The Penny King Company

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Penny-King-Company.jpg
Letterhead
Penny-King-FC-01.jpg
Display Card
Favorite Comics
Country: Mini usa.gif USA / English


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:

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.

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.

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.

References

  1. "Need to Increase Mdse. Variety Made Charm Mfr. Bulk Op", Billboard 16 July 1955, p 78
  2. Penny King Offers Varied Charm Line, The Cash Box, June 3 1950, p 22
  3. Comic Buttons to be made by Penny King, The Billboard, March 30 1959, p 69
  4. Overstreet, Robert M, The Overstreet premium ring price guide, Nov 1994, p 164, 182