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Buck Rogers Flying Saucer


Joe K.

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I called up Bob Lesser and described the saucer to him. He says it sounds legit -- he mentioned that it should say, somewhere, either "John F. Dilly" (I might have spelled that wrong), "Buck Rogers Company," or "National Newspaper Syndicate." None of the pics seem to show this, but the seller wasn't showing the bottom of the toy. I'm going to run a patent search with the library of congress (well, I'll try to) and see what the number turns up. But like I said, Lesser seemed to think it's real. He didn't sound surprised by the fact that the asking price is $650, though he felt it was a bit high in the current economy. He never owned one, by the way. Oh, he also mentioned that back in 1937, it probably sold for about a nickel or 10 cents. Talk about inflation...

Anyway, off to the library of congress web site...

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Awesome. I typed in the patent number and up came information on a 1938 patent for a paper plate. I have no idea whether this means that A) the patent number was stamped on the plates used by the toy manufacturer to make the toy, or B) the toy manufacturer is actually the same as the plate manufacturer, and they just have one patent involved in the saucer (i.e., that of the plate). Pretty interesting, really.

I'm going to email the seller and see if any other information is available on the other side of the toy.

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The Term "Flying Saucer" was coined in 1947. You won't find any mention of it before that date. I think this was an early 50's toy. Probably during one of the UFO crazes at that time, remember GORT in 1951? That patent is probably from the plate company that made it. Any copyright is for the character, not the toy.

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RIGHT! You know, I completely forgot about "Flying Saucer" not existing before the 1940s. Good call.

I don't know why I care so much about this... I just feel like pursuing this little mystery.

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Iv'e seen this so called toy, held it in my hands even. Even though it is a Buck Rogers piece, I can't get past the fact that it is in reality a "PAPER PLATE"!!! You can put all the graphics on it you want, it's still a PAPER PLATE!!!.

Hake has it listed at $35 $75 $150. in a 1996 book. and says it's from the 40's .

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Ah... so there's no "other side" to the thing? It's just an upside down plate? That's it? I figured it was at least two plates put together, face to face or something.

Hardly seems worth the effort now. Oh well.

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It probably is two plates sandwitched together ( That's why it's lithographed on both sides.)

Both sides are probably the same. The metal ring probably holds it all together.

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Time to put on the Sherlock Holmes Deductive Reasoning cap.

Following the patent number is the name of the company that produced this thing, I believe: "S.P.Co." We might reasonably assume that the "P" stands for "Paper," followed by "Co." which stands for "Company." That leaves the "S" to contend with.

Hailing from East Texas originally, the first name that comes to my mind is the Southland Paper Company, which was founded in Lufkin, Texas, in the early 20th Century (late 1920s or early 1930s). This became one of the largest paper companies in the history of American business; so it may be useful to to explore the promotional gimmicks employed by Southland.

At first I didn't think was made of two paper plates. But, on closer inspection, it does show evidence of separate top and bottom plates with a thin metal ring around the rim (to add weight and to prevent the "saucer" from collapsing on impact). Seems to be an advertising gimmick, for sure, and it probably wouldn't have survived regular play for very long.

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I wondered about this toys place in the toy "timeline" as compared to the frisbee. An ebay "community" web page on the frisbee has this to say about the Buck Rogers flying saucer-

"The Buck Rogers Flying Saucer, probably the first throw-and-catch disc to be marketed in the United States, according to Malafronte, is priced at $313 Very Good and $625 Mint. Pipco's Li'l Abner Flying Saucer can bring $348 Very Good and $695 Mint. Five thousand of these Morrison-Franscioni toys were made."

That's all they have on Buck Rogers flying saucer, but if you want to read more about the frisbee's history here is the web page, there is mention of an interesting pie tin version of the frisbee from the thirties with an "illuminating light" that is very rare and valuable, sounds good to me!-

frisbee web page

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That community interest page really only referred to price listings; but the Malafronte book may contain more historical detail on the Buck Rogers Flying Saucer. I only include the Amazon link because it lists several customer reviews, at least one of which states that Malafronte's price guide appears to be out-of-date (inflated 30% to 60% above actual values). So the book may not be terribly reliable in other respects, as well.

post-2-1070954041.jpg

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This is purely speculation on my part, but as far as a timeline here, there was a Buck Rogers TV show on ABC from 1950-1951. This would be AFTER the coining of the term "Flying Saucer", and this particular disc would certainly look to be of early 50's vintage...Here is a link to Buck Rogers.com that talks briefly about the series, and the possible John F. Dille merchandising tie-ins...

Buck Rogers

I imagine the short life span of the series on TV, along with the durability of your typical paper plate, made for a pretty low survival rate..... :)

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I would agree that this toy was from the early to mid- fifties. If you look closely at the arwork along the rim, it shows flying saucer shapes that only came to public popularity after the Kenneth Arnold sightings of 47'. The saucer itself reflects the "pieplate" shaped series of sightings most evident after 1952.

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  • 12 years later...

Confirmation of the 1950s date. The flying saucer was offered as a freebie to kids who brought their parents to Toyland, December 1952.

 

The_Britt_News_Tribune_Wed__Dec_3__1952_.jpg

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