More Stuff From The Box

It's time for yet another selection of junk - er, I mean, treasure - from a cigar box where I have squirreled away various flotsam. As I have mentioned before, most (but not all) of the items in this box are relics from various World's Fairs.

Oh boy, "Guest of Honor"! I wonder what important person wore this magnificent ribbon? It was "Florida Week", we can view a souvenir program online. Maybe this belonged to Dr. John J. Tigert, President of the University of Florida. I'm creating a "certificate of authenticity" on my computer at this very moment.

From "Guest of Honor" to "Junior Good Will Ambassador" - we're movin' on up to the East Side, with a deluxe brass badge that we can flash at cops and maître d's for preferential treatment everywhere. Novelty badges were a big deal in the 1930's, and rare specimens (some Mickey Mouse examples) can go for huge bucks.

Bakelite (full name: polyoxybenzylmethylenglycolanhydride) is the first widely-used synthetic plastic, famous for its many uses: old telephones, kitchenware, toys, jewelry, radios, and so much more. Its non-conductive properties made it useful as insulators for electronics like, I don't know, early iPhones or something. The bakelite exhibit at the Fair had a machine that molded colorful pins for you while you watched. You'll see some of those in the future! For now, enjoy this foil sticker.

Here's a World's Fair item, but not from New York . It's a pin from Expo 58 in Brussels - the first post WWII World's Fair, famous for the Atomium. This star (designed by Lucien De Roeck) was the official logo, and is seen on a plethora of souvenir items. Attached to the pin we have some plastic binoculars - a stanhope (an optical device that enables the viewing of microphotographs without using a microscope.) There's a tiny glass lens that you can look through and see a photograph of any old thing. Unfortunately the photo in this example is so faint that it is impossible to discern what it pictured.

This little plastic stickpin is an ad for The Equitable Life insurance company. If you don't mind, I'd like to talk to you about life insurance for an hour or two. I bought this years ago, having been told that it is from the 1939 World's Fair, but I'm not so sure now. The sculptural part of the pin is only about 1 inch tall, and my guess is that it shows a mother embracing her child, while an angel hovers protectively over them. Or maybe she's a vampire?

The Wonder Bakery had its very own pavilion at the 1939 Fair. The ultra-soft white bread was the "food of the future", and I know its the favorite bread of everyone who reads GDB. The spongey texture, the way it sticks to the roof of your mouth... what's not to like? The building resembled the famous Wonder Bread wrapper, with cheerful polkadots of red, yellow and blue - I've always loved the look of it. Here's another souvenir sticker to put in your scrapbook.

How about one more brass badge from the 1930s? You too could be a "secret operator" in Melvin Purvis' fight against crime in America. Purvis became noted for leading the manhunts that captured or killed bank robbers such as Baby Face Nelson, John Dillinger, and Pretty Boy Floyd. In 1936, Melvin hosted a children's radio program called "Junior G-Men", sponsored by Post Toasties. There are a series of badges of increasing rank (and rarity) that are sought after by weirdos like me today. I have a few more, somewhere or other.

J. Edgar Hoover was supposedly very jealous of Purvis' public-hero status and glowing press coverage.

Never fear, there's more stuff in the box!

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Just a note to let you know that, starting today, I will be away from home for just over a week. It's possible that I may not be able to respond to comments as easily as I normally can, though I will do my best.