The American Mint Corporation

For a brief period, during the late 1930s and early 1940s, a company called the American Mint Corporation produced a series of cardboard soldiers filled with football shaped, fruit flavored, candy.  They only sold for a penny apiece way back then.  But now, they have become the Holy Grail of cardboard collectibles.  Were these cardboard containers an early predecessor of the PEZ dispenser?  Was the later idea of placing candy in various collectible characters sparked by the American Mint Corporation?  Maybe, maybe not.  Nevertheless, it's interesting to see one company's idea for marketing candy, in collectible container, long before the arrival of PEZ. 

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One of the most interesting, early candy containers, is the short-lived American Mint Corporation's cardboard containers picturing world soldiers in uniform.  The American Mint Corporation was located at 114 13th Street, New York, NY.  Over a span of just a few years (approximately 1938-1942) they produced four sets of world soldiers.  The sets, in order of production, were Doughboy, Minute Man, Trooper and Yanks.  The first set, Doughboys, had a full 20 countries represented: United States, Japan, Russia, Afghanistan, Poland, Switzerland, Turkey, Italy, England, Sweden, Greece, Austria, Ethiopia, Scotland, Spain, India, Arabia, France, Zulu Warrior, and the French Foreign Legion.  The soldiers were approximately 2 3/4 inches tall and about 1 inch in diameter and contained a 7/16 ounce of multi-colored candy.  They were characterized by very large, disproportionate heads that gave them a doll-like appearance.  Interesting to note that, leading up to WWII, Germany was politically incorrect and therefore not included in any of the series.  The next two series, Minute Man and Trooper, were trimmed to just ten offerings: United States, Russia, England, Italy, Turkey, Sweden, Ethiopia, Scotland, France and, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, what would have been the Japan Minute Man and subsequent Trooper received a quick makeover and became the China Minute Man/Trooper (but the American Mint Corporation kept the exact same graphic).  The last set produced, and extremely rare, was the Yanks.  Produced during the beginning of WWII, the Yanks were meant to salute the U.S. fighting men in uniform.  While the heads were still disproportionate, they were more realistic and did not present the U.S. fighting men so doll-like in appearance.  There were ten varieties: Admiral, Pursuit Pilot, Parachutist, Infantry Man, Nurse, Military Police, Marine, Ski Trooper, Army Officer and GOB (slang for a new naval recruit).  Altogether this produced fifty different possible configurations (labels): 20 Doughboys, 10 Minute Men, 10 Troopers and 10 Yanks.  The early soldiers (Doughboy and Minute Man) included a separate coupon, redeemable for prizes, on the inside of each container.  However, as money got tighter, the coupon was incorporated into the printed label (Trooper and Yanks).  In order to get your prize, you had to tear the label off the cardboard tube and send it to New York.  That process destroyed most of the Trooper and Yanks containers.  Unfortunately, there weren't to many survivors.  However, the American Mint Corporation did survive until 1965 when it was acquired by the Spangler Candy Company of Bryan, Ohio. 

A special "thank you" to assistance from noted toy soldier author and expert Richard O'Brien and longtime collector Edward Bruce.  And, a very special "thank you" to my cousin, William Kaiser, who allowed my brother and myself to plink away for hours, with a spring loaded Manoil #200 cannon, at his American Mint soldier collection during the early Fifties.  Bill may have the only complete collection known to have survived all these years.  Update: author Richard O' Brien has written another nice article, the Spring 2007 issue of Old Toy Soldier magazine.  The new article features my photographs of the old manufacturing facility, a couple of shots of the soldiers and a quote or two.  Thanks Richard.