License plates

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

How many of you remember miniature license plates that came in a cereal box (I don't recall  the brand) back in the early '50s? 

 

I had to go down to Mesa and Phoenix today.....an area that I thoroughly detest.....and saw a full set (48 states, Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and.......?)   All were dated 1952, 1953.  They were in 100% perfect shape, mounted and framed in three frames in a restaurant somewhere in Mesa.  I don't recall the name of the place and couldn't find it again if I had a gun to my head.. A blast from my past, something I hadn't thought of over 60 years.

 

What else came out of cereal boxes, laundry detergent, flour and sugar, and other products?

[PaleWolf Brunelle, #2495L]

Too early for me to remember, but found this write-up on them:

In 1953 and 1954 Wheaties cereal boxes contained little license plates for each state, the Canadian provinces and some US Holdings - one per box. You could also order sets of the plates directly from General Mills. These plates are frequently found on web auctions, at flea markets, etc. They are all dated 1953 or 1954. In the late 70's, early 80's there was another set of state plates issued through cereal boxes. These are more rectancular than the 53-54 series. In addition, almost all cities of any size issued registration plates for bicycles. This started almost as soon as bicycles hit the streets and continues to this day. They originally were metal of varying shapes and sizes and eventually evolved to a "sticker". During the war years (wwII) some were made of a fiberboard material. A fellow in Montana has published a book on bicycle license plates.
SOURCE

[Imis Twohofon,SASS # 46646]

I had several plastic 1957 Ford cars from cereal boxes. 2 door, 4 door, convertibles, even police cars, I think a station wagon, several colors. Dont remember which cereal

 

Imis    Didnt have any interest in the plates although I remember them

[Father Kit Cool Gun Garth]

Bugs? 

 

[Pat Riot]

I have seen those plates, Forty. Not sure where but I remember a guy that told me how he hot like 40 of the state plates by eating cereal and he and his friends had to trade around to build there collections. 

 

I remember in the late 60’s my brother was  collecting these wooden figurines from cereal boxes that each figurine represented a different country. He had collected something like 15 or so. I remember the first one he got was representing Mexico. It had a little serape and a sombrero. He had one for Germany in lederhosen.

He also had quite a collection of baseball cards. He had 2 Roberto Clemente rookie cars, Willy Stargell’s rookie card and quite a few others that would be worth thousands today. 

His 45 record collection was pretty impressive as well.

 

That kid was quite a “Collector”. 

I always wondered what he’d be like when he grew up.

 

[Lorelei Longshot, SASS #44256 Life]

Glasses were in some box, but I don't remember what it was.  Mom got a full set of eight.

[Father Kit Cool Gun Garth]

 @Forty Rod SASS 3935,

               I did find this:

              

 

              

[Pat Riot]

33 minutes ago, Lorelei Longshot, SASS #44256 Life said:

Glasses were in some box, but I don't remember what it was.  Mom got a full set of eight.

I remember those. I believe they were in laundry detergent. We had a bunch of them. I remember my Mom had a set of probably 10 drinking glasses and they had switched to putting tumbler sized glasses in the boxes. She had probably 5 or 6 of those when they company switched to some other thing and she was disappointed enough to say something to the store manager about it.

The glasses were “good enough for company to use” as my Mom would say.

 

I was doing some searching and found glasses that Kellogg’s put in there cereal boxes in the 70’s. I remember we had a few of those and my one brother and sisters would bicker over their favorite glasses. 

Found them on eBay:  https://duckduckgo.com/?q=kellogg’s glasses&ia=web

[Father Kit Cool Gun Garth]

49 minutes ago, Lorelei Longshot, SASS #44256 Life said:

Glasses were in some box, but I don't remember what it was.  Mom got a full set of eight.

 

 @Lorelei Longshot, SASS #44256 Life,

               Could these be the ones you were talking about?

 

IMAGINE WANDERING INTO THE KITCHEN for breakfast,

opening a package of Quaker Oats, and finding a glass teacup inside.

That’s what happened during the 1920's and 1930's,

when ubiquitous household goods,

such as bags of flour and canisters of tea, included unusual trinkets.

 

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/depression-era-glassware-colorful

[Lorelei Longshot, SASS #44256 Life]

Being old, decrepit, and slightly senile, I don't remember exactly what they looked like, but they were just regular glasses, from the 50s, not colored glass. 

[Pat Riot]

26 minutes ago, Lorelei Longshot, SASS #44256 Life said:

Being old, decrepit, and slightly senile, I don't remember exactly what they looked like, but they were just regular glasses, from the 50s, not colored glass. 

That’s what the glasses my Mom collected were. Just plain clear drinking glasses. They may have had a little accent near the bottom. 

[Utah Bob #35998]

You used to get tumblers for filling your tank at the Shell station and others. That wasn’t too long ago either. Back in the 80s.

Cracker Jack prizes used to be cool. Compasses, rings, whistles, etc.

I sent a lot of box tops away for various prizes back in the day. 

And my mom had drawers full of Green Stamp books.

[Pat Riot]

4 minutes ago, Utah Bob #35998 said:

I sent a lot of box tops away for various prizes back in the day. 

That’s it. Now I remember. Thanks Bob. 

 

My brother’s figurine collection started with the little Mexican man figurine inside the cereal box and the following “collectibles” could be had by sending in box tops. You could send 1 box top with money or a number of them with shipping and handling fees to get the figurines.

”Allow 4-6 weeks for delivery”.

[Stogie]

Long before I could drive Virginia would send out a key chain size plate when they sent you the yearly plates. Of course they matched. I still have a few my parents gave me to play with.

[Turkey Flats Jack]

In the 80's Honey Combs came with bicycle license plates as well. I dont think there was a full set of  states but they had personalized messages on them like "2 Fast" etc. Anyone remember the little stone/marble animal figurines that came in boxes of lipton tea? My step mother had something like 20-30 of them. 

[Cliff Hanger #3720LR]

Somewhere in my stored boxes, I have a full set of those.

Got them in the mid 50's.

 

[Utah Bob #35998]

2 hours ago, Stogie said:

Long before I could drive Virginia would send out a key chain size plate when they sent you the yearly plates. Of course they matched. I still have a few my parents gave me to play with.

I think California did that too.

Makes it a lot easier to steal your car when you lose your keys.

“Oh yeah. There it is. WTF972. Let’s take it for a spin, Stinky” 

[Abilene Slim SASS 81783]

I'm too young to remember the original license plates. But I do remember toy submarines in cans of baking powder. Put a dab of powder in the conning tower and it would rise and submerge for a couple of cycles.

 

There was all manner of stuff from cereal boxes and more if you sent in the box tops. And then there were glasses a dish towels inside laundry detergent boxes. 

[Charlie Harley, #14153]

5 hours ago, Lorelei Longshot, SASS #44256 Life said:

Glasses were in some box, but I don't remember what it was.  Mom got a full set of eight.

Those were in boxes of detergent. I forget what brand. They also had towels in some boxes. My grandma and mom used to collect them. Good memories!

[Sixgun Sheridan]

9 minutes ago, Abilene Slim SASS 81783 said:

I'm too young to remember the original license plates. But I do remember toy submarines in cans of baking powder. Put a dab of powder in the conning tower and it would rise and submerge for a couple of cycles.

 

I remember those, they came in cereal boxes as well. I also remember being so disappointed when they refused to work like they did in the picture on the back of the box.

[40Chev]

Never saw the submarine but I got a plastic frog man that would go up and down when you put the stuff in a compartment below his flippers.

I wish I could be so easily amused today.

[Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967]

Were those liscense plates stamped out by prisoners?  

[Badger Mountain Charlie SASS #43172]

HUH! All I ever got was my SECRET DECODER RING,  WITH A SECRET COMPARTMENT FOR SECRET MESSAGES. 

But then, I never had any secret messages of importance, so it was all a big bust for General Foods and the Lone Ranger. 

[Abilene Slim SASS 81783]

18 minutes ago, Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 said:

Were those liscense plates stamped out by prisoners?  

Yes, but they were leprechauns.

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

10 hours ago, Imis Twohofon,SASS # 46646 said:

I had several plastic 1957 Ford cars from cereal boxes. 2 door, 4 door, convertibles, even police cars, I think a station wagon, several colors. Dont remember which cereal

 

Imis    Didnt have any interest in the plates although I remember them

Almost all Post cereals had cars.  Pretty close to the right size for Lionel and Marx train sets. The few that survived (they were quite brittle aand fragile) undamaged are very valuable to collectors now., like $30-$40 valuable.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

7 hours ago, Lorelei Longshot, SASS #44256 Life said:

Glasses were in some box, but I don't remember what it was.  Mom got a full set of eight.

We gave away anodized aluminum tumblers, mugs, sandwich plates and such at the Union 76 station when I first started working there.

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

6 hours ago, Utah Bob #35998 said:

You used to get tumblers for filling your tank at the Shell station and others. That wasn’t too long ago either. Back in the 80s.

Cracker Jack prizes used to be cool. Compasses, rings, whistles, etc.

I sent a lot of box tops away for various prizes back in the day. 

And my mom had drawers full of Green Stamp books.

I got a real almost full -sized Wyatt Earp Buntline Special for  box top and  something ridiculous like 45 cents.  I also got a roughly HO scale 20 mule team set with 20mules, three wagons and a couple of people figures for around a dollar.   Saw one a few years back in the original unopened box.  They were asking $75.00 for it.  My nostalgia didn't want to spend that much. 

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

1 hour ago, 40Chev said:

Never saw the submarine but I got a plastic frog man that would go up and down when you put the stuff in a compartment below his flippers.

I wish I could be so easily amused today.

I remember those, too.

[Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967]

I sent away a couple o' box tops and some change for a different "frogman":  This one came (in about five weeks, if memory serves) with a rubber bulb and an air tube.  You'd drop 'im into the bathtub or wading pool, squeeze the bulb and, and one leg would kick, enabling him to "swim" underwater.  Give the bulb a single hard squeeze and he'd shoot his li'l spear gun.

 

The best part was that I managed to convince all my buddies that it was a reeeeally neat-o toy and that I was SO darned pleased with it.  

 

Piece o' junk.  

[Abilene Slim SASS 81783]

On second thought, never mind...

[MizPete]

8 hours ago, Lorelei Longshot, SASS #44256 Life said:

Glasses were in some box, but I don't remember what it was.

Oatmeal.

And South Carolina (early 50's) used to give you a miniature of your tag to put on your keychain.

 

[Tex Wilson]

36 minutes ago, MizPete said:

And South Carolina (early 50's) used to give you a miniature of your tag to put on your keychain.

They did the same thing in Iowa. The miniature tags were not metal, cardboard with a metal frame around it and they matched the plates you got with the car you owned. I also remember the little submarines, frogmen, and little plastic Ford T-birds that came in cereal boxes. All of these things have become collector items.

[Dr. O. R. Vet]

Does anyone remember the stemmed goblets you got with peanut butter inside?  After you used up the peanut butter and washed the goblet, you had a fancy "cut glass" goblet to set out on the dinner table.  I think we had enough for at least  a 12 place setting.  Sort of think they were from Jiffy but I could be wrong.....after all it WAS a long time ago.

 

Dr. O. R.

[Capt. James H. Callahan]

Guess that was before my time. I came into the 50's by three months or so. I do remember a pile of them at tourist traps (Stuckey's and the like) and truck stop gift shops.

JHC