The Penny King Company
 Letterhead  Display Card Favorite Comics | |
| Country: |  USA / English
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History
Charms first appeared in vending machines about 1930 in US, these were mostly imported from Japan. The charms were generally sold in penny vending machines with a small candy. The novelty of the charms lasted for a couple of years, but died becauce of lack of variety[1]
The Penny King Company (Pittsburgh) started making charms in 1949 for the growing vending machine market. In the beginning they contracted for molds and jobbed out the molding and plating to outside firms. By 1951 the company had opened a new a plant in Puerto Rico for the manufacture of charms and made[2] various types: baseballs, baseball players, baseball glowes, boxing gloves, dogs, Dutch boy and girl, duck pins, basketballs, footballs, funny faces, horseshoes, rings, round charms, skulls and baseball pin buttons. Most of these charms were aviable in either copper, silver og gold plate on in plastic. By 1953 the company became national sales agent for Acorn Charm Vendor parts and assessories, and from 1955 sales agent for the Penny-Nickel Atlas Master vendor machines.
Gumball Prizes with King Feature characters
In 1959[3] KFS licensed the Penny King Company to manufacture and sell buttons, rings and lockets, using 39 different characters:
Mandrake
Lothar
The Phantom
Diana Palmer
Devil
Flash Gordon
Dale Arden
Prince Valiant
Annie Rooney
Zero
Jiggs
Maggie
Henry
Henrietta
Der Captain
Der Inspector
Mama
Hans
Fritz
Popeye
Olive Oyl
Wimpy
Swee'Pea
Barney Google
Snuffy Smith
Loweezy
Jughaid
Cricket
Riddles Barlow
Toozy
Sut Tattersail
Tillie Jones
Clarence "Mac" Macdougall
Aleta
Rosco Sweeny
Lucille Sweeney
The Little King
Little Iodine
Henry Tremblechin
Key Chain Lockets - Charms
The various figures are printed on paper and glued to a metallic looking (silver, gold or bronze) plastic casings. One also find chasings in yellow, blue, red, green or white colors. In addition another distinct series of the charms was double sided with a clear frame, with different figures on each side.
Atlas Master
display card
charm with capsule
gold/bronze
silver
yellow
blue
blue
red
green
white
transparent
Note
The strips (Flash Gordon, The Phantom and Popeye) at the display card are all from April the 4th of 1952. A bit strange since the charms were made late 50s.
King Comic Feature Rings
The rings are mentioned[4] in The Overstreet premium ring price guide as from the 1950s, without any references to the manufacturer. Two different ring bases are known, the second one usend for the Popeye and friends flicker rings.
ad - The Billboard
May 25, 1959
Mandrake
Dale Arden
Zero
Henrietta
Lothar
different base
Swee'Pea
different base
display card
Popeye flicker rings
King Comic Feature Buttons
Theese buttons, also known as the 'Circle C' buttons, are 7/8" lithos. 39 different buttons in this set are known.
ad - The Billboard
March 16, 1959
Mandrake
Lothar
The Phantom
Diana
Devil
Flash Gordon
Dale Arden
Prince Valiant
Annie Rooney
Zero
Jiggs
Maggie
Herietta
Der Captain
Der Inspector
Mama
Hans
Fritz
Popeye
Olive Oyl
Wimpy
Swee'Pea
Barney Google
Snuffy Smith
Loweezy ?
Jughaid
Cricket
Riddles Barlow
Toozy
Sut Tattersail
Tillie Jones
Clarence "Mac" Macdougall
Aleta (wife of Val)
Rosco Sweeny
Lucille Sweeny
Little Iodine
Henry Tremblechin
References
- ↑ "Need to Increase Mdse. Variety Made Charm Mfr. Bulk Op", Billboard 16 July 1955, p 78
- ↑ Penny King Offers Varied Charm Line, The Cash Box, June 3 1950, p 22
- ↑ Comic Buttons to be made by Penny King, The Billboard, March 30 1959, p 69
- ↑ Overstreet, Robert M, The Overstreet premium ring price guide, Nov 1994, p 164, 182