culture
Vintage Toronto Ads: What is Nickel, Anyway?
Addressing a child's curiosity about the metals sector, 1950s style.
Source: Maclean's, February 15, 1952.
Given children’s endless curiosity, it’s surely natural that at some point Junior asked his father what nickel was. Junior sensed there was more to the metal than the coin bearing its name, you see, which he used to buy the baseball cards that he stuck in the spokes of his bicycle.
His father felt that a lecture about the wonders of nickel, given in the comfy confines of his home office, would not only inform Junior, but perhaps spur him on to pursue a profitable future career in the metals sector.
When the lecture was over, Junior begged for a copy of The Romance of Nickel. He wasn’t the only person who wanted to browse its pages; described in a 1949 Inco newsletter as “that remarkable little book describing in layman language the growth of the nickel industry from its infancy,” the guide had received enough demand to merit four printings and the distribution of 50,000 copies across Canada.
When he received his booklet, Junior brought it to school. He thought the girl he had a secret crush on would be impressed by his enlightening discoveries about nickel. She showed little interest. Neither did his buddies, who were more interested in trading baseball cards. Junior’s passion for the nickel industry vanished as fast as it appeared, so he gave the booklet to his baby brother to scribble in.
Additional material from the February 1949 edition of Inco Triangle.