Italian Ferrero Premium Cards

Italian chocolatier Ferrero, best known in this country for those yummy balls of chocolate hazelnut goodness wrapped in gold foil, created a set of premium cards in the 1950s featuring LOTS of Disney characters.  Here we see three Alice characters:  Alice, the Mad Hatter, and the March Hare.

Given the numbers on the back, one can assume that there were at least 3 more Alice characters in the set, probably more.  I do know that number 38 is Flower from Bambi, so there probably aren't any more Alice characters earlier in the series, but the next number I know for sure is 48 (Bongo).

And, of course, there are variations.  Sigh.

Chocolate Sticks Original Box Label

This is one of those things that turn up that make you wonder just exactly how much stuff was created during the release of the film that has never been seen since 1951.  This is a shipping container label for Alice in Wonderland Chocolate Sticks, Item #1255, by the Chicago Biscuit Company.

This label would adorn cases of the product when they were shipped to distributors and stores.  I've never heard of these before.  Ever.  It is not listed in the campaign book, nor is it listed in the CMD.  I do have another piece for a different Alice confection made by the same company, and there is a very blurry image of yet another Alice confection in the Life Magazine photo I posted here, but I do not have any kind of comprehensive list of what was made.  The world may never know.

Life Magazine Photo - Can You Find All the Alice Items? Answers!

Here's what I found in the photo, from left to right, top to bottom:

• Alice gift wrap (the pink square at the far left edge, not yet posted)
• 3 Vira greeting cards
• Gund White Rabbit and Mad Hatter dolls
• Live Flowers LGB
• unknown Alice candy box (!)
• Alice Madame Alexander doll
• Mad Hatter and March Hare Gund dolls
• unknown Alice child garment (!)
• Regal Alice shaker
• Evan K. Shaw figures - Mad Hatter, March Hare, Tweedledee and Tweedledum, White Rabbit, Mad Hatter again, Walrus
• Alice Tea Cup Watch

You get extra credit if you noticed the March Hare SP figure as a part of the Marx playset

1960s Sugar Daddy Alice Trading Card

This was a new one on me, I'd never heard of this before. This is a trading card from Sugar Daddy candy. While I have seen (and even remember getting) trading cards out of Sugar Daddy candies, I never knew there was a Disney series, nor an Alice in that series.

This Alice is card number 20 out of a set of 25 cards called Mickey Mouse and his Pals, series number 5. Don't know if this means 5th series of Mickey and pals, or 5th series overall.

I also don't have an exact date on this, but the art tells me that it is most likely from the 1960s. If anyone has details on this series or knows if there were other Alice characters from that series, I'd be grateful for that information.

Toffee Tin - Edward Sharp & Sons, Ltd.

This is one of those items you look at and just say "Wow, that is pretty damn cool!"

This is a vintage toffee tin from England, by Edward Sharp & Sons, Ltd. of Maidstone, Kent to be precise. There is no date, but I'm guessing it is from the original release or thereabouts due to the presence of the infamous red-striped stockings.

This particular tin was filled with Plain Super-Kreem Toffee according to the label, which the previous owner graciously removed yet kept in side the tin

along with the Sharp & Sons guarantee.

Edward Sharp & Sons made lots and lots of specialty toffee tins, including this Alice and for sure a Snow White as well. Edward Sharp himself was the first Baronet of Warden Court, a relatively recent Baronetage created in 1922.

Sharps toffee can still be purchased today, although I believe the brand has been purchased by Taveners .

Mickey Mouse Candy and Toy Box - Alice and Mad Hatter

I wish I knew more about this. It appears to be a box that held some sort of chocolate candy and a toy, kinda like Cracker Jack I imagine. I've seen several different boxes and Dan over at a sampler of things has a bunch pictured on his Tick Tock Toys site. This one is the Alice box with art of Alice on one side

and the Mad Hatter on the other side. I don't know what the toy was, whether or not it was themed to the character on the box (I doubt it), but it was probably just some sort of generic toy. Maybe Patrick or Dan know more about what these contained.


UPDATE:  I have recently been made aware of the numbering system of this Candy and Toy series.  If you look at the image of the Alice side of the box, you'll see on the bottom side flap the number 13.  That is the number of the Alice box.  Hake's recently sold a lot of 11 of these boxes from the TOMART archive, and the numbering was described in the auction description.