Saw your post about the billiken. It's also used as the athletic mascot for St Louis University in St Louis Missouri. Your post is more information than I've ever seen explaining the origin of it. It seems that the "What is a billiken?" question surfaces here in St Louis media every few years.
Asked by Anonymous
I’d never heard of the Billiken before today!
Unfortunately for Florence Pretz, who designed the Billiken as it’s known, she sold her rights to her “invention” pretty quickly. She ended up receiving monthly cheques for $30 (which is about $750 today, adjusted for inflation) while the Chicago Billiken Co., who purchased the rights, made hundreds of thousands (at least!). As well as selling statues, they put their design on watch fobs, cuff links, umbrella handles, pins and anything else they could think of.
The average workingman was making about $1.50 a day ($45 a month), so she had a guaranteed income that helped keep her afloat, but it was nothing like what she could’ve made if she’d kept the patent!
According to some articles in 1909, she smashed the original Billiken at her home and wouldn’t allow anyone to name them in her presence, she was convinced she’d been swindled!
The Ottawa Herald, Kansas, November 4, 1909:
The Daily Signal, Crowley, Louisiana, December 15, 1909:
