Tinman Posted August 2, 2009 Share Posted August 2, 2009 Yesterday I attended the Big Flea in D.C. and came home with this Tom Corbett premium "Rocket Lite" pin from the 1950's. It's approximately three inches long from tip-to-tail and is made of a hard, no doubt breakable, plastic. It's very clean but hard to open, so rather than find a replacement battery I'd have to worry about I made a plug of styrene tubing to fill the gap. I'd be the first to agree I paid too much for it but find they're pretty scarce and usually come up for auction showing lots of wear or with the bottom portion of the lightning bolt broken off. Because of the condition, I'm thinking this one was stored away somewhere.How the pin was meant to be worn...pushing the plunger at the tip caused the light bulb to illuminate the tail-end of the rocket. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve Posted August 2, 2009 Share Posted August 2, 2009 Wow I like that piece - reminds me of the eraly sneaker premiums I used to get as a kid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dratomic Posted August 2, 2009 Share Posted August 2, 2009 Very nice. I've seen them pop up on eBay before, but I've never seen so many clear photographs -- very interesting little premium. I like it a lot! Nice score! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kennetzel Posted August 2, 2009 Share Posted August 2, 2009 That is really nice. I have a thing for those old style, Buck Rogers style rockets. Very nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimK Posted August 2, 2009 Share Posted August 2, 2009 I love it. I have never seen one of those. Very nice pick up.JimK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe K. Posted August 3, 2009 Share Posted August 3, 2009 Beautiful example, Bill. In that condition it was worth whatever you paid for it.I can make out the "Rockhill Productions", but what does it say at the top? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyman Posted August 3, 2009 Share Posted August 3, 2009 Sweet! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tinman Posted August 3, 2009 Author Share Posted August 3, 2009 Thanks guys. The dealer I purchased it from had several other Corbett items like a puzzle or two, comics, and coloring books but this was by far in the best condition.Joe, the writing on the other side of the rocket says "USALITE", with the registered mark. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tinplate6 Posted August 3, 2009 Share Posted August 3, 2009 Tinman, Those are really cool, I have one I got online about 8 years ago. The hard thing is getting them to light as the old batteries were designed different. I found that if you take a AA cell, and cover it with one tight, thin sheet of aluminum foil and place it back into the holder, when you depress the front pin it will light. Hmmm, perhaps it wasn't a AA, actually I think it was one of those small special purpose batteries, but anyway, it worked. I actually wore it on my "Space Cadet" Halloween costume that year. If you look closely, you can see it here, pinned to my chest just under my helmet.It's a really nice collectible Tinman, great catch! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Electric Robot and Son Posted August 10, 2009 Share Posted August 10, 2009 Nice pickup Bill. I have bid on several of those on ebay but never won. Yours is by far the best lookiing one I've seen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robothunter Posted August 14, 2009 Share Posted August 14, 2009 Hey, Tinplate6! I love your costume! Very cool! You know what would be a cool idea...let's begin an Alphadrome Halloween Costume contest. Every year I play around with the idea of what an awesome robot costume I could come up with. But in typical fashion, I never end up making one because I allow other things to get in the way. Maybe a contest among us would be just the stimulus I need to actually make my costume. Or, at the very least, get to see what all of you guys look like dressed up as robots! LOL!!! :lol: :D :P :lol: ...... ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian.. Posted May 22, 2016 Share Posted May 22, 2016 Here's a shop display card with one light remaining. Great 50s graphics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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