Vintage Magic Slate boards are very simple toys. They are just a square of black wax affixed to a piece of cardboard with a clear, transparent page attached. You can use it as a tool to draw on the clear page and when you wish to erase your art, simply raise the clear page and start fresh.

The story goes that in the early 1920's, a man approached the owner of a small printing plant to sell the rights to his invention. It was a simple home made device made of waxed cardboard and tissue. The owner of the printing plant, R. A. Watkins, told the man he wished to sleep on the proposal. During that night, the inventor was arrested and called Watkins offering him the rights to his invention in exchange for bail. Watkins paid the man's bail, got a US patent and international rights and made millions.

Magic Slate value and price guide

What's your 'Magic Slate' worth? Here are some recently sold items (USA):

Picture Title Date sold Price
Walt Disney's Zorro Drawing Tracing Game 05/2019 $117.99
Diablo Slate Mentalism By Bill Nord 04/2019 $112.50
1967 Hanna Barbera Atom Ant Paper Saver 06/2019 $100.00
Bozo The Clown Paper Saver Larry Harmon 04/2019 $99.99
Bozo The Clown Paper Saver Larry Harmon 04/2019 $59.99
See all sold items for more prices

Magic Slate forum (1 comment)

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Shell - August 7, 2017

Hello Fabtintoys and your readers,I have a unique 1990s LOONEY TUNES Magic Slate Paper Saver drawing Toy by Golden Books, published by Western Publishing Company. Made in the USA. What makes it unique is that I have Not seen any other one of these online, on eBay nor anywhere else. Even the Golden Books logo is unique. The only place I have seen that version of the (Golden Books) logo with the "Pokey Little Puppy" on top, is on the international trademark website, when it was registered in 1995, according to their record. My Magic Slate shows the cartoon Tazmanian Devil chewing up the word Looney on Looney Tunes. Again, I haven't seen this anywhere, and I have looked all over.Do you know where I could get more information? Or, do you know anyone who might be interested in purchasing it? I could give more information to serious potential buyers. Thanks in advance for your kind help,Shell
►reply: Thanks for your story Shell! If anyone reaches out I'll contact you.