Just a few more unknowns

The place to ask your Cracker Jack Prize questions. (Open to All)
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spudgy
Posts: 98
Joined: Tue Mar 02, 2010 3:21 pm
Location: Birmingham, Alabama

Just a few more unknowns

Post by spudgy »

My last request, at least for a while.
Thanks, again.
Is it CJ 003.jpg
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Cyndy Boesch
Posts: 355
Joined: Mon Sep 15, 2008 10:19 am

Re: Just a few more unknowns

Post by Cyndy Boesch »

The plastic watch is Cracker Jack; I don't think any of the rest of it is. I think the watch comes with at least two different times.
jdnola
Posts: 86
Joined: Sat Oct 18, 2008 8:43 pm
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Re: Just a few more unknowns

Post by jdnola »

Your #6 is a cereal prize, but there is a Cracker Jack connection. It is the "Gay Galleon" from the Daffy Danglers series intended for creating mobiles. It was orignally produced by the R & L company of Australia, which also made the Nits. The company also was the source for the Toolie Birds as well as the Kiddy Keys (or Freakeys in some countries), some of which can be found in the Cracker Jack Collectibles book (pp. 89, 97, 99, 100). Those keys from the Cracker Jack archives shown in the book were samples submitted for consideration as Cracker Jack prizes or to show as examples of the type of prizes that the company could create, but they were not used as Cracker Jack prizes. The keys were, however, distributed as cereal prizes in Australia in boxes of Kellogg's Rice Bubbles and in Sugar Pon in Japan. There is a slight variation in design between the Australian keys set and those intended for the U.S. market

There are 16 different mobiles in the Autralian set, called Dingle Dangles there; the U.S. Daffy Danglers series added a 17th, the Sugar Smacks Dig 'Em frog.

As with other R & L series, including the Space Nits and the Kiddy Keys, these were reproduced in Mexico using different colors. When R & L went out of business, the molds were sold to the Mexican company. "R & L" and/or "Australia" references should be missing from the Mexican versions.

So, you will need to inspect your ship closely to see if it is an Australian original or a Mexican reproduction. Regardless, its roots connect it to Cracker Jack through R & L. It's a keeper!
Last edited by jdnola on Mon Jul 18, 2011 8:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.
spudgy
Posts: 98
Joined: Tue Mar 02, 2010 3:21 pm
Location: Birmingham, Alabama

Re: Just a few more unknowns

Post by spudgy »

Thanks, JDNOLA,

Very interesting! I had never noticed the Kiddy Keys in Cracker Jack Collectibles before. Your post prompted me to do a little research on R&L company and I landed on http://astronit.tripod.com/RLco.html which led me to other related data. Wow! It made me go dig into my "other" box to pull out the only two Toolie Birds I own, an orange Auk Axe (the Australian Cuthbert Chopper) and a pink Butcher Bird Knife (The Australian Pete Penknife). More research is needed to determine whether mine are from Autralia or Mexico. Anyway, those are really neat prizes. Then there are those fabulous Astro Nits. Hmmm, Wonder if I room for one more collectible.

I examined the Gay Galleon more closely and discovered that is marked Australia (see below). As you can see, it is not mint.
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Jeffrey Maxwell
Posts: 162
Joined: Thu Mar 10, 2011 11:48 pm
Location: Wellington KS

Re: Just a few more unknowns

Post by Jeffrey Maxwell »

1. Not CJ. Looks like it could be part of a building set. It's not LEGO, but something similar to that.
2. Not CJ. This ring is a bulk prize that has been used in various ways, such as bulk vending machines and school carnival consolation prize. It is late-1980s to 1990s and was available from novelty vendors like Archie McFee.
3. Not CJ. It is a gum machine prize, most likely made by Eppy. This ring looks like "vacuum plated," a plastic base covered in metal by a process widely used by the Eppy Company in New York. Late 1950s, early 1960s?
4. Not CJ. Do these have holes in the bottom or the back? These look like magnet dolls. The type you push one near the other and the other runs away. If they don't have holes, then the magnets could have been attached to the bottom of the bases.
5. Not CJ. Looks like a carnival prize.
6. Not CJ. Cereal prize. JD discussed this well. I wouldn't worry too much as to whether it is Australia or Mexico, because either way, this is something that is not very common, so you are very lucky to have it. Also, I think it is an Australia version, so don't even worry about the condition too much. (Don't put too much faith in the "Made in Australia" though. The exact same molds were used in Mexico, and there is no reason to believe that they would care whether or not it had "Australia" on it.) Sounds to me like you have already started your R&L collection by accident. (How do you think I ended up with over 100 different collections throughout my life?)
7. Not CJ. Hard rubber chicken is one of the smaller pieces (along with the duck) from a farm playset made by Auburn Rubber and featured in the 1947 Sears Christmas Catalog. Auburn was a former tire maker (for Auburn and Cord automobiles) which began making toy soldiers in 1935 to survive the Great Depression; the largest producer of rubber toys in the US. NOTE: Storage for rubber items like this must by cool and dry at all times.
8. Not CJ.
9. Not CJ.
10. This is Cracker Jack.
spudgy
Posts: 98
Joined: Tue Mar 02, 2010 3:21 pm
Location: Birmingham, Alabama

Re: Just a few more unknowns

Post by spudgy »

Thanks, Jeffrey. Very interesting info!

# 4 doesn't have any holes in the bottom or back. They're just hollow celluloid-like figures. Fairly lightweight.

It's amazing that the hard rubber chicken has survived since 1947! I would love to know the history of these toys, such as who owned them, where they have been, etc. I think that is called provenance. As a matter of fact, I think I may have other hard rubber animals that are very similar to this one. Maybe it's time for their reunion.

By the way, I am having a ball organizing my collection in my new Riker mounts. Love them!

Thanks again.
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