This is Yak-Nit, one of several crazy critters from a series of prizes found in Cracker Jack boxes in the early 1970's. Click on the thumbnail images below for a better look at some of the other Nits in the series.

Clown-Nit	Crawl-Nit	Flap-Nit	Grin-Nit	Joy-Nit	Laugh-Nit	Speed-Nit

The Cracker Jack Nits were made by R & L Plastics of Melbourne, Australia; "R & L" stands for Rosenhain and Lipmann, the owners of the company. According to Australian Craig L. Hall, author of the excellent Breakfast Barons, Cereal Critters and the Rosenhain and Lipmann Legacy,* a book about R & L published in May 2002, the Cracker Jack order was the largest single order ever placed with the company.

Breakfast Barons, Cereal Critters,
and the Rosenhain and Lipmann Legacy
by
Craig L. Hall
(Click cover for larger view.)

The Nits are made of solid but flexible polyethylene plastic and are less than 1 1/2" tall. These prizes are three-dimensional, meaning that the fronts and backs are different (front and back views), not mirror images of each other. The identities of the individual Nits and the origin ("Australia") appear on the bottom, having been acid etched onto the molds.

Original Nits were made in eight standard colors: pink, maroon, royal blue, orange, turquoise, brown, hunter green, and caramel. One Cracker Jack and plastics collector, Jeffrey Maxwell, has a Joy-Nit in slate blue which he believes to be an original, since he has owned it for some time before reproductions surfaced and since it is not one of the known reproduction colors (see below). If so, it is an exception and a rarity.

According to Craig Hall, variations of color occurred as quirks in the manufacturing process. (Quite often, residue of one color remains in the molding equipment when another color production run is set up, and some transitional pieces emerge at the beginning of the new run that are a blended color variation of the residual and new colors.) Craig interviewed employees who ran the plastic making plant and learned that color variations were not the result of late shift workers sometimes getting bored at night and experimenting with colors, as had once been speculated.

An article in the Chicago Tribune Sunday Magazine in April 1972 indicated that the Nits were current Cracker Jack prizes at the time the article was published, but they likely were originally released earlier. One major Nits and R & L collector, Mike Speth (see below), reports that he was collecting Cracker Jack Nits in 1971, which is consistent with Craig Hall's R & L research. According to Craig, Cracker Jack placed its massive order with R & L in March 1971. A lead time of three months' production and three months' shipping was normal, which would have meant a final delivery some time in September 1971 at the earliest. But because the order was so huge, delivery may not have been until November or December. Even if Cracker Jack began distributing the nits immediately, such a large supply could have easily extended distribution until the date of the Tribune article and beyond.

There are 20 Nits in the series:

Clown-Nit Crawl-Nit Flap-Nit Flip-Nit Fun-Nit

Goof-Nit Grin-Nit Hoot-Nit Hop-Nit Joy-Nit

Knot-Nit Laugh-Nit Rock-Nit Sniff-Nit Speed-Nit

Spy-Nit Toot-Nit Twang-Nit Twirl-Nit Yak-Nit

Nits were originally used as Kellogg's cereal premiums in Australia in boxes of Froot Loops, Coco Pops, Frosties, Honey Smacks, Ricicles, Lettabits, and Strawberry Pops. They were not distributed in the United States in cereal. For more information on these and other cereal premiums and toys made by the R & L Company, don't miss the wonderfully entertaining web site of Mike Speth, the Astronit. It includes a gallery of all the Nits in the series and an image of the back of the Froot Loop's box promoting them.

Cracker Jack collectors should beware of re-issues. Although all Nits are fun, members of this second invasion of these friendly little aliens are not Cracker Jack prizes. Gail Sullivan, President of the Cracker Jack Collectors Association, discovered in a mid-1998 collecting publication that re-issued Nits from Mexico were available. Possibly the re-issues were to be used as gumball or vending machine prizes, but this is only a guess.

Nit Reproductions
(Click thumbnail for larger view.)

Knot-Nit	Crawl-Nit	Twirl-Nit

Upon close examination of these re-issues, they appear to have been cast from the original molds; there seems to be little difference in them except for the colors. Some of the colors of the reproductions are in striking contrast to the original colors and are easily recognizable, such as light blue, white, light yellow, goldenrod, bright orange, bright pink, bright green, red, and purple. Blue and pink reproductions exist that may be harder to differentiate from the originals. A gray nit has also been reported, but not confirmed. Of course, if it does exist, it could be one of those R & L originals that were cast in transitional colors (as explained above), rather than a re-issue.

In late 1999, nits in original colors became widely available. According to the source of these, they were purchased directly from R & L, presumably as overstock. There is no perceptible difference in the molding or in the colors of these and the nits known to have come originally from Cracker Jack boxes to cast any doubt on their authenticity as R & L originals.

*Craig Hall's fascinating and meticulously researched Breakfast Barons, Cereal Critters and the Rosenhain and Lipmann Legacy, published in May 2002, contains a comprehensive history of the ready-to-eat cereal industry and its evolution and expansion in Australia. This is followed by an extensive illustrated catalog of Australian cereal premiums, most of which were produced by R & L.

There is a significant U.S. theme threaded throughout the book: Kellogg, Nabisco, even Captain Crunch--and of course, Cracker Jack. He details "the unusual Nits colours," too. The book is beautifully illustrated with wonderful color photographs of the various cereal premiums covered. This oversized 200-page book is a must-have for cereal premium and cereal box collectors in the United States and Australia alike. But anyone with an appreciation for toy premiums will enjoy the thoroughness of this work and Craig's obvious dedication to and passion for his hobby, certainly something with which Cracker Jack collectors can identify. And of special interest, the book contains some surprizes about those R & L's used as Cracker Jack premiums--and those not selected.