Indoor Bowling with Brownies!
3/15/18 – This week will be my last pick of the week from the March 24th Antique Toy Auction. With so many different options, it has been difficult to narrow it down to just a few picks. I covered cast iron with the Niederst steam shovel, I went with a wooden toy with the horse velocipede, and now I am going with paper. Lot 301 in the upcoming toy sale is a Palmer Cox Brownie nine pins game in the original box. Palmer Cox was a Canadian illustrator and author who created a series of books and comic strips with these fairy like sprites as the main characters. Every character had a whimsical look and personality of their own. The famous Kodak camera was even named for them. With the popularity of the characters growing more and more, they took the advertising world by storm. You can find the Brownie characters on just about anything from games, dolls, books, soda and, yes, even two plays. This particular piece is your own indoor bowling game. Imagine the neighbor boy rolling the ball as hard as he could, sending it flying over a wrinkle in the carpet and right out the parlor window! I am sure that happened many times throughout turn of the century America. Imagine the scolding that was handed out. I can also imagine the persuasion used to bribe a younger sibling into being the pin setter. So instead of grabbing for the Wii bowling game, go ahead and buy the nine pins game. It has so much more personality!
by: Jamie Shearer
