Dexterity puzzle advertising “Star Soap” brand soap: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A dexterity puzzle advertising “Star Soap” brand soap. The puzzle is a round metal tin with painted interior and plastic cover. The interior has a green background and depicts a caricature of a man’s head and shoulders. He is painted black with black hair and a wide, red mouth. He is wearing a blue shirt with four black buttons. The black text above and below the image reads [BUY STAR SOAP / SCHULTZ & Co ZANESVILLE, O.] Five (5) white plastic balls are enclosed in the tin. They can be "caught" in the man's mouth. The back of the tin is plain silver-toned metal. Adhered to the back is a white sticker with black handwriting reads [$65 00].

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: ca. 1875
• Subject of: Schultz & Company, American, founded 1852
• Type: puzzles
• Medium: metal , plastic
• Dimensions: 3/8 x 1 7/8 x 7/8 in. (1 x 4.8 x 2.2 cm)
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Advertising
• Topic: Amusements
• Topic: Caricature and cartoons
• Topic: Stereotypes
• Object number: 2007.7.288
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of the Collection of James M. Caselli and Jonathan Mark Scharer
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The underlying object's rights statement is: No Known Copyright Restrictions Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.