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1214
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Force Cereal Sunny Jim Coin Token Advertising Premium
A neat advertising souvenir or premium, a metal coin or token related to Force Cereal, a whole wheat flakes breakfast food sold by the Force Food Company. We believe this coin or token was available during the 1930s, with the "heyday" of this cereal in the U.S. being from the early 1900s through 1930s period, from a little research which we did. While no longer available here, the cereal was still sold up through at least 2006 in the United Kingdom.
The coin shows Sunny Jim, the advertising or cartoon character associated with Force Cereal. On one side it shows Jim's head with the words "Force, Bring Back Prosperity with Sunny Jim", leading us to believe the coin was distributed during the Great Depression. On the reverse side the coin says "Good Luck" and "Good Health" above and below "Forget that times are tough and grim, Cheer up and smile with Sunny Jim". So this is what may be called a Great Depression Prosperity Token. The picture and words are all raised on the surface of the token.
Coin is circular, measuring about 1 1/4 inches in diameter. We don't know which metal it is made of, but a magnet does not stick to it. It could be made of some standard base metal with brass or something else on the surfaces, we're not sure. We've provided 4 images, one with a quarter for size comparison. In some the coin is photographed lying flat while in others it is leaning or propped up, causing the color to look different due to lighting reflections and angles from the camera. In person it is a shiny brass type color. We showed the Sunny Jim coin both ways trying to both offset the white "hot spots" from the camera lighting reflections on the shiny surfaces and to provide different views of the details of the coin and condition.
A wonderful antique or vintage piece, but it shows it's age and is not mint. It has tarnishing and wear via darkened spots on the top and bottom surfaces or raised letters and edges, dots and spots of wear/tarnish/discoloration, a few tiny scratches, some surface rubbed/worn areas (where the top surface of the metal seems worn away revealing a slightly different colored metal underneath), etc. Definitely has a used or circulated look. While all this is obvious in person, we find none of this unexpected nor objectionable, and believe this adds to the age believeability and ambiance of the piece. We have not attempted to clean or shine it and are selling the coin as is/as found.
A great collector's item to add to any collection of advertising tokens, advertising souvenirs or advertising premiums, particularly relating to food and cereal products (Force Cereal, Sunny Jim Force Cereal, Sunny Jim Cereal). Could also be a neat addition to a collection of items relating to the 1930's or Great Depression period in American history.
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