Topps Nose Flute (Humanatone)

Two years and a half after having discovered its existence, we finally found and got one: the rare Topps Nose Flute, with its great packaging!



We will not repeat what we already wrote there about the Topps company and cheap toys. Let just say — contrarywise to what we stated in 2012 — that this flute is a *real* Humanatone, branded by Gretsch, and not a Topps dedicated version Humanatone. It dates of the second half of the 1960s.

Mine is a beautiful monochromatic mid-blue sample, and is similar at any point to the regular Gretsch Humies that were sold in cardboard boxes. I carefully removed the stapples to take pictures, and then repacked this collector for another long sleep.

As we said, the difference lays in the great packaging offered to the Topps flute. The young player looks totally enchanted by the whistlings he produces, the colors are rather flashy, and the typographics are funny.



A user manual is included with the Humanatone, with no particular surprise, but showing a strip of three boxes, drawn like a triptych by Roy Lichtenstein :)



A good addition in the collection!

The Topps nose flute

The Topps Chewing Gum Company was founded in 1938, and from 1951, began to sell baseball cards that become its specialty. But the company continued to produce candies, and also some toys. Here is a Topps nose flute, found on The Topps Archives blog. According to the keeper of this blog and Wikipedia, the flute can be dated "after 1965", since the header card mentions Duryea as location for the company.



This nose flute clearly is a Humanatone, although I don't think it is stamped with this brand, which was still owned by the Fred Gretsch Mfg. Co. at this time (I cannot read what written on the flute itself...). However, it looks of a much better fabrication than the contemporary (end of the 60s) spin-off "Hum-a-tune" and its branded version Bullwinkle's Hum-a-Tune (1969), which were produced in Hong-Kong.

The Topps nose flute presents 2 features from the Humanatone that do not appear on the Hum-a-Tune : the small "true tremolo" hole on the right wing, and the lip-rest heel at the bottom (as did the late Gretsch Humanatones). The (yellow) plastic of this Topps looks more like the new Humanatones (consistent and not marbled).

I guess I can read on the header: « ©TOPPS CHEWING GUM, INC. / DURYEA, PA. 18642 / MADE & PRTD. IN U.S.A. » and I suppose this model was a "real Humanatone" by Gretsch (or already by Grover ?), but specially branded for the Topps Co. A physical examination would be necessary to be certain.