Questions and Answers

QUESTION: Where can I find information about 1944 Syroco figures, the ones that were cereal premiums and available for twenty-five cents and a box lid. – E-mail Question, HN, Lincoln, CA

ANSWER: Ted Hake’s The Official Hake’s Price Guide to Character Toys, 4th Edition (Gemstone Publishing/House of Collectibles, 2002; 1023 pages, $35.00, includes the following information about Syroco figures: “Adolph Holstein, a skilled European immigrant woodcarver, founded the Syracuse Ornamental Company in 1890, specializing in making hand-carved decorative components for the furniture industry.  Demand for the company’s intricate products soon exceeded production capacity, so Holstein developed a process to mass-produce replicas of the carvings by compressing a mixture of wood, flour, waxes, and resins into molds.  In the 1930s and 1940s the company changed its name to Syroco Inc. and manufactured a line of novelty items—cigarette boxes, pipe racks, plates, serving trays, and figurines of popular entertainers, comic strip characters and public personalities, for sale in roadside souvenir shops.  Syroco Inc. continues in business to this day, but production of the figures was discontinued by about 1950.

Syroco products of greatest interest to premium collectors are the 1941 Great American Series of historic personalities (about 6” tall) and the 1944 series of King Features Syndicate comic strip characters (about 4-5” tall).  There are 24 know characters.  Pillsbury Mills, Inc., offered the following 12 as premiums in 1944 each for 25¢ and a Pillsbury Enriched Farina box top: Alexander, Annie Rooney, Archie, Barney Google, Blondie, Cookie, Dagwood, Jiggs, Little King, Popeye, Tim Tyler, Wimpy.”

Archie appeared in an Army uniform, Barney Google in a Navy uniform, and Tim Tyler in a Navy uniform.  The other twelve figures from the 1944 series were: Casper, Flash Gordon, Fritz, Hans, Maggie, Olive Oyl, Phantom, Prince Valiant, Rosie, Tillie in a WAC uniform, Toots, and Wimpy.  The Phantom figure came in two costume variations—brown and purple

Hake continues: “Similar wood composition figures are pictured in sections on Captain Marvel, Pinocchio and Superman.  While these are also generically known as ‘syroco’ figures, the 1945 Captain Marvel figure and the Pinocchio character figures are attributed to Multi Products, Chicago.  This inscription appears on the Pinocchio figures.”

Bob Versandi’s article “Syrocco, Wood-like Figures Recall Past Comic Characters, Superheroes” that appeared in the January 28, 2000, issue of Toy Shop attributes the 24 King Features Syndicate figures to Multi Products.  Neither Hake nor Versandi provide detailed documentation for their attribution.  Versandi’s article does include an illustration of the Pillsbury Farina coupon to order the twelve figures.

Values for these figures range from $40.00 for a Cookie figure in fine condition to $800.00 for a Phantom figure with a brown costume in fine condition.  Condition is critical.  The value of a figure in near mint condition is double that of a figure in fine condition.

The King Features Syndicate syroco figures appear regularly for sale on eBay.  In addition, examples abound at any large toy show.  As with any comic character item, be alert to a decline in value as the generation who read these comics as youngsters fades from the scene.

QUESTION: During the Second World War, the Towne Movies, located on Sixth Street in Allentown, Pennsylvania, would give china as a premium to people who came to the movies.  My mother gave me the complete set.  It is beige with an unusual shape, has a maroon border, and features Mexican urns in various shapes and different colors in the center.  The back of the plate has “United States” imprinted on it.  I saw one small saucer priced at $5.95 at a flea market.  What information can you provide about my dinnerware?  --  E-mail, DF

ANSWER: This answer would be more precise had you attached a “jpg” photograph of the pattern and plate shape to your e-mail.  Based on your description, I believe you have a set of Homer Laughlin’s Mexicana pattern dinnerware.  However, other possibilities include Paden City’s Patio pattern, Royal China’s Mexicali Red pattern, and WS George’s Mexicana pattern.

Bob Page, Dale Frederiksen, and Dean Six’s Homer Laughlin: Decades of Dinnerware (Page/Frederiksen Publications, 2003; 559 pages, $39.95) contains several pages of information about Homer Laughlin’s Mexicana pattern.  A 1938 Larkin catalog describes the pattern as: “A touch of Old Mexico!  The quaintness and gaiety that give ware from south of the Rio Grande its charm is caught in this new pattern.  The decoration, with a Mexican pottery motif, permits full display of the warm colors, and is effectively framed by a red line.  Even the shape is distinctive!  Made of the finest semi-porcelain, with an ivory body, it has a ‘Velvet’ glaze.”

Page, Frederiksen, and Six have identified two body shapes—Century and Eggshell Swing—with the Mexicana pattern with a red border.  Their book also includes a picture of Homer Laughlin’s Maxicana pattern which features a Mexican pottery motif along with a cactus plant beside which is a sleeping Mexican.

Bob Page is the founder of Replacements, Ltd., in Greensboro, North Carolina.  The values in the Page, Frederiksen, and Six book reflect what Replacement charges for examples in inventory.  Prices on Internet sites, such as eBay, are considerably lower.

You also did not indicate in your e-mail the size of your dinnerware service and number of accessory pieces, both key pieces of information required for me to value it.  At the moment, the general market for Homer Laughlin 1930s/1940s dinnerware is flat.  The 1990s collecting craze for Mexican-theme material also has cooled.  My recommendation is to think conservatively in respect to the value of your dinnerware service, i.e., somewhere in the $100.00 to $125.00 range.  This assumes you have at a minimum a basic service for six with six or more accessory pieces and all pieces are in very good or better condition.

QUESTION: I am a history major at Haverford College in Haverford, Pennsylvania.  I currently am doing a historical research project on a Weather-Bird Shoes cardboard “True Shot” Automatic snap gun premium.  I have dated the object to 1930-1935.  It was distributed through E. E. McMeen Department Store in Lewistown, Pennsylvania.  I spoke with a woman who saw similar objects as a child, and she said they were used as toys by children.  Aside from just looking like a gun, there was a paper inside that made a snapping noise when the gun was swooped downwards.  I would appreciate any additional information you can provide.  --  E-mail Question, HS, Haverford, PA

ANSWER: You will find two additional examples of snap or pop out guns illustrated in Ted Hake’s Hake’s Guide to Cowboy Character Collectibles: An Illustrated Price Guide Covering 50 Years of Movie & TV Cowboy Heroes (Wallace-Homestead, 1994, out-of-print).  The first is a premium for “The Red Rider,” a 1934 movie serial staring Buck Jones.  It measures 6in by 4 1/2in.  The second is a Hopalong Cassidy (William Boyd premium) from Capitol Records dating from the early 1950s.  It measures 9 1/2in long.

Cardboard snap or pop out guns were popular advertising premiums from the 1930s through the late 1950s.  I have encountered dozens of different examples in my travels.

The value of a basic advertising snap or pop out gun such as the one you have is between $10.00 and $15.00.  Examples with strong crossover collector interest, such as the two cowboy guns, sell for higher values.

QUESTION: I inherited a Gulbransen limited edition player organ, serial number S/N 120778.  My father was the original owner.  He purchased it new in 1979.  I have the original paper work, even the little tags that came on it.  It has a similar type roll mechanism to that of a player piano.  I have inquired at several local music stores.  All I get is “never heard of such a thing.”  Does this organ have any value?  I appreciate any help you can provide.  --  E-mail Question, JG

ANSWER: The website http://www.pianoworld.com/gulbransen.htm contains a detailed history of Gulbransen along with a date code for the serial numbers of its organs.  Axel Gulbransen founded the company in 1904.  Located in Chicago, it became the largest manufacturer of player pianos in 1917.  Gulbransen introduced its first reed pump organ in 1928 and first transistor organ in 1958.  Columbia Broadcasting purchased Gulbransen in 1973 and sold it in 1986 to a California music company.  After this sale, the company specialized in producing electronic parts for musical instruments.

So far so good!  Alas, now the picture becomes cloudy.  The serial number you provided is for a 1918 Gulbransen player piano.  Obviously, there is a problem.

I spoke with Joe Parra of the All American Organ Company in San Diego in hopes of obtaining specific information about the organ you own.  Joe asked, “Did the writer provide a model number?”  Alas, you did not.

Joe referred me to Gulbransen Organ Service in Hoopeston, Illinois where I spoke with Dave Coffman.  I asked him about player piano-type organs.  He indicated that Gulbransen did not make such an instrument.  He suggested that someone added a mechanism to play paper rolls to a Gulbransen organ, perhaps its Theatrum model.  This may explain the serial number problem.  The serial number refers to the player mechanism and not the organ.

There is one thing Joe, Dave, and I agreed upon.  Your organ has little to no secondary market value.  Assuming you do not want it, your first goal is not to have to pay someone to haul it away.  If you do offer it for sale and find someone willing to pay, the key sales approach is “any money is better than no money.”  Try for $100.00 and settle for any number below it.  If all else fails, will it to one of your children.

Harry L. Rinker welcomes questions from readers about collectibles, those mass-produced items from the twentieth century.  Selected letters will be answered in this column.  Harry cannot provide personal answers.  Photos and other material submitted cannot be returned.  Send your questions to: Rinker on Collectibles, 5093 Vera Cruz Road, Emmaus, PA 18049.  You also can e-mail your questions to rinkeron@fast.net.  Only e-mails containing a full name and mailing address will be considered.

Watch Harry as the COLLECTOR INSPECTOR on Friday evenings at 8:00 PM and 12:00 PM ET on Home & Garden Television (HGTV).  Check your local TV schedule for the exact time in other time zones.
 

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