Oh You Donkey

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Text on Button OH YOU
Image Description

Blue text on a white background and an illustration of a donkey with a blue outer edge

Curl Text COSMO MFG CO CHICAGO
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The words combined with the image of a donkey imply the phrase, “Oh, you ass.” Nathan Shure’s toy company, Cosmo Manufacturing Company, was founded in 1892 and was known for creating the trinkets found in Cracker Jack Boxes. In 1926, Cosmo Manufacturing Company bought the Dowst Brothers Company, which was famous for its tiny works created using metal (including buttons, cufflinks, and other metal accessories that were intended for promotional purposes). When Cosmo Manufacturing Company absorbed the Dowst Brothers Company, the name for the new combined business was Dowst Manufacturing Company. Although the Dowst Brothers Company was known for their metal items, any buttons that are labeled "Cosmo Manufacturing" were presumably made prior to 1926 when the companies merged and the name changed. In 1937, the repackaged board game “Monopoly” (which had first been released two years prior) included new metal tokens made by Dowst Manufacturing Company. Those token designs are still used in the classic edition of Monopoly today.

Sources

Strom, Stephanie. (1994). It's high noon for a big maker of toy guns. (Financial Desk). The New York Times, p. The New York Times, Oct 23, 1994.
Clayman, A. (2019). TootsieToy & the Dowst MFG Co., est. 1876. Retrieved June 10, 2020, from https://www.madeinchicagomuseum.com/single-post/dowst-mfg-co-tootsietoy/

Catalog ID IB0316