Risqué Gag Gift "INDEPENDENTLY WEALTHY!" Circa 1961

Leister Game Company BECOME INDEPENDENTLY WEALTHY! NOVELTY GAG GIFT BOX from 1961.

Inside the box is the gag—a tin cup, brown plaid shoelaces, yellow plastic sunglasses, and an unsharpened pencil.  The tin cup shows it age with oxidation and corrosion and the sunglasses show age as well.

A line drawing cartoon of a man wearing a English bowler and pin-stripe suit while he lights a cigar with a lit dollar bill in on the top of box.  The end of the lid reads,

The sides of the lid read,

BE YOUR OWN BOSS         LIVE LIKE A MILLIONAIRE

The box measures 8” by 3” by 4”.  The box is in good structural condition but does have yellowing and foxing due to age.  A scribbled ink drawing of a “bat?” has been drawn on the top of the box, and on the bottom, someone has used blue ink to scratch through possibly the price.

Leister Game Company was founded by Reginald Leister and his wife, Emily from the basement of their Toledo, Ohio home in 1938.  The company specialized in novelty gags and gifts as well as party games and books.

WHAT EXACTLY IS A GAG BOX?  According to collectors, the whole idea is to entice you to open the box up--like a funny three-dimensional greeting card.  When you open it, it's not at all what you expected--but a gag! 

Gag boxes became very popular during World War II and actually held priority with mail service during the War.  When the Washington D.C. postal service office was asked why these risqué and funny gag boxes got to the troops when other things didn't, they answered, “We’ve had combat fatigue cases that never cracked a smile for weeks until somebody handed them a gag.” Ain’t that neat?