Hullo and welcome to the first ‘Sweet Spotlight’ – a little article series where I intend on focusing in on one type of candy bar/sweet/chocolate, both current and past. To kick it off I’ve been trying to find out more about the Verne Collier Inc, Birmingham Alabama…
I picked up this original tin whilst rummaging through an antique mall in Kansas last summer; it stands approx. 10cm tall with the front design advertising ‘kitchen fresh fine candy’, and the reverse sporting a rather 50’s retro looking silver star pattern. Only the lid makes reference to what type of candy was inside – I believe that this might have been a design feature of quick and cheap, mass production; allowing candy to be distributed quickly with little time spent on amending designs for each confectionery line. Just pop them in the tin and make sure the right lid is on top!
According to the lid, the tin apparently once contained ‘Cocoanettes‘ – made with (among other things) milk, sugar and cocoanut – an archaic spelling of ‘coconut’, and retailed at only $1 per pound. But apart from the actual information on the tin, I’m struggling to find out much else about this candy (for now)!
The only references I have found so far are advertisements taken out for Cocoanettes, Chocolettes and Peanut Brittle in magazines such as ‘Scouting’ and ‘Field and Stream’ where the tins of candy are pitched as a way for boy scouts, schools and churches to raise money for community causes. They could be bought by these organisations for 50c, giving them the opportunity to double their money; a similar framework is still in place for scout groups buying and selling chocolate and candy today.
Most of these adverts seem to span the 1960’s and 70’s, and their images of the tins pretty much match mine, hooray! And in the above adverts we can even see images of the candy! They almost look like piece of heavily coated popcorn…but I hazard a guess that they were rolled coconut balls of sorts.
But I am yet to find any references to Cocoanettes being sold outside this market and appearing in retail stores – perhaps this was solely the purpose of production for the Verne Collier candy company? Not being an American, or familiar with the notion of selling candy even as a girl guide, I feel like there’s a pool of socially based information I am not privy to, so if any of y’all can enlighten me, then please let me know!
I am hoping to find out more about this tin in the future as I work my way through a series of books on American candy, but if any one out there also has a tin, knows anything about the origin of Verne Collier candies, or can remember selling or buying or eating them, please get in touch! I’d love to hear from you, and will update this article if any I can find out any more information about my little American souvenir.
The British Candy Connoisseur 