Mattel Astrospace Club - Italy

Mattel Astrospace Club - Italy

I believe that the Mattel Astrospace Club (note Club instead of Center) made it's appearance about the time that Baravelli was replaced by Mattel S.p.A. Giocattoli in Italy. The Italian comic book "Correire dei Piccoli" ran a "Space-Surprise" promotion so that anyone may join MAC by collecting tokens and sending in a coupon. Based on the "Space-Surprise" insert the MAC kit included the following items:

• Mattel Astrospace Corps membership card
• Special "Cosmo-Protective" envelope
• "Space Boy" badge (from the illustration on p3 of the insert it appears to be a pin-up button badge half the size of the sticker)
• "Space-Decal", the special decal with the logo of our Astrospace Club, to be applied on the bicycle or scooter, in your diary or wherever you are most interested
• "Mattel booklet" with discount vouchers (those will all have been used and redeemed by Mattel after the toy shop had sent them in, so very little chance of finding one of those now - there's the small illustration on p3 of the insert)

Corriere dei Piccoli Space-Surprise Insert - MAC contents plus Voucher Detail

To date only a few items have surfaced: an Italian MAC Membership Card, a "Cosmo-Protective" envelope (of similar proportions and design to the US MAC Vinyl "wallet"), and the "Space-Decal" (about the same size as the Canadian sticker - see comparison below - only printed on slick paper instead of the reflective cloth).

MAC - Italy Membership Card

The MAC - Italy ID Card is very similar to the MAC US ID vinyl "wallet" provided to members in the US only made of stiff paper - there's also an association with the Corrierino Club (which makes sense as the MAC club was advertized through Corrierino - there's also a grid, perhaps for the placement of additional collected Corrierino club tokens). I think it's interesting that the Member number, name, etc was typed, presumably when it was sent back to the member. The outside has spaces for "stamps" as part of a promotion I believe. Dimensions unfolded are 4" tall x 5 1/2" wide.

Mattel Astrospace Club - Italy Membership Card Outside Cover

MAC - Italy "Cosmo-Protective" envelope

The MAC - Italy "wallet" is made of thin white vinyl, 4 1/4” tall by 5 7/8” wide (opened) in size and has a pocket on each side. The young astronaut hopeful could fill in his name and address - note the Italian translations).

MAC - Italy "Space-Decal"

This sticker is very similar to the Canadian cloth sticker with an image that's about the same size. Note the addition of red in the helmet though- certainly much more stylish. It's 2 1/4" square.

Canadian Sticker on left, Italian on right

Centro Astrospaziale Mattel

Not really a club item, the CAM logo was found on toy shops in Italy to identify those selling MMM items. I've included it here because of its similarity to the MAC logo.

 

All Mattel images and captions are copyright Mattel and used without permission. All other content, including images and editorial, is Copyright © 1997-2024 John Eaton and/or contributors unless otherwise stated. If there are any comments or objections, please contact John Eaton or Paul Vreede.