The Mystic Oracle - Mysterious, Amusing, Mystifying, Baffling

You know, I think I may have forgotten to post these long ago. These are not new to our collection. Each one is a bit different, so let's dig in.

Like yesterday's Mr. Gazoogle wheel, these all have inner wheels equipped with little magnetic strips that activate the outside wheel. If you look carefully, you can just make out the strip on either side of the inside grommet. Not very baffling, I think. All but one of these measures 3.5 by 5.5 inches. The odd man out is the ad for First Aid Syrup ("Drink plenty, because it's a food!") It's 3.375 by 5.125 inches. It's really not in good shape. The copyright date are 1923 or 1924, if noted at all.

Each wheel is customized with questions and answers pertaining to the product or, in one case, to the City of Los Angeles. The folks at James H. Farley's clothing store had a bit of "humor" on their wheel: Where was the first donut made? In "Grease". Heh. Some of these have generic trivia in case your ad man can't think of enough product questions to keep the customer interested.

These aren't too bad as a freebie, I guess.

My favorite advertises Beardsley's Pure Food Products' Shredded Codfish and Shredded Codfish cakes, both in cans. I can't imagine the horror. The answer to "Is there more than one shredded codfish?" is "No - there is but one. The word 'SHREDDED' is copyrighted." Beardsley also made something called "Egg Preservative". If that isn't mystic, I don't know what is.