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 and came with silk strings attached. The operator removed the strings before placing them in his machines. 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]

In 1949 the Penny King Company (Pittsburgh) started making charms for the growing vending machine market. In the beginning they contracted for molds and jobbed out the molding and plating to outside firms. The firm opened a plant in Puerto Rico for the manufacture of charms n 1951 and became a national sales agent for Acorn Charm Vendor parts and assessories in 1953. By 1955 the firm was one of the major charm manufactures and became sales agent for the Penny-Nickel Atlas Master vendor machines.

Gumball Prizes with King Feature characters

In 1959[2] 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

In 1959 the Penny King Company adverticed[3] the King Comic Feature Rings, with the same pictures used for the charms.

King Comic Feature Buttons

The same pictures from the charms were also used on the ad for the pinback button series.

References

  1. "Need to Increase Mdse. Variety Made Charm Mfr. Bulk Op", Billboard 16 July 1955, p 78
  2. Comic Buttons to be made by Penny King, The Billboard, March 30 1959, p 69
  3. Billboard, 25 May 1959, p94