This fresh to market vintage post is for everyone who likes getting something extra. It features three things that were given away with product purchases. Premiums were a big deal in the mid century years. Sometimes the gift was actually in the package, other times you needed to collect labels and send them in to get your prize. Two that immediately pop to mind are the Homer Laughlin Golden Wheat dishes that came in boxes of Duz laundry detergent and the Ovaltine sponsored Orphan Annie decoder.

For marketers, the best sales-inducing premiums have to be the ones that the buyer gets immediately. Cracker Jack has always known that — “candy coated popcorn, peanuts and a prize, that’s what you get in Cracker Jack” as the advertising jingle went. With the upcoming Olympics, there are bound to be pins in boxes of cereal. The most common give away we can think of in this era is getting a pint beer glass with a six pack of beer. (If you can think of others, leave it in the comments.)

And then there are the premiums that aren’t actually premiums. You buy Cool Whip, you get one of the world’s most frequently used plastic leftovers storage containers. You buy fancy french yogurt at the grocery store, you get a little glass pot. Who doesn’t like a bonus, after all?

On to this week’s fresh to market vintage…

Sterling Spoon Brooch

There are two competing stories behind these tiny spoon brooches. One is they were sorority pins, the other is they were giveaways when a bride received her silver pattern flatware set. The tiny spoon is known as a salt spoon used alongside a crystal salt dish. Either way, they are a fun bit of history as they hail from the 1940s. This one is in the Damask Rose pattern by Oneida. What a fun gift this would be for someone who owns that pattern.

Sterling Silver Tiny Spoon Brooch, $35.95

-Pam, Vintage Renude

Antique Painted Plate, Devil’s Tower WY

Angelo Foster painted this scene of Devil’s Tower, located in Crook County, around the time of Wyoming Territory becoming a state. He most likely bought porcelain blank dishes to paint in oils and then fired them. Painting on porcelain was quite fashionable. I would love to know more about the painter and his created other pieces of what are called “view china.” I cannot find any other pieces online of his work.

Wyoming View China Painted by Angelo Foster, $96.99

-Mary Ellen, Aunt Hatties Attic

Vintage Flannel Cigar Tobacco Premium

Tobacco flannels that were a promotional item distributed in the early 1900s were popular in quilting circles then and remain popular now for collectors of tobacciana. Here’s an interesting write-up on tobacco-related fabrics that were used in quilting in the 1900s.

48 Star American Flag Cigar Premium, $15

-Linda, Selective Salvage

Elsie and Elmer Cream and Sugar Set

Advertising spokescows for the Borden company starting in the 1930s, Elsie the cow represented the dairy products and Elmer the bull represented the hardware products. Does Elmer’s Glue ring a bell? Live Elsies and Elmers toured the country and made appearances at the World’s Fair. This cream and sugar set is a promotional product, but I don’t know whether it was sold at appearances or obtained though mailing in bottle caps. My guess is bottle caps though.

Borden’s Elsie and Elmer Cream and Sugar Set, $68.

–Laurie, NextStage Vintage

That wraps up this week’s fresh to market vintage. We do our best to provide premium content to our readers every week, sometimes it’s about marketing premiums, sometimes it’s about who knows what might scratch our vintage curiosity. You’ll never miss a post if you subscribe to our email newsletter. It comes to your inbox once a week with links to all our post from the previous week. And you’ll never get spammed by us!