By Brett Weiss While ripping a wrapper off a piece of candy is the norm now, there was a time when candy came in its own novelty packaging such as a papier-mâché pumpkin, a glass bear, or a plastic robot. Today candy containers bring delight to all manner of collectors as the subject form of the container often carries it over into many different collecting categories. Years before glass and then plastic became the norm, papier-mâché was the preferred material for candy containers. During the 19th century, chocolates were sold in black cats for Halloween, turkeys for Thanksgiving, and Santa Clauses for Christmas. Papier-mâché Santas often had furry beards and felt stocking caps. Other popular shapes included dogs, cats, angels, bells, baskets, boxes, fruits, and musical instruments, among others. Store owners would often hang these colorful containers in shop windows to attract customers, many of whom would save the packages once the candy was gone to use as a form of cheap children’s toy or Christmas ornament. Late in the century, papier-mâché gave way to glass. During the late 1940s, plastic pieces began showing up on glass candy containers. By the 1960s, glass candy containers were still being produced in limited quantities aimed at adults, but the industry was taken over by plastic, which was colorful and cheaper to produce. Licensed candy containers remain dominant today, including superheroes, Star Wars, and video game characters. Most authorities hail the Liberty Bell produced for the 1876 Centennial International Exhibition as the first official glass candy container released in America. This patriotic event, which was the first official World’s Fair in the United States, was held in Philadelphia from May 10 to Nov. 10 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Nearly 10 million visitors descended on the City of Brotherly Love for the celebration, but it is unknown how many Liberty Bell candy containers were sold. Interestingly, the bell was manufactured on-site by Croft, Wilbur and Company (later Wilbur Chocolate) in the exposition’s Machinery Hall, as indicated by the sticker on the bottom. It was made from blown glass and features a concave base with clapper molded into the glass. The bell, which can be found in clear or dark blue glass, reads “1776 CENTENNIAL EXPOSITION 1876” on the front and “PROCLAIM LIBERTY THROUGHOUT ALL THE LAND” on the back. It has a pewter screw-on closure on top and a simulated crack running up from the base. Jim Ingle, the President of the Candy Containers Club of America, has been actively collecting candy containers for more than two decades. “We started collecting glass candy containers over 20 years ago,” he said. “My wife’s folks moved to a smaller home and among the stuff that ended up at our house were two lantern candy containers.” That pair of seemingly innocent items lead to an obsession. “We started buying more containers at antique malls and auctions,” Ingle said. “We have them displayed in our home, and our friends are amazed by them.” Some of Ingle’s favorite containers in his collection include the trio of taxis from the West Limousine collection (circa 1912-1920). There’s a green, a yellow, and a black-and-white taxi, each with such details as a radiator cap, beveled doors and windows, and pierced tin wheels that are mounted on axles that pass through glass flanges. These are worth around $600 to $700 each in nice condition. Ingle is also a proud owner of a Kiddies Golf Bag container (only two are known to exist) and several pieces in the Flossie Fisher furniture line. Flossie Fisher was a comic strip character appearing in Flossie Fisher Funnies, which ran in the Ladies’ Home Journal from around 1910 to 1915. It was created by Helen Nyce and her sister Vera. The strip depicted kids and animals in silhouette form, with text giving a vague idea of what the characters were doing. Children were encouraged to enter a contest by creating a story of their own to go with the images. In 1916, the George Borgfelt. Co. created seven different yellow candy containers shaped like furniture and decorated with black Flossie Fisher Funnies silhouettes: a bed ($2,000), a chair ($300), a rocking chair, a china closet ($700), a dresser ($900), a sideboard ($450), and a table ($950). Each container is made of folded tin with a glass panel that lets you view the candy contained inside. There were glass candy containers produced for seemingly every possible subject, including animals, vehicles, luggage, lighting, musical instruments, telephones, windmills, and more. Vintage pieces range in price from about $20 to several thousand dollars. Ingle enjoys the social and even educational elements of the hobby more than the financial aspects. He and his wife joined the Candy Container Collectors of America years ago to “become better informed about the candies.” “We joined when a friend told us about the club,” he said. “There is a convention every June in Pennsylvania. We meet up with old friends, have a swap meet, share our finds and have a business meeting over three days. For us, the fun is the hunt and talking about candies.” Ingle warns collectors that reproductions are out there and that it is sometimes hard to tell them from the real thing. He recommends two reference books to help in identifying authentic pieces: the Collector’s Guide to Candy Containers Identification & Values by Douglas M. Dezso, J. Leon Poirier, and Rose D. Poirier and The Complete American Glass Candy Containers Handbook by George Eikelberner and Serge Agadjanian. Prices have softened for candy containers in recent years Ingle said. “Like other antiques and collectibles, the values have gone down because eBay has made it easier to find what collectors want,” he said. “Because there are more available, the sellers are lowering their asking prices to be competitive. Only the very rare and near mint items command higher prices.” An article in the latest issue of The Candy Gram, which is the official newsletter of the Candy Container Collectors of America, elaborates on the softening of prices. “Think back before the internet,” the article says. “Every weekend, thousands of collectors flocked to Brimfield, Kutztown, Adamstown or any other local antique market nationwide competing to add to their collection. You saw that $30 candy container you know is somewhat common, but you buy it anyway because you didn’t have it and you didn’t know how long it would take before you would see another one. Today, I can punch up eBay and see 744 glass candy containers for sale. And that $30 candy container you bought in the field 25 years ago is listed five times for a price of $10 to $20…you won’t even buy it today for $15 because it is always available.” Prices dropping on older items is generational as well. The Candy Gram cites a once-popular celebrity puppet as an example of this. “Children that grew up with Howdy Doody and became adults collected Howdy Doody memorabilia,” the newsletter says. “As this generation of Howdy Doody collectors matures and fades away, the demand for memorabilia goes down. Because the collectors that grew up with Howdy Doody are gone.” |