Updated: July 22, 2021
The Magic Slate Paper Saver was a favorite of kids growing up
in the 1960's, 70's and 80's. Selling for 29 - 79 cents over
the years, the Magic Slates usually featured popular cartoon,
comic book or pop culture characters.
Magic slates came with a little plastic pen that you used to
write on a clear piece of cellophane that you then lifted up
to erase your writing, and started all over again.
It's difficult to find unused Magic Slates, because kids
naturally played with them until they were worn out, or they
lost the writing pen, etc. Moms would then pitch them into the
trash, leaving very few unused ones to be found in good
condition.
I recently acquired at auction a large group of Magic Slates
that came from Western Publishing's archives in Racine,
Wisconsin. For decades, Western's Whitman or Watkins-Strathmore
lines produced coloring and sticker book items, paper doll sets
and related merchandise until the company was later absorbed by
Random House and reconfigured as the Golden Book line.
Land of the Giant's: Airing two years in the late 60's on ABC,
this cult classic show was about a space flight gone astray in
1983. The crew and the ship's inhabitants land on a strange
planet - similar to earth - but everything's a dozen sizes
bigger! The series starred Gary Conway, Don Matheson, Stefan
Arngrim, Don Marshall, Deanna Lund, Heather Young, and Kurt
Kasznar.
Producer Irwin Allen spared no expense for the special effects,
and he was no stranger to these kinds of productions; his other
credits included Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Lost In Space,
The Poseidon Adventure, and The Towering Inferno.
Here's a rare item, the Land of the Giant's Magic Slate, with this
one being the actual archive copy formerly stored away in the
publisher's library!
This one has colorful artwork at the top of the characters climbing
up giant office supplies and objects such as pencils. Down the sides
are other characters dwarfed by their surroundings.
Rare item, copyright 1969 by Kent Productions and 20th Century Fox!
Condition: This Watkins-Strathmore Magic Slate is in very good
condition, from the original manufacturer's archives! This item was
number 4445 in the Western Publishing Company's production numbering
line.
The early Magic Slate pens were attached by two little knobs that
fastened into two holes. These were phased out and later replaced with
pens fastened to the cardboard inside a little plastic bubble to prevent
them from being lost or kids playing with them and ruining the inventory
at grocery and department stores!
A great item and a must-have for the serious Land of the Giant's or Magic
Slate collector!
Value: $400.
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