The Phantom Gumball Machine Charms were produced by The Penny King Company in Pittsburgh, USA in the 1958.
Charms first appeared in vending machines in the 1930’s in the US, and were generally imported from Japan. The charms were generally sold in penny vending machines, with the target market being young children. As a result, charms were usually small toys which could be played with or displayed, sometimes accompanying a piece of candy, all coming in a plastic ball shaped container.
The Penny King Company, based in Pittsburgh, USA started making charms in 1949 for the growing local vending machine market. The charms they produced were available in a number of finishes, including plastic, copper and silver or gold plated plastic. In 1953 the company became the national sales agent for Acorn Charm Vendor parts and accessories, and from 1955 it became the sales agent for the Penny-Nickel Atlas Master vending machines.
A variety of comic book characters licensed to King Features Syndicate appear on Gumball Machine Charms, with images of the Phantom, Diana and Devil features. Below we see 2 examples of cards that were placed in the Gumball Machine to advertise the available characters and products within the machine.
3 products were produced featuring the Phantom, Diana and Devil, these are Key Chain Lockets, Buttons and Rings which were all designed to be wearable.
Key Chain Lockets
The various characters featured on the Key chain Lockets are printed on heavy stock paper and glued within a see-through framed housing with a loop at the top. The housing came in a variety of colors and finishes, including metallic (silver, gold or bronze), yellow, blue, red, green and white. In addition, another distinct feature of some of the Key Chain Lockets is that they are double sided, with different characters found on each side.
The Key Chain Lockets were sold in clear plastic capsules with a random character dispensed from the vending machine. A sample of the Key Chain Lockets can be seen below.
Buttons
Rings
The Rings were produced in a specially designed gold metallic plastic ring base, which came with a square see-through plastic protective detachable cover. The Rings were sold in clear plastic capsules with a random character dispensed from the vending machine. A sample of the Rings can be seen below.
A 3 Rings released featuring the Phantom, Diana and Devil can be seen below.
The Phantom 