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 fence and farm animals that could be assembled to stand, plus an instruction sheet with reorder form (shown below).
I spoke with the person who's company created this premium for Post Cereals. He was an inventor and mechanical engineer, who created patented parts used in recognized company products.* His company also created additional premiums and packaging for Post and others. I was told that the company tried to use local businesses as much as possible. I also spoke with his son, Dr. John E. Block, of Chicago, who said that his father was always trying to figure out how to make things run better.
Premium cardboard ranch, above, with instructions
and reorder form, below.
I contacted Joe Bell in 2001, nephew of Piper Manufacturing company owner, Arthur Piper. He identified the premium photo that I emailed him and wrote that for a few months they were so busy assembling Roy Rogers Ranch Set premium orders, that the whole family was recruited to help. He thought the orders were packed in plain boxes. Joe told me that there were other similar premiums but he was more interested in the Roy Rogers Ranch Set premium. Bell also said that the company that produced TootsieToy metal jeeps was located on N. Pulaski Road, Chicago, Illinois – 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 his Uncle's factory. When the premium job was finished, every time he'd go to visit at the factory, he'd ask for a box of jeeps. He also mentioned seeing some army jeeps at the factory and thought that maybe they were used when the Nellybelle jeeps ran out.**
Columbus Molded Plastics Corporation (1946 founding name), in Columbus, Indiana, did the plastic molding for the Post Roy Rogers Ranch Set premium. The plastics company name was shortened in 1951.* A comment column in the August 20, 1953 Evening Republican newspaper stated that the molding company was currently manufacturing and mailing the 1953 Post Cereals Roy Roger Ranch Sets.**
I contacted molding company employee, Steve Bluhm, in 2001, who found an old handwritten work order sheet, dating back to the early 1950s, which listed "mold no. 20231 – Roy Rogers Characters – Horses", "mold no. 20245 – Bridle & Saddle", and who ordered them.*
When this Post premium ended, James L. Russell, salesman and president, offered the plastic premium toys to Dexter L. Balterman at Stuart. The Stuart company did not market the premium figures and horses the same, but sold them in sets, such as Home on the Range, Texas TV Rancher, Canadian Mounty, and mixed with their own newly created western toy line. (See the Stuart Sets page.)
*Some of this Stuart research has been altered or omitted due to a 2019 publishing copyright.
**Concerning the mailing of the 1953 Post Roy Rogers Ranch Set premium, I have not been able to find more detailed information concerning the Piper Manufacturing and Columbus Molded Plastics mailings. Both seem to have been mailing this premium, so I have listed both.