Dan Dare tie

I'm always happy to feature unusual bits of Eagle merchandise on the blog. 

There were...

Dan Dare roller skates here

Dan Dare hairbrush here

Dan Dare tie clip here

Eagle stationery here

Eagle club notebook here

With the compliments of the Eagle club here

Eagle / Girl table tennis medals here

Eagle club cycle pennant here

Dan Dare gyro jeep here

Dan Dare space shooting here

Dan Dare rocket ball here

Dan Dare beach ball here

Dan Dare bagatelle here

Eagle report to members (1951) here

Dan Dare field glasses here

Dan Dare interplanetary dominoes here

Dan Dare space-ship construction game here

Dan Dare draughts here

Dan Dare transfers (1) here

Dan Dare transfers (2) here

Riders of the Range painting book here

Dan Dare models here

Silver Eagler here

Space-cup here

Dan Dare stationery here

Eagle cricket bat here

Dan Dare secret ink here

Dan Dare mask here

and now it's the turn of the Dan Dare tie (currently up for sale here)

UPDATED: Girl comic merchandise

I've added some new items of merchandise - and these are highlighted in red

I've previously looked at some of the spin-off merchandise associated with Swift comic (here), Swift books (here) and Robin comic merchandise (here). In a similar vein I thought I should look into the merchandise produced by their sister title Girl. I've looked at Girl novels (here and here) but this is the other merchandise that was produced.

I thought I'd be able to find more merchandise but googling 'girl comics merchandise' turns up a lot of stuff which is not to do with the Girl comic I'm after. Anyway, I'm sure more will turn up but here's what I've found so far...

All new items highlighted in red

This was from a recent sale on 'the saleroom'. It wasn't clear to me if the Girl film strips would fit in the Dan Dare spaceship film viewer but it might do!

A lovely selection of Girl diaries here. The green diaries are dated (internally) as 1954-7 and then there are two 'stripy' diaries (for 1958 and 1959 respectively). 

Image c/o ebay.

New addition today is this piece of advertising for a newsagent...

Promotional Poster for Free Gift in Vol 12 #6 - Feb 9 1967 Rare

Girl card game from Pepys

A more comprehensive set of birthday cards images has now come to light...

The backs of the cards - albeit not in the same order as they're shown above

The Wendy and Jinx cards (designs 1+2)

The Belle of the ballet cards (designs 3+4)

The Lettice Leefe and Miss Froth cards (designs 5+6)

Over on the www.dandare.info website (here) I've spotted these two Girl birthday cards...

The first features Wendy and Jinx

...and the second has Lettice Leefe and Miss Froth

This Girl diary for 1956 recently sold for £47...

I'm unsure how many years this ran for - in fact this is the first Girl diary I've ever seen. The Eagle equivalent was long established and ran from at least 1951-1963 (but was red not green). There was also a Swift diary but I've never seen one of those so I can't even say what colour that was! 

Also spotted this on ebay recently - looks like a plastic belt buckle 

Pelham puppet of 'Lettice Leefe' - a character created by John Ryan (who created Captain Pugwash and Harris Tweed for Eagle) 

Pelham also made a 'Belle of the Ballet' puppet as well

And then there's this - a Girl doll - featuring the Girl logo on the dress and the belt buckle

from 'British dolls of the 1950s' by Susan Brewer (2009)

And there's this piece of Eagle/Girl crossover merchandise - yes, it's a table tennis set!



I'm sure there's more out there so if you have any images you could share just let me know.

Ah, a carpet sweeper! What a delightful piece of tie-in merchandise

And here's some more Girl products - I'd love to get bigger and better pictures of all of these but at least it gives me some stuff to look for

from 'The history of girls' comics' by Susan Brewer (2010)

And, thanks to friend of the blog Jeremy Briggs we can also add these images...

...a blond haired version of the doll shown above...

...and a paintbox (which looks quite similar to the Swift paintbox that was also produced)...

Whizzer and Chips jigsaw letter

Here's a lovely Whizzer and Chips piece of merchandise that ace ebayer Phil-comics (here) that was up for sale recently (sale price of £20.99)

It was described thus,,,

This is a really rare item as it was given away as a prize for having a letter or joke published in Whizzer and Chips sometimes, we believe, in the early 1980s.

The jigsaw measures approx 7.5 x 5 inches and is made of thick cardboard (usual jigsaw type board used). There's a triangular shaped slip to the right side which sits folded round it loosely. The idea was to write a letter or note on the jigsaw, break it up and post it in the envelope to somebody who "will have as much fun putting the jigsaw together as they will reading the message on it". 

All other mentions of Whizzer and Chips on the blog can be found here 

UPDATED: Swift comic merchandise

For those who aren't aware Swift was a companion title to the original Eagle - it was a 'feeder' title if you will - and in fact it eventually merged with Eagle. Launched on 20th March 1954 it ran until 2nd March 1963

UPDATED TEXT IS IN RED...

more new finds c/o ace ebay seller philcomics - first up is this...

editorial letter from art editor Charles Pocklington

...presumed to be a promotional items for newsagents

and also this free gift from issue cover date 10/02/62 (volume 9, #6)

a couple of lovely new finds to record today (all care of ace ebay seller philcomics)

First is this free gift from 09/10/54 (volume 1, #30)

and secondly, this 'book of pets' given away with issues dated 30/06/56 (volume 3, #26)

Here's a recent bargain for someone on ebay (at £7.99) - an incomplete Swift jigsaw. In fact this is the 'companion' jigsaw to the very first Swift jigsaw I featured in this blog post. In lovely condition. 

and here's a new item...it's a Swift birthday postcard. I've also included the backs of the 2 examples of this postcard so that you can see that one was sent to a 13 year old and one to an 11 year old. I'd have thought the target age for Swift was younger than that but there you go.

All images taken from ace ebay seller The Lewes Bookshelf who are well worth following as they seem to turn up all sorts of interesting comic stuff. 

You can just see in the top left corner of this image some text which says "presented free with SWIFT 3 2 62" - so 3rd February 1962. 

Thanks to friend of the blog Adam Teitge I can now who this bus ticket used to advertise Swift - this was a new one on me, not seen this before.

I've included this image because it contains a picture of a Swift diary - I knew these existed but I've never seen one before

A close-up of the diary - no idea how many of these were produced, they're pretty hard to come by these days!

I've also looked at Swift picture books here

This was a recent spot on eBay - described by the seller as being a piece of promotional merchandise for a newsagent

This was a recent spot on eBay - from issue 31/10/59 (volume 6, issue #38) according to the seller, 16 pages (all blank) to be filled with images cut (!) from weekly issues of Swift

and here's a lovely cardboard boomerang featuring the character Smiley! From issue dated 20/09/58 (volume 5, number 38) 

I look at Swift spin-off annuals here

These are from friend of the blog Doug Brain...

Swift comic 25 February 1961 (volume 8, issue 8) - I like the look of this scrapbook and would love to get hold of a copy)

I looked at the Quester's book here

...and more about the 3rd book here

and there were some pin badges to be acquired too by the looks of it...

Swift paintbox! 

Previously seen images...

Swift club membership card...

...and here are the club details...

...and details of a particular exhibition

All images taken from this eBay listing. I'd heard of these but not seen them before - unfortunately, I can't even tell you how many 'issues' of the Swift birthday book there were. So I swiped these from the seller and if I ever find out any more I'll add it in...

The second Swift Birthday Book

the seller noted...

This is A RARE VINTAGE 1957 RELATED TO SWIFT YOUNG CHILDREN'S COMIC - THE SECOND SWIFT BIRTHDAY BOOK OF PUZZLES COMPLETE WITH THE ORIGINAL ENVELOPE SENT TO RECIPIENT FROM BINN'S ROAD LIVERPOOL.

Apart from rusty staples in fabulous clean and unused condition for a 63 year old booklet as it has been kept in a drawer in it's original envelope since receiving on 09.07.1957.

Compalcomics (part illustrated lot 107 in their Summer 2013 sale (British comics section)) with birthday book 3 & 4 (plus other items) for £181 (incl. buyers premium)

and then (lot 101, part illustrated) in their Autumn 2012 auction (British section) this lot went for £150

And then I thought I'd stay on the Compal website and look at what other interesting Swift items they might ever have sold...From the auction in Summer 2012 (British section, lot 88) there were Girl / Swift / Robin Birthday and Membership Cards & Badges (early 1950s) Girl; 2 Birthday Cards Club Membership Card Badge and Compliments slip Swift; 6 Birthday Cards Club Membership Card Club Badge and six envelopes Robin: 4 Birthday Cards Birthday Club card Club Badge and Happy Birthday postcard Birthday cards and Club cards [vfn] (26) Winning bid incl. 10 Buyer's Premium: £143

Over on 'Dan Dare info' (here) I've spotted an extra Swift birthday card

Lot 101 in the Spring 2010 (British section) is described thus...Swift (1954-56) Vol 1: 1-41 Full year missing issues 11 15 22 and 26; Vol 2: 1-53 complete year and Vol 3: 1-18. With 28pg Swift Quester's Books 1 2 and 3. Vol 1 issues 1-29 front/back cover split [fr/gd] balance 79 issues [vg/fn-] (111) Winning bid incl. 10% Buyer's Premium: £121. The lot is unillustrated so I can't tell you what the Swift Quester books are, but they sound intriguing.

And a Tarna the jungle boy birthday card

There are some Swift comic free gifts shown here

Swift jigsaws

There were a LOT of Dan Dare / Eagle pieces of merchandise, especially jigsaws so I figured there must be some Swift jigsaws out there - here's the only one I've found so far...