"50 Years of New Zealand Cereal Toys 1950-2000, Stephen Summers & Peter Fisher, privately published in August 2006, Wellington, New Zealand. A4 size, 185 pages, Paperback."
I remember seeing a mention of this book when it came out in 2006, but I did not get a copy at the time, although I did borrow it from the library. It was not until 2024 that I finally found a copy, and grabbed it.
Only the cover is in colour, the contents are entirely in black and white. Picture quality is enough to show the toys and what they looked like, but does not allow a lot of detail to be seen.
There are three pages of introductory material, covering the history of cereal toys in New Zealand, and the main players. These were Sanitarium, Kellogg’s, Timaru Milling, and Cereal Foods (later Nabisco).
The book covers mainly plastic toys, along with comics, and the cardboard cut-outs often featured on the back of cereal packets. Cards and stickers are not included.
Toys that were included with other products are also included, along with Sets of Unknown Origin. Some are one-piece mouldings, others are small kit sets.
According to the book, the toys included in NZ cereals were produced either in New Zealand or Australia. Some of the Australian toys originally made by Rosenhain & Lipmann were produced in NZ by Consolidated Plastics Limited in Auckland.
Generally the toys were produced in sets, and each toy came in several different colours, so there were plenty of different toy/colour combinations to collect. Each set gets either half a page, or a full page.
Each entry includes the name of the cereal company that issued the toy; date of issue; the material used; number of toys in the set; and known colours; along with Notes. Then the photos, along with a name and number for each toy.
At the back of the book are period advertisements, and the various cut-out toys that were often included on the back of cereal packets. Then the index.
As we mainly had toast for breakfast in my house, I had very few cereal toys growing up, except for those given to me by family friends. Looking through this book, it is obvious that many of the small plastic toys I did have came originally from cereal packets.
I was very pleased to add this book to my collection. I doubt it is easy to find today, even in New Zealand.
Paul Adams from New Zealand
Very interesting, thank you for the review. I love cereal premiums as well as other small plastic trinkets, even though my collecting is not systematic.
ReplyDeleteAre there any space-related sets mentioned in the book? Or tv/movie related ones.
Cereal Premiums are a whole genre of obscure toys, with some very interesting examples. I am impressed someone was able to gather all this info! SFZ
ReplyDeleteWhat an ace book Paul, just up my street too that. I see Crater Critters on the front and a Sanitarium figure I once had and blogged. Such great times ahead for you reading that book!
ReplyDeleteThere are a couple of sets of spaceships, and some figures, including the Crater Critters. Film and TV tie-ins are mainly from the later years, apart from some Disney sets.
ReplyDeleteI remember that you did a post about those figures, that was why I went for that picture. I had the Miner figure, and a year or two ago I picked up the Soldier. I was really pleased to get that book, especially after such a long wait.
It does look like a great book Paul. Enjoy.
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