Flower People

Today we travel back to a simpler era, where every mom and pop candy shop in the country must have been in dire need of a dinnerware set. Diving right in, this was a 24 pack of Bazooka nickel rolls:

Get a better look:

What's awesome is that the smaller pieces from the set were actually packed in the box! The china set was widely distributed, both by Topps and in the real world.  It looked a lot better than the drab colors above show:

You can still readily buy the pattern today on replacement china sites and eBay.  Salem was located in Ohio and stopped manufacturing china in 1960 after a sixty two year run but distributes wares from other manufacturers to this day and was known for large, inexpensive production runs.

The 240 count jumble pack would likely have held two 120 count penny boxes.

Here's a certificate.  While this box is described as being from 1953 in the eBay listing, I believe it dates back to 1951 or so.  As the certificate below expired in 1956, it's obvious Topps had a literal boatload of this china to unload:

Given the address, I surmise the china was all stored at the Topps warehouse in Bush Terminal, Brooklyn. Here's the full Monty:



Some more detail from the Bazooka box, don't forget Topps scored their Bazooka rolls to make it look like you got 6 pieces for a nickel::

The penny packs also were scored, two for one, split down the middle!

Topps introduced the penny sized Bazooka in 1949, which is why I think this box is earlier than 1953.  It also features the original Bazooka Joe mascot, also from a bit earlier I think:

Salem sold 36 piece sets for two and a half bucks in the 1930's but Topps must have cut a hell of a deal on some overstock as they somehow had to break even at the end of the day.  I have to believe they paid just scant pennies on the dollar for whatever amount of china they ultimately bought.

For some reason, I am now hungry!