What did I buy? Mays and mantle!!!

[AP34]

Seen this pop up on eBay and bought it. No idea what it is or where it came from

8”x3.5” thick cardboard stock

Searched all over google and Facebook as well as eBay and cannot find what this came from.

Contest ends 9/63 so if assume it’s from the 1963 season.

[Casey2296]

That's a neat item, I'm assuming it was for Members of the Armed Service only, as a fun morale booster. I'm curious if it was distributed in SE Asia or just Stateside, would be a hell of a prize to be flown home from Vietnam in 1963.
_

[AP34]

True I didn’t even think of that, I thought it was from a magazine but the thickness makes me now think otherwise.

[Volod]

Interesting. Must have been on a "carton" of some kind of dry goods - certainly not milk - maybe cookies - probably as an impulse purchase item at the checkout aisle in a base exchange or commissary. As a youngster stationed in Alaska at that time, I would have been eligible to enter the contest, but don't think my unit commander would have authorized a leave for me if had won. Could sure have used the money, though, as I was saving for a car purchase.

[AP34]

The card stock would be similar to that of dry goods. It’s slightly thicker than a cereal box. I’m not sure how that compares to boxes from the 60s.

[sflayank]

Any interest in selling

[AP34]

Not looking to sell, I also just want to know what it is. Can’t find any info!!!

[AP34]

Does anyone know and brands exclusively from commissary’s? Maybe this was a promo from that. Looking for any clues.

[Volod]

Originally Posted by AP34

Does anyone know and brands exclusively from commissary’s? Maybe this was a promo from that. Looking for any clues.

Here are a couple of old news clippings from the Stars & Stripes. The one on the left describes the 1963 contest winner, the clip on the right has the 1962 winner, so apparently Lever Brothers ran the sweepstakes for several years in the early '60's. That company put out a number of different products, but I think the most likely to contain the military offer would be something like All Detergent, or Rinso Detergent, which were packaged in cardboard boxes.
Funny thing - I happened to be on a TDY trip to Japan and was stationed at Tachikawa AB for a couple of weeks in late 1963, so maybe I bumped into the contest winner?

[AP34]

Originally Posted by Volod

Here are a couple of old news clippings from the Stars & Stripes. The one on the left describes the 1963 contest winner, the clip on the right has the 1962 winner, so apparently Lever Brothers ran the sweepstakes for several years in the early '60's. That company put out a number of different products, but I think the most likely to contain the military offer would be something like All Detergent, or Rinso Detergent, which were packaged in cardboard boxes.
Funny thing - I happened to be on a TDY trip to Japan and was stationed at Tachikawa AB for a couple of weeks in late 1963, so maybe I bumped into the contest winner?

Thanks man! You are the best!!! I did so much searching with every combo and came up empty!

[AP34]

Anyone else seen anything like this before or know where to find out more about lever brothers in 1960s commissary’s. I keep striking out with every search I perform.

[AP34]

Bump for more information. Looking for anything I can use to get more
Info. I can’t find anything!!!

[Volod]

Originally Posted by AP34

Bump for more information. Looking for anything I can use to get more
Info. I can’t find anything!!!

What more do you need to know? If the contest entry forms only appeared on boxes sold at overseas military bases, there were likely relatively few entries returned. So, probably very few survived and yours may be rare. But, I don't think that means it has a great deal of value. Just my opinion.

[AP34]

Looking for a full panel, or the box they came on. More so specifics about what it is and where it specifically came from.

[AP34]

Just crazy to me there is no info anywhere

[whiteymet]

Can't help with info other than what you already have. But just so know yours is not unique see below.

Sorry photos are upside down don't know how to correct

[raulus]

Wish I could help. I’m a Mays collector, and I’ve never actually seen this piece before. So I think it’s fair to say that it’s not a common piece, potentially even a very rare piece.

In some ways, I would like to think that what we’ve all learned in this thread so far is not an insignificant amount of additional context and detail. So I’m actually somewhat pleased that we’ve all learned as much as we have.

Based on the tidbits that we can all glean from the actual item itself, along with a few extra details that have been provided here, that might be about all we’re going to be able to share. For better or worse, not many of us were there at that specific time and place to have much more to share with you, particularly around a relatively obscure piece like this.

Really wish we could help more, but if there’s more out there, its news to me. Hopefully I’m wrong, and someone out there has a treasure trove of additional information, insights, and context that they’ve just been compiling and getting ready to post for our collective edification.

[Volod]

Originally Posted by whiteymet

Can't help with info other than what you already have. But just so know yours is not unique see below.

Sorry photos are upside down don't know how to correct

Here ya go...

[AP34]

Thanks again Velod. Your research skills are amazing. Truly appreciate your help. So counting this one, and mine, I have seen 3 total copies of this.

[Volod]

Originally Posted by AP34

Thanks again Velod. Your research skills are amazing. Truly appreciate your help. So counting this one, and mine, I have seen 3 total copies of this.

Thanks, but your count should be two, not three: my post above was just to flip the two images that WhiteyMet had posted upside down. If you still want more into on the sweepstakes, I would suggest you go to the website of NewspaperArchive and search for old copies of The Stars and Stripes - probably from the spring to the fall of 1963. The box cutout you have mentions that more details would appear in ads placed in military papers. Unfortunately, the newspaper archive requires a subscription fee to do much at their website, and it seems that a normal word or phrase search would not include advertisements, so the only way to find them would be to read each issue. Good luck to you.

[AP34]

Update!!!!

Took the advice of Volod, and researched through a newspaper archive. I found this newspaper advertisement with a similar contest. It provides details of contest as well as how to enter and what products it was found with!

Thanks all for your help.

[ALBB]

very impressive " detective work " by you guys !

[Volod]

Originally Posted by AP34

Update!!!!

Took the advice of Volod, and researched through a newspaper archive. I found this newspaper advertisement with a similar contest. It provides details of contest as well as how to enter and what products it was found with!

Thanks all for your help.

...and thanks for posting the ad you found. My eyes are not as good as they used to be, so I cannot decipher the rules due to the low res of your image. I enhanced and focused it as much as my software allows, but maybe if you can repost it in higher res (larger size file) it would be helpful, as the rules appear to list more products than just bar soap and toothpaste - since those cardboard containers are obviously not what your cutout came from.

[AP34]

Here is a zoomed in contest rules

[Volod]

Originally Posted by AP34

Here is a zoomed in contest rules

...hmmm, so these rules do not show any additional products, which I would take to mean that this particular part of the three-part contest limited entries to blanks found on those products only. Since your cutout likely came from some large heavyweight cardboard box, such as All Detergent, or Rinso Detergent, those products must have been featured in ads for the second and/or third parts of the contest. Does the hunt continue?

[slidekellyslide]

Here is the listing where Fred's (Whitey) came from. You can tell it's the same one from the perforations. It sold for $32.47 in 2018 on ebay.

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthoped...est-1965121687