Vintage Surfer California Raisin Tin Pin 📌 WOW The Memories! 1980s

Remember the Surfing California Raisin? 🏄 The Surfer California Raisin Tin Pin, 1980s

Size: 1 1/2"

Vintage Surfer California Raisin Tin Pin, WOW The Memories! This Raisin is hanging ten on a red surfboard, riding right through the curl of a big blue wave with his gloves out for balance and a grin on his face. California all the way.

I need to just say WOW again because when I saw these the memories came flooding back and I went to youtube and watched every single Raisin video ever. And let me add nothing is better than listening to a song sung by a California Raisin!

It's a round tin pin with the picture printed right on the metal, and the back is painted cream with a gold-tone safety pin held on by two little metal tabs. The last photo shows three pin backs next to a quarter so you can see the size.

🍇 The Band

California Raisins were given individual names and characterizations: A.C. Arborman (vocals), his younger brother Beebop Arborman (drums), their cousin Red Raisin (guitar/piano), and their friend Stamford "Stretch" Thompson (bass).

☀️ Where California Raisins Come From

The real raisins behind the band come from the San Joaquin Valley around Fresno. In 1873 Francis T. Eisen planted an experimental vineyard of Muscat grapes near Fresno, packaged raisins were shipping out of the state by 1878, and by 1903 California was producing 120 million pounds a year. In 1912 the growers formed the California Associated Raisin Company, and in 1914 they launched the Sun-Maid brand with a train of 60 freight cars of raisins headed for Chicago, every car carrying the banner "Raisins Grown by 6,000 California Growers." The original Sun-Maid Girl was a real person, Lorraine Collett, who handed out raisin samples at the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco.

And for some old raisin lore: for centuries people played a Christmas Eve parlor game called snap-dragon. Raisins went into a bowl of warm brandy, the brandy was lit, the lights went down, and everybody snatched raisins out of the blue flames. Samuel Johnson put it in his 1755 dictionary as "a play in which they catch raisins out of burning brandy." Our Raisin here would rather go surfing.

The California Raisins were invented in 1986 and seem to pop up and do events and cameos over the years unbeknownst to me. I've been missing out! I have seen some people say these pins are from the 1970s but it isn't possible.

These are so highly collectible that the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History keeps the California Raisins in its permanent collection. Here is a piece for you that the Smithsonian I am sure would be proud of!

📦 About the Supply

Please note the supply that was found of these were in a warehouse all just in big boxes all together for 40 years~ then moved so some might have a mark or blemish. Most who have these list them as new but as you know if you follow me I am meticulous about the condition.

The nostalgia for these isn't going to go away any time soon, so this is a great opportunity to display it as decor or wear it for fun.