STWALLSKULL

Amusements, diversions, whirligigs, geegaws, humbugs and comics, comics, comics.

I posted pictures I found on Ebay of George Herriman cigarette buttons up for auction a while ago. A couple more are up for auction. One is the same as one I posted previously, but this one is new:

Jon Sloan on June 11, 2008 at 6:05 pm said:

So how much did this button end up being sold for? This is fascinating stuff! I’m sure it would be sold for a higher amount if it had Krazy Kat or Ignatz Mouse on it.
STWALLSKULL on June 12, 2008 at 5:13 am said:

The one pictured went for $16.61:

http://cgi.ebay.com/TOKIO-CIGARETTES-Herriman-AINT-NO-USE-PINBACK-Premiums_W0QQitemZ320258965394QQcmdZViewItemQQssPageNameZRSS:B:SRCH:US:101

A lot of cartoonists made cigarette buttons aka pinbacks, along with a wide variety of other ephemera. Here is a site full of comic pinbacks:

http://www.marklansdown.com/pinbacks/

Thanks much for commenting, Jon!
STWALLSKULL on June 12, 2008 at 5:16 am said:

Here’s an interesting summary of some of the brands that employed the pinback premiums.

http://www.enolagaia.com/ImTheGuy.html#Intro

The site focuses on “I’m the guy…” buttons, a gag they initially attribute to Rube Goldberg.

Obviously, the cigarette companies have been aware that children were their best new consumers for a long, long time.