Toddy Advertising

Q: When I was rehabbing our garage, which was built in about 1917, I found a large piece of colorful cardboard in the old insulation. It looks like it was an advertising sign or perhaps the side of a breakfast food box of some kind. There’s a child’s face on it with the phrase “Toddy builds health and strength.” Can you help identify the ad? Does it have any value?

A:  Toddy was a brand name for a “meal in a glass” sold by a Buffalo, N.Y., company named Maltop, Inc. The milk-based drink, apparently meant for children, was heavily marketed in the eastern United States and Canada in the late 1920s, so your garage may not be quite as old as you think it is—or it was insulated a decade after it was built. The drink was sold in cans in grocery stores. Your cardboard piece may have been the side of a carton that once held Toddy cans. The most common Toddy-related collectible is a mixer-style drinking glass embossed with the brand name and a child’s face. The glasses sell for $10 to $20 online. Your ad would sell for only a few dollars. Why not frame it and hang it in your garage or kitchen as part of your house’s history?