We're a big fan of antique and vintage charms that represent everyday objects. Some of our favorites tend to be charms that were actually advertising giveaways back in the day. The Swift Premium Ham charm (below) was handed out during the 1930 World's Fair. Another fantastic fair handouts was a
1904 St. Louis World's Fair Heinz pickle charm.
We're not entirely sure what the origins of the Kessler's Whiskey charm (above) are, but based on the early Celluloid used in the construction we would hazard a guess of the early 1930's for production. We found both charms by searching on Etsy and Ebay with keywords like "ad specialty charm".
A recent favorite find was a
1950's fireman's hat charm that we purchased at the Milwaukee Bead and Button show from a Texas seller. The paint is still a bright, cherry red with just a bit of chipping.
If you love these types of miniatures as much as we do another great keyword to use in your internet hunt is "salesman sample". Salesmen used to bring tiny, perfectly constructed versions of their products to potential merchants. While these aren't technically charms, they are wee enough that that they still make us swoon.
You can find sweet reproductions like this felt hat (below) at
Etsy seller Hart's Closet's shop. Or something more macabre, like the
tiny coffins used by traveling mortician salesmen.
Happy Hunting!
No comments:
Post a Comment