Experience The Nostalgic Fun Of Gumball Machines

The gumball machine collection was inspired by the nostalgic fun of dropping a coin into a gumball machine and crossing your fingers you get the toy you want!

Gumball and vending machine toys have made us smile since the turn of the century. We took this experience to the next level with a timeless collection of original hand-carved, lost-wax-cast jewelry pieces.

After researching these quirky little gumball machine charms, we chose designs representing the most popular charms from the 1920s through the 1980s.

INSPIRED BY A GUMBALL MACHINE

From Madeline: One day, I was playing with Lillie and one of her toys. It was a purse with a chain attached to it, and like a gumball machine, little plastic balls with charms inside would come out of it. You could add each little charm to the purse's chain. It was more fun than it should have been, and I caught myself saying, “I want to get jewelry out of a gumball machine”…

“I WANT TO GET JEWELRY OUT OF A GUMBALL MACHINE!!”

Wax Versions Of The Charms In The MIMOSA Handcrafted Gumball Machine Jewelry Collection

There is something so fun and whimsical about gumball machine prizes. And is perhaps one of the few situations where not knowing what will roll out is more exciting than not. ;)

I immediately ordered the CUTEST little vintage-y gumball machine from a great company that’s been making them for the last 50 years!

I planned to stick our current pieces in it, but my curiosity got the best of me. After spending late nights researching the history of gumball and vending machines, I realized I had to make an official gumball machine collection.

The Gumball Machine Jewelry Collection

The MIMOSA Handcrafted Gumball Machine Collection Featuring The Dice, Elephant, Flamingo, Four Leaf Clover Pendants

Shop the Dice Pendant

Shop the Elephant Pendant

Shop the Flamingo Pendant

Shop the Four Leaf Clover Pendant

The MIMOSA Handcrafted Gumball Machine Collection Featuring The Happy Face, Horseshoe, Roller Skate, And Wishbone Pendants

Shop the Happy Face Pendant (Also available in 14K gold)

Shop the Horseshoe Pendant (Also available in 14K gold)

Shop the Roller Skate Pendant

Shop the Wishbone Pendant

As it turns out, these gumball machines have delivered little bits of joy in the US since the turn of the century. They initially dispensed gum and peanuts and moved on to trinkets and toys.

Learning about the actual prizes was a whole other fun rabbit hole. Each toy or prize often reflected society at the time, and you can especially see that in crackerjack toys. Go down that rabbit hole sometime. ;)

If you poke around on eBay long enough, you can buy loads of vintage and antique vending machine prizes. And I ordered some in the name of good research, of course.

For weeks, tiny little boxes arrived packed full of almost 100-year-old toy prizes. I might have been as excited as the kids who first got them in the 1920s.

I decided to let the toys be my muse. The designs are inspired by the prizes kids have been winning since the turn of the century. The specific ones I chose represent, in some way, the decades from the start of their popularity.

Bronze and Sterling Silver Charms in The MIMOSA Handcrafted Gumball Machine Jewelry Collection

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Shop the Gumball Machine Collection

Published 9/17/21; Last Updated 2/21/23