Roy Rogers Ranch Set
This Post premium was advertised as a Roy Rogers Ranch Set and appeared on the back of the July 1953 Dell Roy Rogers comic (shown below). For fifty cents and two Post Cereals box tops, the 23-piece set could be yours.
Included in the ranch set were miniature western figures that ranged in size from two inches to two and a half inches high. When positioned to rear, the rearing horse was four and a quarter inches tall, and the running horse was two and a half inches tall. (See top photo.) The metal jeep had tires that rolled. Also included, was a lithographed cardboard ranch, entry gate with fencing, farm animals that could be assembled to stand, and an instruction sheet with reorder form.
In 2000 I spoke several times with the company owner that created this premium. He said that they tried to use local businesses as much as possible. He was an inventor, who created patented parts used in recognized company products, like the Ken-L-Ration double sided dog feeder, a Turtles candy machine, various patents for Univac machines (early computers - 1958). He also created additional premiums and packaging for Post, Quaker and others. His son, Dr. Joseph E. Block, said that his father was a great tinkerer. He was always figuring out ways to make things work better.
This Post premium was assembled and packed, under contract, at Piper Manufacturing, 46xx W. Lake Street, in Chicago, Illinois. I contacted Joe Bell in 2001, nephew of Piper company owner, Arthur Piper. He wrote that for a few months they were so busy with the RR Ranch Set premium orders, that the whole family was recruited to help. He thought the orders were packed in plain boxes to be sent out. Bell also said that the company that produced TootsieToy metal jeeps, was on N. Pulaski Road and W. Lake Street – about a mile from Piper Manufacturing. Joe was a child in the 1950s and remembered a stack of multi-layered boxes of Nellybelle jeeps at the Piper factory. When this premium job was finished, every time he'd go to his Uncle's factory, he'd ask for a box of jeeps.
The plastics mold injection company in Columbus, Indiana, that had done the molding for the plastic items in the 1953 Roy Rogers Ranch Set premium, started as Columbus Plastic Molding in 1946, but changed the name in 1951. When I contacted them in May 2001, the company was making household and other products. Steve Bluhm had worked there the longest. He found an old handwritten work order sheet, dating back to the early 1950s, which listed mold no. 20231 – Roy Rogers Characters – Horses. Also listed, was mold no. 20245 – Bridle & Saddle, and who ordered them. (Bluhm also found another work order sheet listing a Travois (Indian sled), Pack saddle, Luggage and Halter for Stuart.)
In the early 1950s, James L. Russell was president of the mold injection company. When the premium had run it's course, he offered the plastic premium toys to Dexter Balterman at the Stuart company. Stuart added these to their own newly-created western toy line in a variety of packaging and colors. (See Stuart History and Stuart Sets.)
(Please note: I've had to omit or alter some of my original Stuart research due to a 2019 publishing copyright.)
