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Often refered to as "Thumb Puppets" or "Collapsing Puppets", Kohner Push Button Puppets are small string puppets with a button on the bottom that you depress to collapse the puppet..when you release the thumb button the spring inside pulls the strings taught.  These toys were cheap little toys that I can remember from my childhood as being about 19 cents at the 5 & Dime Stores.  Early Kohner Push Puppets are constructed all of wood with a wooden bottom and a wooden figure on top.  Kohner Push Puppets were always hand-painted and therefore there are irregularities between similar puppets. They were also numbered and included several animals such as several types of Dogs, an Elephant or Donkey.  In the mid 1940's, Kohner began using plastic bases and continued to expand on their line into Comic and Radio Characters such as Howdy Doody, Mickey Mouse, Peter Pan, Donald Duck.  During this time, more characters were added such as Walloping Willie (baseball player), Lone Ranger, Clarabell the Clown and more.  There were actually well over 100 different characters developed with some of the rarer ones being Storky (a stork) and Acrobat.  During this time of Kohner Production these toys were approximately 5 inches tall and were purchased in a colorful box packaged individually with the name of the puppet printed on the box flap.  Kohner Push Puppets in complete nice boxes can be valuable with price ranges on these upwards of $200. each on a regular basis on ebay...I have even seen "auction fever" click in and double that estimate.

During the 1960's , Kohner began producing even cheaper push-button puppets that were approximately 3 inches tall and completely made of plastic. These were the 16 cent versions that I remember from my childhood.  My father used to stop on long trips and would purchase me one to occupy my attention so I was not quite so loud on those family outings.  At this time, Kohner began contracting with Hanna Barbera, National Periodical Publications and etc. to produce characters that were licensed.  These puppets could be purchased as individual pieces or in a box with perhaps 2 to 4 puppets with a common theme.  Push Puppets that were sold as individual pieces were sold with a label describing the character and giving them a name.  Rare versions of these puppets include Batman, Robin (I personally paid over $500. for a mint with label Robin), Tonto, Supergirl  or Wally Gator.  A recent Batman with Label sold on ebay for over $400. (which was a great price and can go much higher on a good day) and to think that you could have purchased that toy for only 16 cents at one time.  Push Puppets by Kohner from this era were imported from Hong Kong and marked by Kohner from East Patterson, New Jersey as imports.  I must add a note that Kohner during this time produced similar toys with similar characters and mounted them on "tricky trapezes"...you would push two buttons on the sides and the character would "fly" around the trapeze bar flipping in mid air performing summersaults.  The Kohner Tricky Trapeze are very cool as well and even though I have branched out into collecting them, they are not quite as valuable and prices are approximately 1/2 of their push puppet counterparts.

Push Puppets that were sold as a boxed set...mostly sold as two puppets did not come with labels.  You will see many push puppets on ebay without a label and some may have been removed, but for the most part, these are part of a boxed set.  Rare Boxed Sets include Batman & Robin, Superman & Supergirl....with each of these sets in mint condition regularly selling for over $1000. when they come up for sale.  In 2007, I purchased a Mint In Mint Box New Old Store Stock Lone Ranger & Tonto Boxed Set for $500.  Please understand that Boxed Sets of this size featuring Huckleberry Hound, Fred Flintstone, etc. do not sell at that level and are closer to $200/set.   I know of 12 different boxed "2-Puppet" sets by Kohner as illustrated on the rear of the boxes as "Collect them all".  These boxes were very colorful, fully licensed and a child could operate the puppet through 2 holes pre-cut in the bottom of the box and the puppets looked like they were on a little stage.  The largest set of Boxed Push Puppet sets that I have seen is a 4 puppet set of the 5 inch puppets, completely made of plastic with generic characters of a horse and rider, cat, dog and donkey.

Over the course of the past decade, I have purchased many Kohner Push Puppets on ebay as they regularly are sold by sellers with several to chose from at any time.  My advice to potential push-puppet collectors is to remember that condition is everthing.  Quite a few of the larger 5 inch plastic based puppets warp over time and do not display nicely as they will lean in your collectibles cabinet.  Ask the seller to make sure that all the strings are intact.  Kohner used double stringing to help the toys be durable and quite often a weak puppet will be the result of a single severed string, with only one string holding the puppet together.  Be prepared to pay a premium for puppets with mint, unfaded labels.  When selling these puppets take very clear Close-Up pictures of the label.  Even common puppets can bring great money if the condition is perfect. Again these were handpainted and susceptible to chipping, so look at and take images very carefully.  Often there were easily torn off or broken parts of a push-puppet that are many times missing and the seller cannot note it because they are simply not aware that it even has a missing piece....for example ..the flower on the head of "flub-a-dub" from the Bob Smith licensed Howdy Doody Series Push Puppet or the felt bandana around the neck of Howdy Doody.

Push Puppet collecting can be a way of collecting a large amount of items in a small amount of space as I have several hundred in a china cabinet without any problems of overcrowding.* UPDATE .... My personal collection is now over 1000 ! and I am still married!    Although this guide is primarily about Kohner Push Puppets, it must be said that other manufacturers such as Gabriel, Imperial, Marx, Wara, and Modern Toy produced push puppets.  There is a non-kohner 3pc Scooby Doo set as well as several "Peanuts" characters available.  A cool advertising set of 5 from 1969 are sea creatures for a seafood company called "SeaHost" and are very detailed cool puppets featuring "Clem the Clam", "Mr. Big the Shrimp". "Turtle the Turtle",  and others.  I suggest storage and display in rows with elevations in the rear row to properly display your collection.  It seems that whenever I show off my collection, there is always a familiar loved character in someone's childhood that brings back a fond memory or story.  Good Luck on your hunt for your childhood memories.

THANKYOU FOR YOUR VOTE FOR MY REVIEW, PERRY