“UNIQUE ANTIQUITIES OF THE NATIONAL BISCUIT COMPANY” Winter Colophon 2014
What a perfect time to highlight some amazing National Biscuit Company history, Christmas. What would Christmas be, as collectors of Nabisco, without talking string boxes. You will read in this issue about the “Very First String Box” National Biscuit released in 1902. Barnum’s Animals were their first string, but since that first Christmas in 1902, a lot more string boxes have been released. Amazing that the first Barnum’s box is also “RARE” but NOT the most valuable STRING released by NBC. As our Christmas gift to each of you, we are going to list the “Top Thirteen Strings” released by NBC. These will be in order, from one to thirteen and their value. Some of these we will bet you have never seen or heard about. We will let you know how many of each variety we know exits. We are including pictures with each string box. All of the boxes listed we have in our collection.
“NBC’s Top Thirteen String Boxes”
#1. ULIKENBC Letter Pretzels, Uneeda Bakers.
Circa 1920’s. One known to exist. Value $500.00+
#2. Rocket Ship Chocolate Cookies, Nabisco.
Circa 1966. One known to exist. Value $350.00+
#3. Let’s Play House Cookies, Nabisco. Circa 1950’s. Two known to exist. Value $300.00+
- Zu Zu Ginger Snaps Nabisco, Inc. Circa 1984. One known to exist. Value $200.00+
#5. Flagship Cookies, National Biscuit Company. Circa 1940’s. Three Known to exist. Value $650.00+
#6. Noah’s Ark Cookies, Uneeda Bakers. Circa 1920’s. Four known to exist. $550.00
#7. Salt Fish Pretzels, Uneeda Bakers. Circa 1920’s.
Three known to exist. Value $500.00+
“WINTER INNER-SEAL COLOPHON 2014”
- Alphabet Cookies, Uneeda Bakers. Circa 1920’s. 8 different boxes out there. Value $250.00+ each. They show up but not often.
#9. Toonerville Folks, Uneeda Bakers. Two different boxes out there. Not easily found. Value $400.00
#10. Clowns Cookies, Uneeda Bakers. Circa 1930’s. Two different boxes out there. Endangered species. Value $300.00+ each
#11. Log Cabin Brownies, Uneeda Bakers. Circa 1920’s. Two different boxes out there. Value $150.00+ each. The bottoms of boxes are different.
#12. Bugs Bunny, Nabisco. Circa 1970’s. Worth your chase. Value $50.00+
#13. Cowboys and Indians, National Biscuit Company. Circa 1940’s. Two different boxes out there. Worth your chase. Value $45.00+
The boxes mentioned above are shown below:
IN THE SPRING COLOPHON,JUST HANGING AROUND
NOW, we would bet you can’t believe what you have just read. The prices we are showing are exact prices that these RARE and BEAUTIFUL strings have sold online or at auction for some years ago. Some of the above string boxes are sought after by other collectors. Noah’s Ark by collectors of Noah’s Ark. Toonerville Folks by collectors of Toonerville Trolley items, which has a collecting club. Some of the others listed would be sought after, but so few exist, not many collectors know about their existence.
Something which stands out is the ZuZu string box, which was put out in 1984 and yet “SO RARE.” We know that they were never sold in our Division and not many other Divisions. Wayne Guest asked me years ago if I knew about “ULIKENBC Letter Pretzels.” We had one and Wayne was thrilled to know that one existed. We have never seen another. NOW, just because we have not seen another example does not mean that another one may be out there, but if so, we do not know about its existence.
Also, some of the ones listed came in two or more different boxes—Toonerville Folks, Clowns and
Alphabets, but all were released at the same time, so that makes your CHASE more exciting. We can say with certainty all the above are just going to get harder to find, even with eBay. Rocket Ship, wanted by outer space collectors, was released about the time that we landed on the moon and America was fascinated by outer space and astronauts. Bugs Bunny Warner Brothers, these neat boxes are on the endangered species list and will get more valuable as times passes. Cowboys and Indians, not politically correct, so will eventually be very valuable.
As you know, many more string boxes exist, mostly in Barnum’s Animal boxes. These will take a long time to get in the game with the ones above. BUT, they should still be on your CHASE list. I hope you have enjoyed the trip back to Christmas Past, any questions Please email me at dolphgreen@aol.com.
Merry Christmas, Charlie.
Inner-Seal Collector's Club 