways from 1985.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🍔 From San Bernardino to Oak Brook\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRichard and Maurice McDonald opened their drive-in in San Bernardino, California in 1940, and in 1948 they tore it down to burgers, fries and shakes and their Speedee Service System. A milkshake-machine salesman named Ray Kroc showed up in 1954, opened his own McDonald's in Des Plaines, Illinois in April 1955, and bought the brothers out by 1961, and the company he built ran a worldwide empire for decades out of Oak Brook, Illinois, a quiet Chicago suburb. Old-timers in the industry still repeat the sign Kroc reportedly kept above his desk - In God we trust; all others pay cash - a little piece of company folklore that captures just how practical the man was, even while his restaurants sold childhood magic to the rest of the country. Before the clown, the mascot was Speedee, a little hamburger-headed chef.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🤡 Ronald\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRonald McDonald first showed up in 1963 in local Washington, D.C. commercials, played by a weatherman named Willard Scott - the same Willard Scott who later wished centenarians happy birthday on the Today show. McDonald's took Ronald national in 1966 and polished him into the clown on this sticker.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e💜 Grimace, the milkshake thief\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMcDonaldland came in 1971: Ronald, the Hamburglar, Mayor McCheese and a big purple fellow named Grimace, who started out as Evil Grimace, four arms and all, stealing everybody's milkshakes. Kids didn't want him to be the bad guy, so within a year he was down to two arms and turned into the sweet, clumsy friend on this sticker. Local legend among old McDonaldland watchers has long held that Grimace was meant to represent nothing more specific than a giant taste bud - an idea the company itself has floated over the years, which only adds to his charm. McDonaldland also landed McDonald's in court: Sid and Marty Krofft, who made H.R. Pufnstuf, sued over it and won.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e✨ Puffy stickers\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePuffy stickers were a whole fad in the 80s - raised, glossy, squishy, nothing like a flat paper sticker. Kids traded them at school, pressed them into sticker books and stuck them on lunchboxes and bedroom windows, and a McDonald's pair was the good stuff, because Ronald and Grimace already felt like friends. The Happy Meal itself had only gone national in 1979, so in 1985 a little prize in the box was still a brand-new kind of thrill. Grimace even got a second act in 2023, when his purple birthday shake went viral all over the internet.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🍟 About these\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEach sticker is about 2 by 2 inches. Put the card in a frame next to an old Happy Meal box, give it to the 80s kid who still knows every McDonaldland character, or start a sticker book back up. The supply is finite - McDonald's isn't printing 1985 puffy stickers again, and once these last unpeeled cards 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\/radical-vintage-1980s-tots-stickers-unleash-nostalgic-fun-treasures-1\"\u003eVintage 1980s Trash Can Tots Stickers 🗑️ Fat Pat, Robin Hood \u0026amp; Phone Bill, Madballs and Garbage Pail Kids Inspired\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/2006-universal-studios-stickers-spiderman-shrek-jimmy-neutron-cat-hat-vintage\"\u003e2006 Universal Studios Stickers 🕷️ Spiderman Shrek, Jimmy Neutron, Cat in the Hat!\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/radical-vintage-1980s-tots-stickers-unleash-nostalgic-fun-treasures\"\u003eVintage 1980s Trash Can Tots Stickers 🗑️ Sweat Sock Scott, Skinnie Minnie \u0026amp; Cruddy Buddy, Madballs and Garbage Pail Kids Inspired\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":43421725917416,"sku":"VAG-7856621289704","price":5.5,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.4123887653_3c3b.jpg?v=1785356917"},{"product_id":"vintage-1989-nkotb-new-kids-block-stickers-boston-ma-highly-collectible","title":"Vintage 1989 New Kids on the Block Sticker Sheet 🎤 NKOTB Big Step Productions Nine-Piece Set","description":"\u003ch2\u003eRemember When Five Boys from Boston Owned Every Locker in America? 🎤 Vintage 1989 New Kids on the Block Sticker Sheet\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 6\" x 4 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\/T-6I4D8-YCE\" 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\u003eIf you had a locker, a Trapper Keeper or a bedroom mirror in 1989, you know exactly where these went. This is a full sheet of nine glossy photo stickers, never peeled: five single studio portraits against a mottled gray backdrop, two red NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK logo stickers with that big oval O in BLOCK, a group shot of all five in black tuxedos and bow ties, and a group shot in loud, colorful streetwear on a dark background. Every sticker carries the line ©1989 BIG STEP PRODUCTIONS, INC., and the white backing is blank on the back with the nine die-cut outlines showing through. Every sheet I have is complete.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🎤 Hangin' Tough\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMaurice Starr, who had already built New Edition, put New Kids on the Block together in 1984 out of Dorchester, the Boston neighborhood - Jordan and Jonathan Knight, Joey McIntyre, Donnie Wahlberg and Danny Wood. Donnie came first, recruited at 15 for his rapping; he brought in school friends Jordan Knight and Danny Wood, Jordan's big brother Jonathan followed, and 12-year-old Joey McIntyre came in to replace a member who left. Donnie's little brother Mark - yes, that Mark Wahlberg - was in the group for a few months at the start. They were first called Nynuk, until Columbia Records made them change it, and they took the name from a rap Donnie wrote for the first album. That album flopped, and Columbia was ready to drop them when a Florida pop station started playing Please Don't Go Girl in 1988, and it climbed to No. 10. Then came 1989. I'll Be Loving You (Forever) hit No. 1 on the Hot 100 that June, and by the end of the year Hangin' Tough was the No. 1 album in the country, on its way to eight times platinum. The next summer Step by Step went to No. 1 too.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🛍️ Big Step and the $400 million\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat ©1989 Big Step Productions line is on everything from those years - the 1989 trading cards, the 1990 dolls, the 1991 buttons, the official scrapbook - and Big Step co-produced the 1990 Saturday-morning cartoon with DIC. The merchandise was estimated at $400 million in 1991 alone: lunch boxes, buttons, T-shirts, comic books, dolls, and sheets of stickers like this one. That same year Forbes put New Kids at the top of its list of the highest-paid entertainers, ahead of Michael Jackson, Madonna, Prince and Bill Cosby. Five guys from Dorchester outearned the King of Pop. The 1990 Magic Summer Tour, sponsored by Coke, grossed $74 million in front of about 3.2 million fans, and in January 1991 they played the Super Bowl XXV halftime show - the first pop group to headline it - only for TV to cut away to President Bush on the Gulf War. The fans were Blockheads, and there were a lot of them.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThen the wave broke. The group split in 1994 after Jonathan Knight left - and in April 2008 Donnie Wahlberg told CNN they were back together. The fans who'd stuck these on their lockers came back as grown-ups.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🎤 About these\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEach sheet is 6 by 4 1\/2 inches. Frame one whole, all nine pictures together, as a little piece of 1989 pop art; put it in a shadow box with your other New Kids stuff; or give it to the Blockhead in your life who still knows every word to Step by Step. Peel one if you dare. The supply is finite - nobody's printing these 1989 Big Step sheets again, and once these last complete 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-1980s-new-kids-block-pin-jordan-knight-boston-ma-nkotb-jazz-hands\"\u003eVintage New Kids on the Block Pin 🎤 Jordan Knight Jazz Hands Button, NOS 1989 Big Step Productions\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1980s-new-kids-block-band-picture-pin-boston-ma-nkotb-pose-treasures\"\u003eVintage 1989 New Kids on the Block Pinback Button 🎤 \"The Pose\" NKOTB Button-Up Troy MI Metal Pin\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1980s-new-kids-block-pin-jonathan-knight-boston-ma-nkotb-blue-treasures\"\u003eVintage New Kids on the Block Pin 📌 Jonathan Knight, Boston, MA 1980s NKOTB Blue\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":43499525177576,"sku":"VAG-7880137867496","price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.4083179073_n1sg.jpg?v=1785357405"},{"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","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 Los Angeles County Sheriff 🌟 Special Police Badge Tin Litho Card Japan 1960s-1970s 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 Toy 🦆 Bandwagon Wilmington MA Lithographed Tin Keywind Collectible, 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 Bendable Skeleton Figure 🦴 Poseable Halloween Toy Bendy Skeleton, 1980s-1990s\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"},{"product_id":"vintage-bendable-poseable-skeleton-figure-halloween-toy","title":"Vintage Bendable Skeleton Figure 🦴 Poseable Halloween Toy Bendy Skeleton, 1980s-1990s","description":"\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\/Og0a-MVr_ak\" 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\u003ch2\u003eWho Needs a Bendy Skeleton? 🦴 Vintage 1980s-1990s Poseable Halloween Skeleton Figure\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e5 1\/2\" x 4 1\/4\" ~\u003c\/strong\u003e hand-sized, and he stands up on his own two feet.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003e🦴 Seven of these fought Jason in 1963, and it took four and a half months to film\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eNot this one — mine is a dime-store toy and nobody's name is on it. But the trick inside it is the same trick, and that is the thing I love about these. Bend an arm, bend a leg, stand him up in a new pose and he stays exactly where you put him. Something soft over something that holds a bend. That is a bendy toy, and it is also, in principle, a stop-motion armature.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWhen Ray Harryhausen shot the skeleton fight in \u003cem\u003eJason and the Argonauts\u003c\/em\u003e, he had three actors going against seven skeletons, each one with five limbs to move in every single frame — at least thirty-five separate adjustments, by hand, before he could click the shutter once. Some days he got thirteen or fourteen frames. Under a second of finished film in a day's work. Four and a half months for a sequence that runs about three minutes, and it is still the scene every stop-motion animator points at. Those skeletons were eight to ten inches tall, built on thin metal armatures with latex and cotton wool worked over the bones.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eMine is five and a half inches and cost somebody pocket change. Same idea, bottom shelf.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e💀 What you are actually getting\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eA small molded plastic skeleton, bone white, with a gray wash brushed down into the ribs, the spine and the pelvis so the detail actually reads instead of going flat.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBlack paint in the eye sockets and the nose. The skull has a molded suture line across the crown and a full set of upper and lower teeth.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFive separate fingers on each hand, not a mitten. And the feet — huge, flat, paddle-shaped things with the toes and the metatarsals molded right in. That is the joke of the sculpt: anatomically fussy from the neck up, cartoon from the ankles down.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHe bends and he holds it. Look at my three pictures — that is the same figure three times, arms crossed, hands up, then both arms overhead with a leg forward. He went wherever I put him and stayed there.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNew old stock. Never played with, never hung on a string, never left too close to a candle.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThere is one word on him, and only one: CHINA, molded into the back of one leg.\u003c\/strong\u003e No maker, no brand, no copyright line, no patent number. So who made him is anybody's guess, but where he was made is not.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🔧 Something soft over something that bends\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe bendy toy is one of those quietly clever bits of engineering that nobody thinks about. A wire armature gets buried inside the rubber or the PVC, and that is the whole product — the wire does the holding, the soft skin does the looking. Earlier ones were foam latex over bendable wire, which is why so many of the old ones have gone hard and crumbly in a box somewhere.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe category has been running for sixty-odd years. Lakeside Industries was turning out bendies in the 1960s — collectors list a Gallant Yank soldier in 1966 and a Popeye in 1967. Bendy Toys over in Britain did the Muppets in 1977 and 1978 and Sesame Street through the 1980s. Just Toys made Bend-Ems the shorthand for the whole idea in the 1990s, and the name is still going. And underneath every one of those licensed, named, blister-carded figures there was an ocean of unbranded ones — skeletons, monsters, aliens, spiders — sold loose out of a bin near the register with no card, no name and nobody's copyright on them. This little guy is one of those. Nobody was ever going to research him, which is exactly why I am doing it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🎃 Why a plastic skeleton is a big deal to a certain kind of kid\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBefore the twelve-foot yard skeletons and the animatronics, Halloween decorating meant a rack of rubbery little monsters near the register and whatever you could talk a parent into. A skeleton was the pick of the litter, because a skeleton could \u003cem\u003edo\u003c\/em\u003e things — get posed climbing a bookshelf, get stood on the windowsill facing out so the mail carrier got a jump, get tucked into a lunchbox to be found at school.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAnd then something happened that turned a small posed skeleton into a thing a whole generation went looking for on purpose. Walter Wick and Jean Marzollo made \u003cem\u003eI Spy Spooky Night\u003c\/em\u003e for Scholastic, and Wick built the whole book around a photographed toy skeleton — a trickster who beckons you room to room and turns up somewhere on every single page. Wick bought two Newport dollhouse sets to build those rooms and rebuilt them both to suit. Scholastic later put out an early reader called \u003cem\u003eI Spy A Skeleton\u003c\/em\u003e. A whole lot of kids spent their childhood hunting a little toy skeleton across a photograph. Mine is not that skeleton and carries no name at all — but if you grew up hunting one, I understand completely why this one stops you.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🕯️ The lore\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCollectors of this era's Halloween odds and ends tell it that the little bendy skeletons were more often \u003cem\u003ewon\u003c\/em\u003e than bought — grab-bag prizes at a school carnival, party favors at a Halloween birthday, the thing the one good neighbor dropped in your bag instead of another fun-size candy bar. That is the story handed down, and it is why almost nobody remembers where theirs came from.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWhich is also why the packaging never survives. Nobody keeps a card off a two-for-a-quarter toy. Grown adults go looking for \"that little bendy skeleton I had\" with no name to type into a search box — only the size, the pose and the feel of it in a hand.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eOld-timers in the novelty trade will tell you the bin by the register outsold the shelf every October, and that the unbranded stuff moved fastest because it cost the least. No catalog was ever kept of any of it.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eNobody wrote a line about the cheap bin toy that half the country's kids owned, so if we do not keep it, it is gone. He will go out packed properly and quickly, and thank you for helping me keep this stuff from disappearing. 💀\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\/4-8-12-vintage-gumby-pokey-figurines-1970s-1980s-both-colors-highly\"\u003eVintage Gumby \u0026amp; Pokey Bendable Figures 🟢 Set of 5 or 4, 1970s-1980s Teal \u0026amp; Orange Plastic Toys, CHINA Mark Figurine\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-bendable-poseable-dog-toy-figure-anime-promotional-item-1978-treasures\"\u003eVintage 1978 Barone Bendable Poseable Dog Toy Figure 🧸 Perrine Story Nippon Animation Anime Collectible\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":43663124496616,"sku":"VAG-7922007277800","price":20.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.4123841109_dyqk.jpg?v=1785357885"},{"product_id":"8-16-vintage-1980s-animals-on-a-swing-pencil-toppers","title":"Vintage 1980s Animals on a Swing Pencil Toppers 🎨 Set of 8 or 16","description":"\u003ch2\u003eRemember Pencil Toppers? 🐰 Vintage 1980s Animals on a Swing Pencil Toppers, Set of 8 or 16\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 2\" x 1 1\/2\" ~ New old stock, never played with.\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\/zx-nAOHwWIA\" 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\u003ch2\u003e🐰 Little Riders\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eEach topper is built the same way: a hollow plastic socket that slips over a pencil, a ring or arch frame rising off it, and a tiny swing hung from the top with a small molded animal riding the seat. The riders in my photos include a kangaroo, a frog, a cat with whiskers, a turtle with its arms raised, a chick with its wings spread, a bird, a floppy-eared bunny, a hippo, a second pink cat and a monkey - frames in red, green, white and purple, swings in blue, pink and green. Pick a set of 8 or 16 and you get an assorted mix; and honestly that mix is half the fun of them for me.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🎡 The Swingers Vending Card\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eToppers built just like these - a ring or arch frame on a pencil socket, an animal riding a hanging swing - were sold for 25 cents out of vending machines under a header card that reads SWINGERS T.M. PENCIL TOPPERS, \"NEW-HOT EVERYBODY LIKES\" and \"COLLECT ALL 12 SWINGERS,\" numbered C-413 and marked copyright D.V.S. 1988, Made in Hong Kong. The card's own art shows a bear, a frog, a chick, a turtle and a bunny riding these same swings, and it's easy to believe these came off a card just like it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e✏️ The Eraser End\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThese sit exactly where Hymen Lipman put the eraser. Lipman was born in Kingston, Jamaica on March 20, 1817, came to Philadelphia around 1829, and by 1840 had succeeded Samuel M. Stewart as the city's leading stationer. Three years later he founded the country's first envelope company, and on March 30, 1858 he patented a pencil with a rubber eraser fixed to the end - U.S. Patent 19,783. He sold that patent in 1862 to Joseph Reckendorfer for $100,000, a fortune at the time, and Reckendorfer sued the pencil maker Faber over it. In 1875 the Supreme Court ruled against him: joining a pencil to an eraser, the justices said, was just putting two known things together, nothing new about it. Lipman died in Philadelphia on November 4, 1893 - patent invalidated, but his idea very much still in use, right here on the end of these toppers.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🍬 From Gumballs to Gashapon\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLittle vending prizes like these have a real lineage. Gum vending machines date back to 1888, and the first machines dispensing actual gumballs followed in 1907, probably from the Thomas Adams Gum Co. The Norris Manufacturing Company patented its own machine in 1923 and ran its chrome \"Master\" line through the 1930s, a penny or a nickel a turn. The Northwestern Corporation, which started out in 1909 making kitchen matches, put out its Model 33 in 1933, and its Models 60 and 80 are still sold today. In 1934 the Ford Gum and Machine Company of Akron, New York started placing gumball machines whose profits helped fund the Lions Club and Kiwanis International. Capsule toy vending grew straight out of that American gumball trade: in 1965 the machines were exported to Japan, where Ryuzo Shigeta - remembered today as the Grandfather of Gacha - set up the first one and wrapped every prize inside a plastic ball. Bandai has run its own capsule machines under the Gashapon name since 1977, and had sold about 3.711 billion of the little toys by March 2021. These pencil toppers are American vending stock rather than gashapon, but they're kin - the same small surprise for a coin that turned into a whole world of collecting.\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\/4-8-12-vintage-gumby-pokey-figurines-1970s-1980s-both-colors-highly\"\u003eVintage Gumby \u0026amp; Pokey Bendable Figures 🟢 Set of 5 or 4, 1970s-1980s Teal \u0026amp; Orange Plastic Toys, CHINA Mark Figurine\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-bendable-poseable-skeleton-figure-halloween-toy\"\u003eVintage Bendable Skeleton Figure 🦴 Poseable Halloween Toy Bendy Skeleton, 1980s-1990s\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-bendable-poseable-dog-toy-figure-anime-promotional-item-1978-treasures\"\u003eVintage 1978 Barone Bendable Poseable Dog Toy Figure 🧸 Perrine Story Nippon Animation Anime Collectible\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"8 assorted","offer_id":43666068111592,"sku":"VAG-7923191546088","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"16 assorted","offer_id":43666068144360,"sku":"VAG-7923191546088-2","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.4078190272_dmnj.jpg?v=1785357894"},{"product_id":"vintage-bendable-poseable-dog-toy-figure-anime-promotional-item-1978-treasures","title":"Vintage 1978 Barone Bendable Poseable Dog Toy Figure 🧸 Perrine Story Nippon Animation Anime Collectible","description":"\u003ch2\u003eRemember Bendable Dog Toys From Nippon Animation? 🐕 Vintage Bendable Poseable Dog Toy Figure, Nippon Animation\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 5 1\/2\" x 3\" ~ Spread eagle.\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\/xunrZxPhEJw\" 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 bendable fellow from 1978, made under Nippon Animation's name: \u003cstrong\u003eBarone\u003c\/strong\u003e, Perrine's dog from their series \u003cem\u003ePerrine Monogatari\u003c\/em\u003e, in soft rubber over a bendable wire frame. Every leg bends, so he'll stretch out flat, sit up, do a handstand or strike a pose.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNippon Animation made cartoons, not toys, so a piece like this was most likely a promotional or licensed item for the show, which was a big hit.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMy kids and I had a great time posing him for the photos. He'll stand up on his own, but you do have to balance him.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🎨 Nippon Animation\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNippon Animation was founded in Tokyo on June 3, 1975, and it became famous for turning classic Western novels into anime in its World Masterpiece Theater series: Rascal the Raccoon, Anne of Green Gables, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Tales of Little Women, A Dog of Flanders and more, plus Maya the Bee and Chibi Maruko-chan, which became a huge hit in Japan and around the world. Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata were among the people who worked there.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e🐾 Perrine and Her Dog Barone\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003ePerrine Monogatari\u003c\/em\u003e, \"The Story of Perrine\", ran on Japanese TV every week of 1978, from January 1 to December 31, as part of the World Masterpiece Theater. It came from Hector Malot's 1893 French novel \u003cem\u003eEn Famille\u003c\/em\u003e, about an orphaned girl named Perrine who travels all the way to northern France to find the grandfather she has never met. Here's the fun part: Barone isn't in the book at all. The studio added him, and he wasn't even in the show's original planning document, but he became the little sidekick everybody remembers, trotting along beside Perrine and her donkey, Palikare.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe show was a hit in Italy too, where it went on the air in September 1980 as \u003cem\u003ePeline Story\u003c\/em\u003e, and Barone turned up on records, plush toys, coin banks and figures for years afterward. Nippon Animation's earlier hit, \u003cem\u003eA Dog of Flanders\u003c\/em\u003e (1975), had its own famous dog, Patrasche, a big old working dog drawn from St. Bernards. Barone, three years later, is the little orange one with the floppy ears.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe'd look great on a shelf with other anime pieces, or on a desk where you can keep changing his pose.\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-bendable-poseable-skeleton-figure-halloween-toy\"\u003eVintage Bendable Skeleton Figure 🦴 Poseable Halloween Toy Bendy Skeleton, 1980s-1990s\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/4-8-12-vintage-gumby-pokey-figurines-1970s-1980s-both-colors-highly\"\u003eVintage Gumby \u0026amp; Pokey Bendable Figures 🟢 Set of 5 or 4, 1970s-1980s Teal \u0026amp; Orange Plastic Toys, CHINA Mark Figurine\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-hawaiian-punch-keychain-key-chain-1990s-amazing-quality-detail-unopened\"\u003eVintage 1990s Hawaiian Punch Key Chain 🥊 Punchy Mascot Figure NOS Sealed Fun-4-All New York Card\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":43666334712040,"sku":"VAG-7923335135464","price":12.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.4082462474_fkl4.jpg?v=1785357903"},{"product_id":"1980s-5-10-vintage-tin-dinosaur-collectible-charms-colorful-treasures","title":"Vintage Tin Dinosaur Charms 🦖 from the 1980s","description":"\u003ch2\u003eRemember Tin Dinosaur Charms? 🦕 Tin Dinosaur Charms From the 1980s, and the Feud Behind the Names\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\/00uh5wrNX8Q\" 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\u003eEvery animal on these little gold-tone charms comes with a story older than the charm. Three of them, the Pteranodon, the Stegosaurus and the Triceratops, were named by Othniel Charles Marsh of Yale's Peabody Museum, in the middle of the nastiest rivalry fossil hunting has ever seen. Marsh named Brontosaurus too, the long-necked giant a picture like the pink one brings to mind. The tyrannosaur got its name from Henry Fairfield Osborn in 1905. And the creature flying across the hot pink sky is not a dinosaur at all.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThese are 1980s tin dinosaur charms, still bright after more than 40 years. Each one is a round medallion with a fluted gold-tone rim, a printed picture of a prehistoric animal in the center, and a loop at the top threaded on a plastic cord. They are sold in assorted lots of 5 or 10: a lot of 5 comes with at least 3 different dinosaurs, and a lot of 10 with at least 4 different.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003e🔍 What Is on the Charms\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eTyrannosaur:\u003c\/strong\u003e brown and yellow, standing upright on a rocky peak against an orange-red ground\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eTriceratops:\u003c\/strong\u003e green head and horns with a speckled yellow back, head lowered, against a blue sky ruled with fine white horizon lines\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePteranodon:\u003c\/strong\u003e orange wings and a long beak, flying over the rocks on a hot pink ground\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eLong-necked dinosaur:\u003c\/strong\u003e a pale sauropod with long neck and tail, on a hot pink ground\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eStegosaurus:\u003c\/strong\u003e green and cream with dark spots, a row of yellow back plates and a raised, spiked tail, on a blue-to-teal ground\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eEvery design:\u003c\/strong\u003e the animal stands or flies above a heap of red, white and blue rocks\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eRim:\u003c\/strong\u003e gold-tone tin with a ring of radiating flutes, and a small hanging loop at the top\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBack:\u003c\/strong\u003e plain gold-tone metal with a small stamped mark\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eCords:\u003c\/strong\u003e plastic, in yellow, blue and red in the photos\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1 1\/4\"\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe photos show five different designs. Lots are assorted, so the designs in yours will vary. I am honestly not sure I found every dinosaur, so there may be more in the stock than the five shown here.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003e🦖 The Animals and the Names\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePteranodon, 1876.\u003c\/strong\u003e Marsh named it from the Greek for \"wing\" and \"without tooth\", because it had no teeth, which was unheard of among flying reptiles known at the time. It is a pterosaur, part of a group closely related to dinosaurs but not dinosaurs themselves. Pteranodon soared over Late Cretaceous North America. Its fossils come from Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming and South Dakota, with a few broken pieces from Alabama, and the largest had wingspans of more than 20 feet.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eStegosaurus, 1877.\u003c\/strong\u003e The name means \"roof lizard\". Marsh first pictured its plates lying flat along the back, overlapping like shingles on a roof. In fact it carried 17 to 22 upright plates and a tail with spikes two to three feet long, and the evidence says those spikes were used in real fights, against predators such as Allosaurus. It lived in the Late Jurassic, in what is now the western United States and Portugal.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBrontosaurus, 1879.\u003c\/strong\u003e Marsh's \"thunder lizard\" came from a partial skeleton at Como Bluff, Wyoming. In 1903 Elmer Riggs decided it was too close to Apatosaurus, a name published earlier, and Brontosaurus became a synonym. The public never let go. Henry Fairfield Osborn kept the name alive at the American Museum of Natural History, and when the U.S. Postal Service printed Brontosaurus on its dinosaur stamps in 1989, critics objected and the Postal Service answered that the name was more familiar to the public. In 2015 a study by Emmanuel Tschopp, Octavio Mateus and Roger Benson brought Brontosaurus back as a genus of its own, though not every paleontologist agrees.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTriceratops, 1889.\u003c\/strong\u003e \"Three-horned face.\" Two years earlier, a pair of brow horns on a piece of skull turned up near Denver, and Marsh named them Bison alticornis, taking them for a giant bison. Only when more digging uncovered the third horn on the nose did he see his mistake. Triceratops lived about 69 to 66 million years ago in western North America.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTyrannosaurus rex, 1905.\u003c\/strong\u003e Henry Fairfield Osborn, president of the American Museum of Natural History, gave it the name \"tyrant lizard king\". It lived at the very end of the age of dinosaurs, about 69 to 66 million years ago, in western North America.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003e⚔️ The Bone Wars\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMarsh's great rival was Edward Drinker Cope of the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, and from 1877 to 1892 the two men raced each other across the American West for fossils. Marsh came out ahead on the count, with 80 new dinosaur species to Cope's 56. The fight was ugly. Cope once rebuilt the sea reptile Elasmosaurus with its head on the end of its tail, then tried to buy up every copy of the journal that printed it. Marsh secretly paid New Jersey marl pit operators to send new finds to him rather than to Cope. Both sides destroyed small or damaged fossils, or filled their digs back in with dirt and rock, so the other could not have them. Several of the most famous dinosaur names in the world came out of that feud, and some of them ended up on charms like these.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003e📼 Dinosaurs in the 1980s\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDinosaurs were being redrawn in the decade these charms come from. The change had started with the Dinosaur Renaissance, set off by John Ostrom's 1964 discovery of Deinonychus. Robert Bakker gave the movement its name in an April 1975 Scientific American article, and his book The Dinosaur Heresies came out in 1986. Artists stopped drawing lizard-like animals dragging their tails and showed them in active poses with their tails lifted. In 1985 the CBS documentary Dinosaur! took those ideas to television audiences.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eKids of the 1980s were also wearing their collections. In the middle of the decade, plastic bell charms clipped onto chain necklaces, belt loops and house keys became a playground craze, and the trading grew so intense, and so noisy, that some schools banned them. Tin dinosaur charms on bright plastic cords are a piece of that charm-happy decade.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003e🎁 Who Wants These\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e🦕 \u003cstrong\u003eDinosaur lovers of any age:\u003c\/strong\u003e five famous prehistoric animals in bright colors\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e🎒 \u003cstrong\u003e1980s kids:\u003c\/strong\u003e the cords, the colors and the charm habit of the decade\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e✂️ \u003cstrong\u003eCrafters and jewelry makers:\u003c\/strong\u003e small medallions with a loop, ready for a chain, bracelet, keyring or zipper pull\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e🎉 \u003cstrong\u003eParty favors and small gifts:\u003c\/strong\u003e a lot of 10 goes a long way at a dinosaur birthday\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e🖼️ \u003cstrong\u003eShadow box display:\u003c\/strong\u003e a row of different designs makes a cheerful little prehistoric lineup\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🦖 About these\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eImagine having these collectibles displayed in your home as decor or just for fun! The supply is finite - once these last 1980s tin charms 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-1980s-all-california-raisin-tin-pin-wow-memories-treasures\"\u003eVintage 1980s All Me California Raisin Tin Pin 📌 WOW The Memories!\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1980s-california-raisins-pinback-button-set-all-9\"\u003eVintage 1980s California Raisins 📌 Complete Set All 9 Tin Pins\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1980s-dancing-california-raisin-tin-pin-wow-memories-treasures\"\u003eVintage 1980s Dancing California Raisin Tin Pin 📌 WOW The Memories!\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"5 assorted","offer_id":43666547572968,"sku":"VAG-7923428851944","price":7.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"10 assorted","offer_id":43666547605736,"sku":"VAG-7923428851944-2","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.4126465809_phq9.jpg?v=1785357913"},{"product_id":"vintage-patriotic-bicentennial-fred-flintstone-barney-rubble-stickers-1975","title":"Vintage 1975 Fred Flintstone Barney Rubble Bicentennial Stickers 🧱 Patriotic NOS","description":"\u003ch2\u003eWhy Is Fred Flintstone Teaching Barney the Anthem? 🧱 Vintage 1975 Bicentennial Stickers, NOS\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 3 1\/4\" x 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\/B6d1y2JcOEA\" 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\u003e✨ Fred Flintstone lives in the Stone Age, and in 1975 Hanna-Barbera had him teaching Barney Rubble the national anthem anyway. This vintage 1975 Patriotic Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble Bicentennial sticker pair is new old stock from the year America's 200th-birthday party got rolling, two little red, white and blue jokes from the stretch when companies across the country were dressing their goods in red, white and blue. These two never left their backing paper.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\n\u003ch2\u003eWhat Is Printed on Them\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e🧱 \u003cstrong\u003eSticker one:\u003c\/strong\u003e Barney Rubble, labeled BARNEY RUBBLE, stands at attention under an American flag, smiling, while Fred Flintstone, labeled FRED FLINTSTONE, jabs a finger at him. The caption reads \u003cem\u003e'Tis the Star Spangled Banner\u003c\/em\u003e, a line straight out of the anthem's second verse, one of the verses that usually get skipped.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e🧱 \u003cstrong\u003eSticker two:\u003c\/strong\u003e Fred on his own, one hand cupped to his mouth like he is leading the crowd, a flag streaming out behind him and a ring of blue stars around him. The caption: \u003cem\u003eand . . . wave it proudly\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBoth carry © HANNA BARBERA PRODUCTIONS 1975 in red along the bottom edge, printed in red and navy on cream. Read side by side, the two captions play off the anthem's own wish for the banner, \"O long may it wave.\" Each measures about 3 1\/4\" x 2\".\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eThe Company: Hanna-Barbera Productions\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e🏷️ The name in the copyright line belongs to two men who had just lost their jobs. William Hanna and Joseph Barbera spent 1940 to 1957 at MGM's cartoon studio, where they created Tom and Jerry, made more than 200 films in the series and won seven Academy Awards. When MGM closed the studio on May 15, 1957, they took much of the staff with them and on July 7, 1957, founded their own company, first called H-B Enterprises, with film producer George Sidney. Voice actors Daws Butler and Don Messick, hired for their first series, \u003cem\u003eRuff and Reddy\u003c\/em\u003e, stayed behind Hanna-Barbera characters for the next three decades.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eThe Stone Age Family That Took Prime Time\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e📺 \u003cem\u003eThe Flintstones\u003c\/em\u003e premiered on ABC on September 30, 1960, in a Friday 8:30 p.m. slot. It was the first animated series in prime time and the first animated sitcom, and William Hanna and Joseph Barbera pitched it at grown-ups as much as kids: Winston cigarettes sponsored the first two seasons, with Fred and Barney selling the brand on their work breaks. Alan Reed voiced Fred, Mel Blanc voiced Barney, Jean Vander Pyl voiced Wilma and Bea Benaderet was the first Betty. The show earned an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Comedy Series in its first season and ran six seasons on ABC, until 1966, before living on in syndication and revivals.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe working title was \u003cem\u003eThe Flagstones\u003c\/em\u003e, until it turned out a couple by that name already lived in the \u003cem\u003eHi and Lois\u003c\/em\u003e comic strip. And Fred's \"Yabba dabba doo!\" came from Alan Reed himself, riffing on the old Brylcreem hair-cream jingle about a little dab.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eThe Lore: Ralph Kramden Moves to Bedrock\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe comparison has followed the show since 1960. Fred's personality is traced to two television blowhards, Ralph Kramden of \u003cem\u003eThe Honeymooners\u003c\/em\u003e and Chester A. Riley of \u003cem\u003eThe Life of Riley\u003c\/em\u003e, and Jackie Gleason played both of them on TV (Riley in the 1949 television version, before William Bendix took the part back). Hanna and Barbera stayed touchy about it; Bill Hanna admitted he used to watch \u003cem\u003eThe Honeymooners\u003c\/em\u003e and laugh until he cried.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe legend that still gets told: Gleason's lawyers believed he could win a lawsuit over the resemblance, and Gleason let it drop, because he did not want to go down as the man who took Fred Flintstone off the air.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e1975: The Year the Birthday Party Started\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e🧱 These stickers carry a 1975 date, and 1975 is when the American Revolution Bicentennial went from planning to parade. The American Freedom Train, a 26-car museum on rails carrying George Washington's copy of the Constitution and a rock from the moon, began its 21-month tour of the 48 contiguous states on April 1, 1975, and more than 7 million people walked through it. The celebration built all the way to July 4, 1976, when Operation Sail brought 225 ships under 31 flags up the Hudson River.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe federal American Revolution Bicentennial Administration, led by John W. Warner, licensed an official star logo designed by Bruce N. Blackburn, the same designer behind NASA's modern insignia. Most of what Americans actually bought carried no official mark at all: manufacturers and retailers drew their own red, white and blue 1776-1976 themes onto packaging and merchandise. As early as 1973 a \u003cem\u003ePhiladelphia Inquirer\u003c\/em\u003e headline had a word for it, a \"sellabration,\" with the flag landing on everything from beer mugs to toilet paper. Former ARBA licensees later pressed claims with the federal government, arguing the agency's promises had led them to overproduce commemorative goods.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe feeling underneath all that selling was real. The Bicentennial arrived just after the end of the Vietnam War, on the heels of Watergate, inflation and the energy crisis. Go back a little further and you had the civil rights fight and the shock of losing President Kennedy, then Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy, and by the mid-1970s plenty of Americans had grown cynical about their own government. President Ford later said the celebrations helped Americans regain their pride and faith. A cartoon caveman hollering \"wave it proudly\" was a small piece of the same effort.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eThe Song on the Sticker\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"'Tis the Star Spangled Banner\" comes straight from Francis Scott Key. On the night of September 13, 1814, Key watched the British bombard Fort McHenry in Baltimore, saw the fort's flag still flying at dawn, and wrote the poem first titled \"The Defence of Fort McHenry,\" set to the British tune \"To Anacreon in Heaven.\" The song was an American favorite for more than a century, a symbol of unity during the Civil War, but it only became the official national anthem when President Herbert Hoover signed the law in 1931. The flag Key saw, the giant 30-by-42-foot banner sewn by Mary Pickersgill, is preserved today at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eThe Impact: Fred and Barney Outgrow Their Show\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBy the time these stickers were printed, Fred and Barney had become far bigger than one TV series. Miles Laboratories, the One-A-Day and Alka-Seltzer company, introduced Flintstones Chewable Vitamins in 1968. Post Cereals launched Fruity Pebbles in 1971 and Cocoa Pebbles in 1972, putting the characters on breakfast tables and in TV commercials. A pair of Bicentennial stickers is that same afterlife: two cartoon characters from 1960 drafted into a 1975 celebration of 1776.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe throwaway red, white and blue of those years has since become history in its own right. Bicentennial consumer packaging has been donated to history museum collections, including the Redding Museum of Art and History collection now cared for at Turtle Bay in Redding, California.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eDetails\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e🧾 Vintage 1975 Patriotic Fred Flintstone \u0026amp; Barney Rubble Bicentennial stickers, two designs\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e🏷️ Marked © HANNA BARBERA PRODUCTIONS 1975\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e📏 Approx. 3 1\/4\" x 2\" each\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e🧾 NOS, new old stock, unused on the original backing paper\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e🧷 Adhesive has aged over time; for actual sticking, use a little glue or archival mounting. Most collectors keep the backs intact and frame or sleeve them.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🧱 About these\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe supply is finite - nobody's printing 1975 Bicentennial Flintstones stickers 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-1975-patriotic-bicentennial-yogi-bear-boo-stickers-treasures\"\u003eVintage 1975 Yogi Bear Boo Boo Bicentennial Stickers 🐻 Patriotic Hanna‑Barbera NOS\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-patriotic-bicentennial-dick-tracy-stickers-1975-chester-gould-chicago\"\u003eVintage 1975 Bicentennial Dick Tracy Patriotic Stickers 🕵️ Chester Gould Liberty Bell Flag Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate Set of 2\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-patriotic-bicentennial-bozo-clown-stickers-1975-worlds-most-famous\"\u003eVintage 1975 Bozo the Clown Bicentennial Stickers 🤡 Larry Harmon Pictures Corp Patriotic Americana 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":43666754240744,"sku":"VAG-7923483541736","price":12.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.4126567333_93i9.jpg?v=1785357922"},{"product_id":"vintage-1975-patriotic-bicentennial-yogi-bear-boo-stickers-treasures","title":"Vintage 1975 Yogi Bear Boo Boo Bicentennial Stickers 🐻 Patriotic Hanna‑Barbera NOS","description":"\u003ch2\u003eRemember Yogi Bear's Bicentennial? 🐻 Vintage 1975 Hanna-Barbera Patriotic Stickers, NOS\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 3 1\/4\" x 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\/1DjEL931rg8\" 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\u003e🇺🇸 Yogi Bear and Boo Boo standing by the flag, and Yogi snapping a salute between the words I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE. You get both stickers in this pair, printed in 1975 in red and blue as the country got ready for its 200th birthday, and they've never been peeled.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🔍 What's On Them\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe first is the wide one: \u003cstrong\u003eIt's our Flag\u003c\/strong\u003e in big blue letters, Yogi in his hat and tie with Boo Boo at his side and the stars and stripes flying, a star in the corner, and the little name tags \u003cstrong\u003eYOGI BEAR\u003c\/strong\u003e and \u003cstrong\u003eBOO BOO\u003c\/strong\u003e. Along the bottom it's marked \u003cstrong\u003e© HANNA BARBERA PRODUCTIONS 1975\u003c\/strong\u003e. The second is the tall one: Yogi saluting, with \u003cstrong\u003eI PLEDGE\u003c\/strong\u003e running down one side and \u003cstrong\u003eALLEGIANCE\u003c\/strong\u003e down the other in star-spangled letters, red and blue stripes top and bottom, and \u003cstrong\u003e© HANNA BARBERA PRODUCTIONS\u003c\/strong\u003e. The backs are the plain peel-off backing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eYogi wasn't alone. The same 1975 run of patriotic stickers had Popeye, Dick Tracy, Bozo the Clown and Laurel and Hardy in it, each marked by whoever owned the character, and collectors will tell you they came out of the vending machines at the grocery store.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🐻 Smarter Than the Av-er-age Bear\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eYogi showed up in 1958 as a supporting player on The Huckleberry Hound Show and pretty quickly got more popular than Huck himself, so Hanna-Barbera gave him The Yogi Bear Show in January 1961. Daws Butler did his voice for thirty years, from 1958 to 1988, and Boo Boo was Don Messick. Yogi lived in Jellystone Park, based on Yellowstone, swiping pic-a-nic baskets and dodging Ranger Smith, and his whole personality came from Art Carney's Ed Norton on The Honeymooners.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd the name? It sounded an awful lot like Yogi Berra, the Yankees catcher, and Berra filed suit over it. Hanna-Barbera said it was a coincidence, and Berra dropped it. The story goes that he said he was going to sue until somebody reminded him Yogi wasn't his real name, it was Lawrence.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e📏 Details\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eVintage 1975 Hanna-Barbera Yogi Bear patriotic sticker pair, two designs\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIt's our Flag (Yogi and Boo Boo) and I Pledge Allegiance (Yogi saluting)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eEach about 3 1\/4\" x 2\", red and blue, unused with the backing on, New Old Stock\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe old adhesive may want a little help if you plan to stick them; most folks frame them\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eYou'll get one pair like the ones shown\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e🖼️ Frame them side by side for the Fourth of July, or tuck them into a sticker album for anybody who grew up on Saturday morning Hanna-Barbera.\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-patriotic-bicentennial-fred-flintstone-barney-rubble-stickers-1975\"\u003eVintage 1975 Fred Flintstone Barney Rubble Bicentennial Stickers 🧱 Patriotic NOS\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-patriotic-bicentennial-dick-tracy-stickers-1975-chester-gould-chicago\"\u003eVintage 1975 Bicentennial Dick Tracy Patriotic Stickers 🕵️ Chester Gould Liberty Bell Flag Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate Set of 2\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-patriotic-bicentennial-bozo-clown-stickers-1975-worlds-most-famous\"\u003eVintage 1975 Bozo the Clown Bicentennial Stickers 🤡 Larry Harmon Pictures Corp Patriotic Americana 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":43668940161256,"sku":"VAG-7924693336296","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.4128189841_hv2k.jpg?v=1785357933"},{"product_id":"vintage-patriotic-bicentennial-popeye-stickers-1975-american-icon-since-1929","title":"Vintage 1975 Popeye Bicentennial Stickers 🎆 King Features Patriotic Set","description":"\u003ch2\u003eWhy Did Popeye Salute the Bicentennial? 🎆 A Vintage 1975 Popeye Patriotic Sticker Pair, Let Freedom Ring and Be a Yankee Doodle Dandy, King Features\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 3 1\/4\" x 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\/omdFJV-Cw-o\" 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\u003eWith America's 200th birthday coming up, everything in the dime store went red, white and blue - even Popeye. This is a pair of flat paper stickers. On the first, on red, Popeye winks with his corncob pipe going beside a Liberty Bell, over Let Freedom Ring. On the second, on red and white stripes, he's walking along with a white money sack slung over his shoulder under a starred blue circle reading Be a Yankee Doodle Dandy. Both say POPEYE and © KING FEATURES 1975, and the backs are plain split paper liners. Every pair I have is unused.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🎆 A Bicentennial series\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThese two belong to a whole 1975 run of cartoon Bicentennial stickers in the same size and colors - Dick Tracy had 'Tis the Star Spangled Banner and Proclaim Your Liberty, and Bozo had Stand Up and Salute - all getting ready for July 4, 1976. Nothing on them names who made or sold them; King Features is the copyright on Popeye.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e👑 King Features\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eKing Features Syndicate was set up in 1915 for William Randolph Hearst's newspapers, run by Moses Koenigsberg. Old-timers in the syndication business used to point out the tidy bit of trivia behind the company's very name - King was simply the English for the first syllable of Koenigsberg's own surname, a quiet little joke tucked into the corporate letterhead, and too good a piece of lore to let disappear. King Features went on to launch Flash Gordon and Mandrake the Magician in 1934 and The Phantom in 1936, and it's still in business.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e⚓ The sailor man\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePopeye came from Elzie Crisler Segar, born December 8, 1894, in Chester, Illinois, a river town on the Mississippi. Segar started Thimble Theatre for King Features in 1919, built around Olive Oyl and her beau Ham Gravy. Popeye walked in ten years later, in January 1929, as a sailor hired to crew a ship - and stole the whole strip. Collectors and Segar biographers have long passed down the story that the gruff, one-eyed sailor was modeled on a real man from Segar's hometown of Chester, a tough local named Frank Rocky Fiegel. Segar died in 1938, only 43.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🥬 Two towns, two statues\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eChester put up a Popeye statue in 1977 and started its Popeye \u0026amp; Friends Character Trail in 2006, with a new figure from the strip nearly every year since, and locals there have long taken quiet pride in being the real hometown of the world's most famous spinach eater. Down in Crystal City, Texas, the Spinach Capital of the World, growers credited Popeye with a big jump in spinach eating in the 1930s and put up their own statue of him in 1937.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🎨 Made to be stuck down\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eStickers like these were cheap and meant to be used up - pressed on a lunchbox, a bike fender or a bedroom window and forgotten. By 1975 Popeye was pushing fifty, comfort food for the parents and Saturday morning reruns for the kids, which made him a natural for the Bicentennial rack. An unused pair still on its backing is the one that got away.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🎆 About these\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEach sticker is about 3 1\/4 by 2 inches. Frame the pair for the Fourth of July, a cartoon shelf or a kid's room. The supply is finite - nobody's printing 1975 Popeye Bicentennial stickers again, and once these last pairs 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-patriotic-bicentennial-bozo-clown-stickers-1975-worlds-most-famous\"\u003eVintage 1975 Bozo the Clown Bicentennial Stickers 🤡 Larry Harmon Pictures Corp Patriotic Americana Pair\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-patriotic-bicentennial-dick-tracy-stickers-1975-chester-gould-chicago\"\u003eVintage 1975 Bicentennial Dick Tracy Patriotic Stickers 🕵️ Chester Gould Liberty Bell Flag Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate Set of 2\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-patriotic-bicentennial-laurel-hardy-stickers-1975-treasures\"\u003eVintage 1975 Laurel and Hardy Bicentennial Stickers 🎬 Patriotic Larry Harmon\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":43673960120552,"sku":"VAG-7926091612392","price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.4126605753_eqh0.jpg?v=1785357950"},{"product_id":"vintage-patriotic-bicentennial-dick-tracy-stickers-1975-chester-gould-chicago","title":"Vintage 1975 Bicentennial Dick Tracy Patriotic Stickers 🕵️ Chester Gould Liberty Bell Flag Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate Set of 2","description":"\u003ch2\u003eWho Created Dick Tracy, America's Toughest Cop? 🕵️ A Vintage 1975 Dick Tracy Patriotic Sticker Pair, Chester Gould, Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 3 1\/4\" x 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\/486gzkcU1DU\" 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\u003eYou get the pair. On the first, Dick Tracy in his fedora stands beside the Liberty Bell in a red shield with Proclaim Your Liberty and DICK TRACY in red; on the second, his famous square-jawed profile sits beside a waving American flag with 'Tis the Star Spangled Banner and DICK TRACY in blue. Both carry the printed signature CHESTER GOULD and © CHICAGO-TRIBUNE NEW YORK NEWS SYNDICATE, on cream stock with the split backing paper still on. Neither has ever been stuck to anything.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🔔 Proclaim your liberty\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBoth lines come straight out of American history. The Liberty Bell in Philadelphia is cast with Proclaim Liberty throughout all the Land, a line from Leviticus - and its famous crack, the story goes, widened sometime in the 1840s, and instead of melting it down and recasting it, Philadelphia simply retired the bell, crack and all, which is why a cracked bell came to mean more to Americans than a perfect one ever could - and 'Tis the Star-Spangled Banner is Francis Scott Key's own line from the poem he wrote after watching the British bombard Fort McHenry in September 1814. Put them in Dick Tracy's mouth for the 200th birthday and you've got a sticker that says law, order and Old Glory all at once.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🇺🇸 Two hundred years\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThese came out for the Bicentennial, the run-up to July 4, 1976, when every company, comic strip and cereal box in the country found a way to wrap itself in red, white and blue. Nothing printed on them gives a year - the dealers who carry this same pair call it 1975 or 1976 - and the Tracy art matches the strip as Gould was still drawing it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt was a big party. The American Freedom Train, a steam-pulled museum on rails, toured the country in 1975 and 1976 with the nation's treasures aboard, towns repainted their fire hydrants as Minutemen, and on July 4, 1976 the tall ships of Operation Sail filled New York Harbor. Little stickers like these were part of that same flag-waving spirit, the kind of thing a kid stuck on a lunch box or a bike fender that summer.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🕵️ Chester Gould's detective\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eChester Gould drew Dick Tracy for the Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate, the comics arm of the Chicago Tribune and the New York Daily News. Gould first pitched him as Plainclothes Tracy; Captain Joseph Medill Patterson, the syndicate's boss - remembered in newspaper lore as the editor who saw something in a struggling cartoonist's pitch - changed it to Dick Tracy, and the strip debuted on October 4, 1931, in the middle of the Chicago gangster years. Old-timers in comics fandom like to point out that by 1937 it was the third most popular strip in America, behind only Little Orphan Annie and Popeye - not bad for gritty crime instead of gags. It was a hard, violent strip for its day, full of grotesque villains like Flattop, Pruneface and the Brow, and it gave the country the two-way wrist radio in 1946, long before anybody wore a phone on their wrist. Gould kept drawing it until he retired in 1977, so these Bicentennial stickers come from the very end of his more than forty-five years at the board. Along the way Tracy had his own radio show, Republic movie serials in the late 1930s and, much later, the 1990 Warren Beatty movie; after Gould retired, Max Allan Collins took over the writing. But this is Gould's Tracy, the original, with the hawk nose and the jaw you could break a brick on.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🗽 About these\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEvery one I have is the same unused pair. Frame them side by side, put them in a comics collection or a Fourth of July display, or give them to the friend who still has a Crimestoppers badge. The supply is finite - nobody's printing Gould's Bicentennial Tracy stickers again, and once these last pairs 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-patriotic-bicentennial-popeye-stickers-1975-american-icon-since-1929\"\u003eVintage 1975 Popeye Bicentennial Stickers 🎆 King Features Patriotic Set\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-patriotic-bicentennial-bozo-clown-stickers-1975-worlds-most-famous\"\u003eVintage 1975 Bozo the Clown Bicentennial Stickers 🤡 Larry Harmon Pictures Corp Patriotic Americana Pair\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1975-patriotic-bicentennial-yogi-bear-boo-stickers-treasures\"\u003eVintage 1975 Yogi Bear Boo Boo Bicentennial Stickers 🐻 Patriotic Hanna‑Barbera 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":43674044563688,"sku":"VAG-7926113468648","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.4132540539_88io.jpg?v=1785357961"},{"product_id":"vintage-patriotic-bicentennial-bozo-clown-stickers-1975-worlds-most-famous","title":"Vintage 1975 Bozo the Clown Bicentennial Stickers 🤡 Larry Harmon Pictures Corp Patriotic Americana Pair","description":"\u003ch2\u003eWho Told You to Stand Up and Salute? 🤡 Vintage 1975 Bozo the Clown Bicentennial Stickers, Larry Harmon Pictures Corp.\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 3 1\/4\" x 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\/Qa3OL7XiVHI\" 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\u003e🎪 Bozo the Clown getting the country ready for its 200th birthday. You get both stickers in this pair, two different designs, printed in 1975 as America counted down to the Bicentennial.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🇺🇸 What's On Them\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe first one has Bozo's big grin and red hair popping out of the stars and stripes with \u003cstrong\u003eSTAND UP AND SALUTE\u003c\/strong\u003e across the bottom. On the second, Bozo stands in a blue suit with red trim, waving next to a flag with the thirteen stars in a circle, and it says \u003cstrong\u003eWhat so proudly we hailed. . .\u003c\/strong\u003e, which is straight out of the Star-Spangled Banner. Both are marked \u003cstrong\u003eBOZO\u003c\/strong\u003e and \u003cstrong\u003e© LARRY HARMON PICTURES CORP. 1975\u003c\/strong\u003e, and the backs are the plain peel-off backing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🤡 Bozo and Larry Harmon\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBozo started out in 1946 on a Capitol Records storytelling album with an illustrated read-along book. Alan W. Livingston created him and Pinto Colvig, the voice of Goofy, was the first Bozo. In 1957 Larry Harmon bought the licensing rights, renamed him \"Bozo, The World's Most Famous Clown,\" and came up with the idea that made Bozo famous: local TV stations could put on their own Bozo show with their own Bozo. So towns all over the country had their own Bozo on the local channel, and in Chicago, WGN's Bozo's Circus ran from 1961 for more than forty years. One local Bozo went on to something bigger: Willard Scott played Bozo on WRC-TV in Washington for three years, and the show's sponsors, a pair of McDonald's franchisees, hired him to be the very first Ronald McDonald.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn 1975 Larry Harmon Pictures put both Bozo and Laurel and Hardy into the same series of patriotic stickers, alongside other favorites like Popeye and Dick Tracy. Collectors will tell you these came out of the vending machines and gumball machines at the grocery store, which is right where I'd have spent my quarters. Harmon died in 2008, and in 2021 the actor David Arquette bought the rights to Bozo.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e📏 Details\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eVintage 1975 Bozo the Clown Bicentennial sticker pair, two different designs\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSTAND UP AND SALUTE and What so proudly we hailed. . .\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e© Larry Harmon Pictures Corp. 1975 on both\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eEach about 3 1\/4\" x 2\", unused with the backing on\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eYou'll get one pair like the ones shown\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e🖼️ Frame the pair side by side for the Fourth of July, add them to a sticker collection, or give them to anybody who grew up watching Bozo on the local channel.\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-patriotic-bicentennial-popeye-stickers-1975-american-icon-since-1929\"\u003eVintage 1975 Popeye Bicentennial Stickers 🎆 King Features Patriotic Set\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-patriotic-bicentennial-laurel-hardy-stickers-1975-treasures\"\u003eVintage 1975 Laurel and Hardy Bicentennial Stickers 🎬 Patriotic Larry Harmon\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-patriotic-bicentennial-dick-tracy-stickers-1975-chester-gould-chicago\"\u003eVintage 1975 Bicentennial Dick Tracy Patriotic Stickers 🕵️ Chester Gould Liberty Bell Flag Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate Set of 2\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":43674071957736,"sku":"VAG-7926121562344","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.4132589755_3j2z.jpg?v=1785357968"},{"product_id":"10-20-vintage-ninja-charms-1980s-bright-colorful","title":"Vintage Ninja Charms 🥷 Collectible 1980s Toys","description":"\u003ch2\u003eRemember Ninja Clip Charms? 🥷 Ninja Clip Charms From the '80s Craze\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 3\" long with chain and 1 1\/2\" in diameter\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\/UBK4Oxx-Gjk\" 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\u003eAn assortment of vintage plastic ninja clip charms: a flat round disc about 1 1\/2 inches across with the art on a sticker under the surface, a little metal jump ring, and a plastic snap-hook clip with a five-point star at its base. No maker's name or date on them, but they're pure 1980s. Menahem Golan, who directed \"Enter the Ninja,\" put it in theaters in 1981 and started the ninja-movie craze. By the mid-'80s clip charms were everywhere, hooked on belt loops, house keys and plastic chain-link necklaces. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 came out of Mirage Studios in Dover, New Hampshire in May 1984, and its first 3,000 copies sold out in a few weeks. It was a very ninja decade.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🔤 What the Designs Say\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere's more on these than just the word NINJA. One disc pairs it with the kanji 忍 (nin) in the middle, which is built from the character for \"blade\" sitting over the character for \"heart\" and means to bear or endure. Another has NINJA over a kusarigama, a sickle on a chain with an iron weight at the end, used to tangle up an opponent's sword or spear. The cleverest one spells NINJA with the first and last letters drawn as the two kanji of 忍者 itself, sitting above a big eight-point shuriken. 忍者 means a person of 忍, a word that means to endure and also to steal away and hide, which is about as good a description of a ninja as you'll get. And shuriken literally means \"hand-hidden blade.\" A 1985 ad in Black Belt magazine sold an eight-point one as a \"Chinese Star.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e📦 How I Ended Up With These\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI was actually shipped these by mistake. There are several styles and clip colors mixed in, so the assortment comes as a random mix of designs and colors, not a matched set. A fun grab for anyone who grew up on '80s ninja movies, or who just wants a goofy little clip for a bag or a set of keys.\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-1980s-clown-mouse-dexterity-puzzle-game-hong-kong-nos\"\u003eVintage 1980s Clown \u0026amp; Mouse Dexterity Puzzle Game on Stapled Header Card 🎪 NOS Plastic Toys Hong Kong Dime Store Circus Novelty\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1980s-clown-girl-gargoyle-dexterity-puzzle-game-hong-kong-nos\"\u003eVintage 1980s NOS Clown Girl and Gargoyle Dexterity Puzzle Game 🧸 Plastic Toys Made in Hong Kong Circus Ball Maze\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1980-galactic-battleships-vending-display-card-diamond-vending\"\u003eVintage 1980 Galactic Battleships Vending Display Card 🃏 Diamond Vending Supply Co. Sci-Fi Header C-23 NOS Hong Kong\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"10 assorted","offer_id":43674616987880,"sku":"VAG-7926380626152","price":11.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"20 assorted","offer_id":43674617020648,"sku":"VAG-7926380626152-2","price":17.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.4085516364_6qjc.jpg?v=1785358029"},{"product_id":"10-20-vintage-1980s-jumbo-burger-charms-secret-stash-box-necklaces","title":"Vintage 80s Jumbo Burger Charms 🍔 Secret Stash Box Necklaces – 10 or 20 Pack","description":"\u003ch2\u003eWhat's Hiding in a Jumbo Burger? 🍔 Vintage 80s Secret Stash Box Charm Necklaces, 10 or 20 Pack\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1\" x 1\/2\" ~ Unused old stock; a few show light handling from years in storage.\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\/pmpJxOdipn0\" 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\u003ch2\u003e🍔 The Box Itself\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eEach Jumbo Burger charm is a tiny plastic box that opens like a clamshell: a square body and lid joined by a molded hinge, a little latch tab that snaps it shut, and a side eyelet for the cord. Every one hangs on its own hot-pink cord. The lid carries a yellow sticker - a round-faced cartoon chef in a tall white hat, red shoes flying, running with a hamburger, and JUMBO BURGER in red-orange letters across the diagonal. That's the only printing on it. Pick a set of 10 or 20 and you get a mix of body colors - yellow, orange, blue, purple, hot pink - open the lid and there's room inside for something very small. The hinge is a delicate little thing, so open it gently.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🐘 Why \"Jumbo\"\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEvery jumbo burger, jumbo shrimp and jumbo jet owes its name to one elephant. Jumbo was born around Christmas 1860 in Sudan - his mother killed by poachers - and arrived at the London Zoo on June 26, 1865, where he spent years giving rides to children, Queen Victoria's among them. In 1882 the zoo's superintendent, Abraham Bartlett, sold him to the American showman P.T. Barnum for £2,000, about $10,000 at the time. Britain took it hard: the story goes that 100,000 schoolchildren wrote to Queen Victoria begging her to stop the sale, and the critic John Ruskin called it \"disgraceful to the city of London.\" Jumbo sailed anyway, landed in New York that March, and Barnum had his money back within three weeks at Madison Square Garden - the season that followed took in $1.75 million. Jumbo died on September 15, 1885, struck by a freight train in the rail yard at St. Thomas, Ontario. His name outlived him: \"jumbo\" became everyday English for anything oversized, which is exactly the joke of a Jumbo Burger small enough to wear on a string.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🎈 A Bell-Charm Kid in the Mid-1980s\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis little box belongs to the bell-charm craze that took over schoolyards in the mid-1980s - small plastic charms shaped like telephones, sneakers, soda cans and food, clipped onto chain-link necklaces, belt loops, house keys and backpack zippers. Kids traded them hard enough, and the jingling got loud enough, that some schools banned them outright. Food shapes were part of that mix, and as one fellow who wore them back then remembers it, a charm shaped like real food was gold. The vending machine was your surest bet for a new one, though for a while you could turn them up just about anywhere, the mall included. A hinged box like this one, with its own little hiding spot inside, gave a kid one more reason to want it. A JUMBO BURGER charm is a hard one to find.\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-1980s-private-ahc-picture-contest-entry-framed-bonfire-picture\"\u003eVintage 1960s-80s Framed Bonfire Photograph 🔥 American Hoechst Photo Contest Original Contest Entry Still Life\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1950s-cats-eye-marbles-unopened-package-childhood-classic-treasures\"\u003eVintage 1950s Cats Eye Marbles 🔮 Unopened Pack of 10 Classic Beauties\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1970s-reynolds-natural-leaf-tobacco-box-winston-salem-nc\"\u003eVintage 1970s-80s Reynolds' Natural Leaf Chewing Tobacco Box 📦 R.J. Reynolds, Winston-Salem NC, NOS Flat Retail Box\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"10 assorted","offer_id":43674683900136,"sku":"VAG-7926426140904","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"20 assorted","offer_id":43674683932904,"sku":"VAG-7926426140904-2","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.7997160807_aoq1.jpg?v=1785358040"},{"product_id":"vintage-1997-looney-tunes-roadrunner-stuffy-stuffed-plush-toy-warner-bros","title":"Vintage Road Runner Plush 🐦 Looney Tunes ACE Play-By-Play NWT 1997 San Antonio TX","description":"\u003ch2\u003e🏃💨 Remember That Half-Second Before He Was Already Gone?\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 14\" ~ New Old Stock, original hang tag still attached.\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\/1xjmxL74j8c\" 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\u003eYou never actually saw the Road Runner running. Not really. What you saw was a gray-and-purple blur, a puff of desert dust hanging in the air where he'd been standing a half-second earlier, and that sound — half car horn, half something no real bird on this earth has ever made — trailing off down the canyon. \"Beep beep,\" and he was gone before Wile E. Coyote's newest ACME contraption had even finished exploding. If Saturday mornings were part of your childhood, or if you're chasing that exact feeling down for someone who wasn't even born yet when this fellow first sprinted across a movie screen, this is the kind of find that stops the scroll cold.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis is a Looney Tunes Road Runner plush, made under official Warner Bros. license by ACE, a subsidiary of Play-By-Play Toys \u0026amp; Novelties, Inc. of San Antonio, Texas, with a copyright date of 1997 printed right on the piece. He measures 14 inches (about 35.5 cm) from the top of that purple crest down to his oversized brown feet — a real shelf-and-desk-scale plush, not a pocket trinket, with genuine presence when he's propped up somewhere and craning that long gray-blue neck skyward.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe body and neck are done in a soft blue-gray, the crest and wing patches in purple felt, the beak in a bold yellow-orange with a pink felt tongue peeking out, the legs and feet in rust brown, and the tail feathers in a pale powder blue. He still carries his original hang tag — a glossy, four-color printed card in blue, orange, yellow and white, carrying the Warner Bros.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"WB\" shield and the 1990s Looney Tunes logo (a laughing Bugs Bunny silhouette set inside a target-shaped orange sunburst), attached through the crest by its original plastic fastener, plus a sewn fabric law label on one leg listing fiber content and a state registry code. These are New Old Stock, tags on, never separated from retail inventory. The tag itself says where that was: \"MADE \u0026amp; PRINTED IN CHINA,\" for ACE and its San Antonio parent company.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003chr\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🎬 \"Beep Beep\": The Chuck Jones Cartoon Behind the Toy\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Road Runner and his eternal nemesis Wile E. Coyote didn't wander into cartoons by accident. They were built on purpose, by director Chuck Jones and writer Michael Maltese at Warner Bros. Cartoons, first appearing on screen in 1949 in the short \u003cem\u003eFast and Furry-ous\u003c\/em\u003e. Jones himself traced the coyote's roots back further than the cartoon studio — in his memoir \u003cem\u003eChuck Amuck\u003c\/em\u003e, he wrote that he'd \"first become interested in the coyote while devouring Mark Twain's \u003cem\u003eRoughing It\u003c\/em\u003e at the age of seven,\" specifically the fourth chapter, Twain's own stagecoach journal through the American West. A century-old travel book, reborn as a Warner Bros. chase cartoon, reborn again as a stuffed toy with a San Antonio company's name on its tag.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJones described the Road Runner himself as having \"very little personality, as he is a force\" — pure motion, nothing more. His teaching line to young animators about how to draw the character has become cartooning legend in its own right: learn to draw dust first, he'd say, and \"just draw a cloud of dust and hook a Road Runner onto it.\" Even the character's signature sound has its own small piece of studio lore — background artist Paul Julian, arms full of paintings and unable to see where he was walking through the hallways at Termite Terrace, would call out \"Beep, beep\" to warn people to clear a path. Jones credited that accidental hallway warning as the origin of the most recognizable two syllables in cartoon history, and Julian's own recorded voice still carries the sound in the films today.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJones wrote out formal rules for the series in \u003cem\u003eChuck Amuck\u003c\/em\u003e, and two of them explain a great deal about a Road Runner plush with a Texas company's name on its tag turning up decades later: Rule Six held that \"all action must be confined to the natural environment of the two characters — the southwest American desert,\" and Rule Seven decreed that every gadget in the chase came from the ACME Corporation. The character was, by design, permanently rooted in the same Southwest that Play-By-Play Toys would later call home.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003chr\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🎪 From the Boardwalk Prize Counter\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe company behind the ACE label grew out of the amusement trade. Arturo G. Torres had one of those only-in-America stories. His family had been in the grocery business, real estate and farming in Cuba, the Castro government took all of it, and after the Bay of Pigs in 1961 he fled to the United States. He bussed tables in Miami, worked in a print shop in Amarillo, and in 1965 went to work in the kitchen of an Amarillo Pizza Hut, where he rose to store manager and later bought out the franchise owner, Norman Blankenship. His company, Pizza Management, Inc., grew to more than 230 Pizza Huts in Texas, Florida, California, Oregon, Illinois, Tennessee, Kentucky, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and even Spain, one of the biggest privately owned Pizza Hut franchises in the country. By 1989 it was doing $135 million a year, and Hispanic Business magazine ranked it the sixth-largest Hispanic-owned business in America. He sold it to PepsiCo in 1993. He was San Antonio's Entrepreneur of the Year in the late '80s, sat on the boards of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities and the University of the Incarnate Word, and had a ranch and steakhouse, the Veladi Ranch, on the side. Torres began Play-By-Play as a vending-machine prize supplier, and in 1990 Jay Foreman, who had started out at eighteen working the games on the boardwalk in Wildwood, New Jersey, came in as his co-founder on the toy side. Stuffed toys for amusement parks and prize counters were the company's bread and butter, and licensed characters were what filled those counters. By 1998 Play-By-Play held about half of the whole carnival-prize market. Foreman went on to run Basic Fun!, the toy company he still leads.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003chr\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🅰️ How a Seattle Name Ended Up on a Texas Tag\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLook closely at the hang tag still hanging from this plush's crest and you'll notice something a little unusual: it says ACE, and it says San Antonio, Texas, in the very same breath. That's because ACE wasn't born in Texas at all — it began life as Ace Novelty Co. in Bellevue, Washington, before Play-By-Play acquired it and folded it in as a wholly-owned subsidiary. Rather than erase the name, the company's leadership chose to keep it running as its own identity. CFO Joe Guerra told the trade press at the time that Play-By-Play was \"forming an Ace Novelty subsidiary, which will keep a separate identity within our company,\" adding that \"we believe there is quite a bit of value in the Ace name and reputation.\" That is exactly what you're holding: a well-regarded Pacific Northwest novelty brand, still trading on its own name, now under a San Antonio parent company.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe tag's own caution text — \"Not recommended for children under 3 years of age,\" \"Remove all Plastic fasteners and hangtags before giving to child,\" \"May contain wire stiffeners\" — along with the \"MADE \u0026amp; PRINTED IN CHINA\" line, reflects exactly how Play-By-Play described its own supply chain in its corporate filings of the period, which noted that a substantial portion of its products were manufactured by third parties in China and flagged ongoing trade-policy risk tied to that country's trade status. A small printed disclaimer, quietly carrying a bit of 1990s global trade history on its back.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003chr\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🤠 San Antonio, Military City USA\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe \"San Antonio, Tx\" on this tag was no downtown showroom. In the late 1990s, and still in 2001, Play-By-Play's address of record was 4400 Tejasco — Building 5 of the Rittiman West industrial park, a plain warehouse put up in 1977 and leased out today under the name Fort Sam Houston Industrial Property. The post that name borrows from is just a short drive off. Fort Sam Houston became a National Historic Landmark in 1975 and has the largest collection of historic buildings anywhere in the Department of Defense. Its centerpiece is the limestone Quadrangle, begun in 1876; the next year the Army's quartermaster depot moved in, leaving its old home inside the Alamo. San Antonio has answered to \"Military City, USA\" since World War II and registered the name as a trademark in 2017 — fitting for a city whose military story runs back to a Spanish presidio of 1718.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe company also appears at 1153 East Commerce Street, on one of the oldest roads in San Antonio. In the 1740s it was a footpath between the Alamo mission and the Spanish Governor's Palace, called Calle de Real, the Royal Street, and townspeople followed it between Main and Military plazas and the mission, crossing the river at its old ford. It wore several more names before it became the city's business center and settled on Commerce Street by the mid-1800s, and it still bounds the Alamo Plaza Historic District today. A Pacific Northwest brand name, a Warner Bros. desert bird, and a parent company with one address near Fort Sam Houston and another on the old road to the Alamo — that's a lot of Texas history for one stuffed toy's tag to carry.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003chr\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🚀 The Space Jam Boom That Made This Toy Possible\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhy would a Road Runner plush be rolling off the line in 1997 in the first place? The character had already had its run on television through the '60s, '70s and '80s, but the spark behind this particular wave was the 1996 movie \u003cem\u003eSpace Jam\u003c\/em\u003e, which took in roughly $250 million worldwide and set off a Looney Tunes licensing boom. A carnival-prize company holding a Warner Bros. license was right where you wanted to be, and this Road Runner, tag and all, came out of that boom at its peak.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003chr\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e⚖️ A San Antonio Toy Company's Brush With a Future Supreme Court Justice\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHere's a genuinely improbable footnote for a carnival-prize plush maker: Play-By-Play Toys \u0026amp; Novelties is a fixture of American law school casebooks. A dispute over the company's spinning Tornado Taz plush — \u003cem\u003eNadel v. Play-By-Play Toys \u0026amp; Novelties, Inc.\u003c\/em\u003e, decided by the Second Circuit in 2000 — is still taught today as a leading case on idea-submission law. The opinion was authored by then-Circuit Judge Sonia Sotomayor, decades before she joined the U.S. Supreme Court. It's an odd but true bit of legal history to trace back to the same San Antonio company whose Road Runner tag is still hanging on this very plush.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003chr\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🐦 The Cartoon Bird and the Real One\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe actual greater roadrunner, \u003cem\u003eGeococcyx californianus\u003c\/em\u003e — its scientific name roughly translates to \"Californian earth-cuckoo\" — is a real desert-dwelling bird native to the American Southwest and Mexico, streaked brown and built for sprinting rather than flying, exactly the kind of creature Chuck Jones had in mind when he wrote that all the action had to stay confined to \"the southwest American desert.\" The plush in front of you, by contrast, wears the bold blue-gray, purple and yellow palette Jones's studio invented purely for the screen — a piece of pure cartoon graphic design meant to read as pure speed from clear across a room, not an attempt at desert camouflage. It's a nice reminder that the character was always more force of nature than field-guide entry, exactly as Jones intended him to be.\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-1997-nfl-fingernail-tattoos-kansas-city-chiefs-its-football\"\u003eVintage 1997 NFL Kansas City Chiefs Fingernail Tattoos 🏈 Play-By-Play San Antonio - Sealed Football Novelty Package Card\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1997-nfl-fingernail-tattoos-denver-broncos-its-football-season\"\u003eVintage 1997 NFL Fingernail Tattoos 🏈 Denver Broncos Play By Play San Antonio TX Card\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1997-looney-tunes-mini-pinball-amber-playfield-wile-e-coyote-road-runner\"\u003eVintage 1997 Looney Tunes Mini Pinball 📌 Amber Playfield Wile E Coyote and Bonus Road Runner Head\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":43678721671400,"sku":"VAG-7927746396392","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.6849830830_q7ej.jpg?v=1785358174"},{"product_id":"vintage-eastern-airlines-bridge-size-playing-cards-1970s-rip-1991-treasures","title":"Vintage 1970s Eastern Air Lines Playing Box ✈️ NOS Deck, Fallen Flag Airline Collectible, Hockey Stick Logo, Clown Joker, Bridge Size","description":"\u003ch2\u003eWhy Was Eastern's Logo Called the Hockey Stick? ✈️ A Vintage 1970s Eastern Air Lines Playing Cards Deck, Hockey Stick Logo, Bridge Size\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 3 1\/2\" x 2 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\/aekvOwhZW3M\" 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\u003eThere was a time when you dressed up to fly, the meals came on real trays, and somewhere over the clouds a stewardess might hand you a deck of cards, compliments of the airline. I still think that's one of the nicest little things an airline ever did. This is one of those decks: a dark blue-purple tuck box with a thin white border, EASTERN in white beside the circular hockey stick bird, repeated upside down at the bottom the way a card back is, with PLAYING CARDS on one edge and BRIDGE SIZE on the other. The joker is a grinning clown on a unicycle in a polka-dot suit, fanning out four aces. Every deck I have is unused, still boxed - one of my pictures shows them in their shipping carton.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🦅 The hockey stick\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat bird dates the box. Floyd Hall took over Eastern in 1964 with the airline deep in the red, and he brought in the design firm Lippincott \u0026amp; Margulies to remake it. The result, unveiled in 1965, was the hockey stick - an abstract falcon in two strokes that Eastern's own people nicknamed for the shape - along with the slogan Wings of Man and the Boeing 727 Whisper Jet. It stayed Eastern's mark until the airline shut down in 1991, so this deck is from 1965 or later, and the 1970s sit right in the middle of that run.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e✈️ One of the Big Four\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEastern flew from 1926 to 1991 and was one of the Big Four domestic airlines with United, TWA and American. Eddie Rickenbacker, the World War I ace, took over in 1938, buying the airline from General Motors for $3.5 million - with, as the story goes, a check he signed himself - and ran it as a famously profitable outfit for a quarter of a century, owning the New York-to-Florida run with the Silver Fleet. The Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum even keeps an Eastern deck of cards in its collection.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e💔 The end\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDeregulation hit hard, former astronaut Frank Borman ran Eastern through the turbulence of the late 1970s and early 1980s, and in the mid-1980s Frank Lorenzo's Texas Air took it over. What followed is remembered by aviation historians and former employees alike as one of the harder chapters in American aviation - strikes, assets moved, routes shuffled, and a bankruptcy trustee put in charge in 1990. Eastern stopped flying on January 18, 1991. There's a detail from that final night that's been passed down among aviation buffs and former Eastern people ever since: reservation agents, with no idea the decision had already been made, were still on the phones booking flights and telling callers the airline wasn't closing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🍑 Atlanta\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEastern was headquartered in New York and later Miami, but ask old-timers in Georgia and they'll point you to Atlanta just as quickly - Hartsfield was Eastern's big hub, and that put it head to head with Atlanta's own Delta for decades, a rivalry longtime airline people still talk about with a gleam in their eye.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🃏 About these\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe cards are bridge size, about 3 1\/2 by 2 1\/4 inches. Deal a hand on the back porch, put the box on an aviation shelf, or give it to somebody who flew the Shuttle or worked for Eastern. The supply is finite - Eastern has been gone since 1991, nobody's handing out these cards again, and once these last decks 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-1970s-united-air-lines-5-percent-debenture-chicago-il\"\u003eVintage 1960s-1970s United Air Lines 5 Percent Subordinated Debenture 📜 Purple 1000 Dollar Due 1991 Mercury Vignette\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1994-hollywood-pinups-trading-card-set-sealed-box-21st-century-archives\"\u003eVintage 1994 Hollywood Pinups Trading Card Set 🎬 Sealed Box, 21st Century Archives, Golden Age Pin-Up Art, Collectible\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-teal-pan-am-american-world-airways-stock-certificate-american-icon-rip\"\u003eVintage 1970s-1980s Pan Am Stock Certificate ✈️ Teal, Pan American World Airways, Golden Age Aviation\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":43762399117544,"sku":"VAG-7948634783976","price":12.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.4121335388_f9gh.jpg?v=1785358518"},{"product_id":"2-vintage-1970s-100-hundred-dollar-bill-keychain-fob-nostalgic-treasures","title":"Vintage 💵 2 1970s $100 Bill Keychain Fobs SIMMONS – Pair","description":"\u003ch2\u003eWhat Does the Little Seal Next to Ben Franklin Mean? 💵 Vintage 1970s $100 Bill Keychain Fobs, Pair\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1 1\/2\" x 5\/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\/nU9-1bsMkvw\" 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\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLook at the little seal to the left of Ben Franklin. It holds the letter A, for the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, the city where Franklin was born. These two SIMMONS key fobs carry a golden picture of the $100 bill Americans handled for decades, the one with the lettered seal, before the 1996 redesign changed the Benjamin.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\n\u003cp\u003ePair of vintage 1970s $100 bill keychain fobs, each stamped SIMMONS on the back. You receive both fobs shown. Size: each measures about 1 1\/2\" x 5\/8\" (not including the top loop).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eWhat Is on the Fobs\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEach fob is a slim gold-tone rectangle with a small ring at one end. The front holds a gold-toned picture of a $100 Federal Reserve Note under a clear window, framed by a dark brown border inside a gold-tone rim. The picture is sharp enough to read: FEDERAL RESERVE NOTE across the top, THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA beneath it, Benjamin Franklin in his oval at the center, ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS along the bottom and 100 in every corner. The lettered seal with its A sits at left, and at right, under WASHINGTON, D.C., is the Treasury seal. The back is brushed, textured gold-tone metal with SIMMONS stamped in small capitals near the bottom edge.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eCondition\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eClean gold-tone finish with no corrosion. Clear front window over the $100 bill image, brushed-texture metal back. The back is stamped SIMMONS; some stamps are crisper than others from the original run.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eKeyring note: sold without keyrings, so you can add your own split ring, chain or clip and customize them. 😉\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eThe $100 Bill Pictured Here\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBenjamin Franklin has been on the front of the $100 bill since 1914. In 1929 all U.S. currency changed to its current size and a standardized design, and from the Series 1928 notes onward the $100 showed Franklin in a central oval with Independence Hall on the back. Beginning with Series 1963A the words \"will pay to the bearer on demand\" were removed from the front and IN GOD WE TRUST was added to the back. Series 1990 brought microscopic printing around the portrait and a metallic security strip. Then came the major redesign announced on March 25, 1996, which replaced each bank's lettered seal, like the A on these fobs, with a single Federal Reserve System seal. The current $100, with its blue 3D security ribbon, entered circulation on October 8, 2013.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eA Is for Boston\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Federal Reserve Act of 1913 split the country into twelve districts, each served by its own reserve bank, and until the 1996 redesign every note carried its district's letter in a seal: A for Boston, B for New York, on through L for San Francisco. The note pictured on these fobs is an A note. That suits its subject. Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1706, ran away to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at seventeen, and built his fortune there as a printer before he ever became a statesman.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eThe Saying Franklin Never Said\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe line everyone hangs on him, \"A penny saved is a penny earned,\" is folklore. What Franklin actually printed, in the 1737 edition of \u003cem\u003ePoor Richard's Almanack\u003c\/em\u003e under \"Necessary Hints to Those That Would Be Rich,\" was \"A penny saved is two pence clear.\" His 1758 almanac came closer, ending the line with \"a penny got,\" and even that echoed the poet George Herbert, whose \u003cem\u003eOutlandish Proverbs\u003c\/em\u003e of 1640 has \"A penny spar'd is twice got.\" The \"earned\" version is an anonymous English proverb, first recorded in 1804.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eNever Give an Empty Wallet\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMoney has its own folk rules, and one of the best known is never to give someone an empty wallet or purse. Tuck a coin or a bill inside, the tradition says, because money attracts money and emptiness attracts emptiness. Folklore archives at the University of Southern California and Dartmouth have both collected the belief from people who learned it at home. A $100 bill that rides along on your keys is an easy way to keep the custom every day.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003eThe Benjamins\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe $100 is the bill that changed from pocket money into the currency of big numbers. Americans call them \"Benjamins.\" As of June 30, 2012, the $100 made up 77% of all U.S. currency in circulation, and research estimated that 80 percent of $100 bills were held in other countries. A little gold Benjamin on a keychain is a joke everybody gets.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e💵 About these\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe supply is finite - once these last 1970s Simmons fob pairs 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-handmade-swirled-resin-keychain-pendant-wall-decor\"\u003eVintage 1960s Handmade Keychain 🔑 Swirled Resin Pendant Ornament\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-nfl-houston-tennessee-oilers-keychain-1997-memorabilia-treasures\"\u003eVintage 1997 Tennessee Oilers NFL Helmet Keychain 🏈 NOS Tag Express\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-dunkin-donuts-coffee-coolatta-keychain-1990s-1995-2017-treasures\"\u003eVintage 1990s Dunkin' Donuts Coffee Coolatta Keychain 🧊 NOS Promotional Fob\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":43787681562856,"sku":"VAG-7956893106408","price":5.5,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.4179591033_bswq.jpg?v=1786081343"},{"product_id":"vintage-1997-looney-tunes-pinball-game-bugs-bunny-porky-pig-daffy-duck","title":"Vintage 1997 Looney Tunes Mini Pinball 🍎 Orange Playfield Bugs Bunny Taz and Sylvester Sealed","description":"\u003ch2\u003eRemember Looney Tunes Mini Pinball? 🍊 Vintage 1997 Orange Playfield, Bugs Bunny, Taz and Sylvester, Sealed\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 5\" x 3 1\/4\" pinball game ~ factory sealed, never opened.\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\/T-vvOCNVLLI\" 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\u003ch2\u003e🍊 The Solid-Orange Board\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis is the orange one: a flat, bright orange playfield under clear plastic, the Looney Tunes wordmark arched across the top in blue, and a teal spring plunger down the right-hand channel. It's a Looney Tunes Mini Pinball, still sealed in its bag and stapled to the original blue Taz header card. If you're sorting these little games, the quickest tell is the background color and the plunger color together. Orange and teal means you're looking at this board.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe cast is bigger than it looks. Porky Pig stands at the upper left, Taz spins at the top, Sylvester scowls on the right with his hands on his hips, Tweety is dead center with his arms flung wide, Daffy is down at the lower left, and Bugs Bunny comes laughing up out of a hole at the bottom. Then look by the plunger and there's Wile E. Coyote peeking in, easy to miss. The scoring loops are marked 100 and 200, and five pockets run across the bottom, 400, 200, 500, 200, 400, with the 500 right in the middle where you'll never land it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🌪️ A Card Full of Old Friends\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEvery one of those characters was an old pro by the time this card was printed. Porky Pig goes back to 1935 and Daffy Duck to 1937. Tweety first showed up in Bob Clampett's \"A Tale of Two Kitties\" in 1942, Sylvester in Friz Freleng's \"Life with Feathers\" in 1945, and Wile E. Coyote in Chuck Jones's \"Fast and Furry-ous\" in 1949. Taz is the baby of the bunch, spinning onto the screen in Robert McKimson's \"Devil May Hare\" in 1954. And they were riding high in the '90s: Space Jam put Bugs next to Michael Jordan in November 1996 and made $250.2 million worldwide, the biggest Looney Tunes movie ever, with Warner Bros. merchandise boutiques in the department stores to match. Bugs even has his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He got it in 1985, only the second cartoon character ever to get one, right after Mickey Mouse. And if you grew up on Saturday-morning Looney Tunes, you're in good company: ABC moved The Bugs Bunny Show to Saturday mornings in 1962, and in one form or another the gang stayed on network Saturday-morning TV right up until 2000. In 1997 that meant The Bugs Bunny \u0026amp; Tweety Show on ABC, and Taz had already had four seasons of his very own show, Taz-Mania, on Fox Kids from 1991 to 1995.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🎯 Play-By-Play of San Antonio\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe back of the card reads © 1997 Warner Bros., MADE IN CHINA, and DISTRIBUTED BY Play-By-Play Toys \u0026amp; Novelties of San Antonio, Texas. Play-By-Play started with Arturo Torres, a Cuban refugee who began as a supplier of vending-machine prizes in San Antonio, and he and Jay Foreman built it into a toy company that went public on NASDAQ in 1995. In 1996 it bought Ace Novelty of Bellevue, Washington for $44 million, and Ace held the Warner Bros. licenses for Looney Tunes and Space Jam. That's how Bugs and the gang ended up on a Play-By-Play card. By 1997 the company's sales had reached $137 million. It moved its headquarters to Valencia, Spain in 2002, so these San Antonio cards date from 1997 to about then. One more tip if you collect the whole line: the barcode on the back, 0 19717 10146 7, is the same on every color, so the playfield is the only way to tell which one you've got.\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-1997-looney-tunes-pinball-game-roadrunner-bugs-bunny-porky-pig-daffy\"\u003eVintage 1997 Looney Tunes Mini Pinball 📌 Pink Playfield Reclining Bugs Bunny Road Runner and Marvin\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1997-looney-tunes-mini-pinball-amber-playfield-wile-e-coyote-road-runner\"\u003eVintage 1997 Looney Tunes Mini Pinball 📌 Amber Playfield Wile E Coyote and Bonus Road Runner Head\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1997-looney-tunes-pinball-game-bugs-bunny-porky-pig-daffy-duck-elmer\"\u003eVintage 1997 Looney Tunes Mini Pinball 📌 Pink Playfield Elmer Fudd Foghorn Leghorn Nine Character Cast\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":44032664174824,"sku":"VAG-8034463875304","price":17.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.4304050518_23n4.jpg?v=1785358775"}],"url":"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/collections\/vintage-toys-and-games.oembed?page=5","provider":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","version":"1.0","type":"link"}