Prize Wedge Hunter - Vintage Edition

EARCLIPS was a specialized jewelry wedge that was unsurprisingly used for a set of earclips, usually themselves proxy for a gift certificate.

This particular variant only has one known appearance, [S3-E501 Pam/Dolores/Allan 2/17/1986]. Overall, there are 6 known appearances of all EARCLIPS wedge variants, though after this first appearance, the next variant was not seen until Season 7.

Rumor has it that some of the letters on this wedge variant, particularly the E, R, L, and P, were conceived after the artist adopted a new Dachshund.

Let's eclipse the $150 wedge once again with this fabulous EARCLIPS prize wedge.

This TRIP wedge variant completely replaced both TRIP wedge variants that were used over season 1 and 2. This variant was used at least 15 times over Seasons 3, 4, and 5. My first record of its use is [S3-E524 Linda/Joan/Tom 3/19/1986], and then the last time it was seen was [S5-E809 Mary Beth/Donna/Robin 10/22/1987], after which it was replaced by the first of two Season 5 variants.

The text on this wedge is extra, extra bold, helping it to stand out from other TRIP wedge variants. Which is good because there are a LOT of TRIP wedge variants yet to come. It's curious that they suddenly departed from the recent wedge styling with the extra bold rather than extra wide letters.

It's time to take another TRIP over to the wheel to put this wedge on.

BRACELET, another 8-letter prize wedge, was used at least 6 times over seasons 3 thru 12, though this variant was only seen once in [S3-E537 Brad/Cornelia/Pam 4/15/1986]. The next time a BRACELET wedge would be seen is in season 6 with a new variant.

BRACELET joins a growing variety of prize wedges descibing individual pieces of jewelry. If you guessed that it was used to give away bracelets, well, that would be both obvious and correct.

Again, we seem to be getting a bit of Dachsund DNA mixed in with our Clarendon, with these really wide letters.

BRACELET yourself, this wedge is going on the wheel.

Welcome to Season 4 of Prize Wedge Hunter, where we start exploring a new Prize Wedge biome, the Classic era. The wheel palette makes a significant shift away from orange and brown toward pink and purple, fully lifting the show out of the '70's at last.

Season 4 is going to be a short season. Even though I have sources for about 25% of the season, which is more than what I have for Season 3, there are fewer new prize wedges sighted. In fact, I could only find seven new wedges for Season 4. So, let's move ahead full-speed toward the next milestone, the start of the all-cash era.




This is the FUR variant that replaced the short lived Season 3 variant, and the fourth FUR wedge variant overall. Used across Seasons 4 and 5, it was first observed in [S4-E616 Marsha/Ed/Kathleen 10/20/1986], and last observed in [S5-E839 Norm/Marci/Dean 12/3/1987], with 8 known appearances and a ninth probable appearance for which I do not have a video source. It was replaced in Season 6 with an evolving series of variants.

Although variants FUR-S1-B, FUR-S3, and FUR-S4 are all very similar, there are some differences. This variant is actually quite difficult to distinguish from FUR-S1-B, with the primary difference being somewhat bolder text and slightly lower letter positioning on FUR-S4. When comparing FUR-S3 and FUR-S4, most of the difference is in where the text is positioned on the wedge, with FUR-S3 having the text positioned noticeably higher, and with FUR-S4 having a somewhat bolder R.

Now that that hairy tangle of variants has been brushed out, let's put this FUR wedge on the wheel.

After having many prizes proxy a gift certificate, we suddenly have a wedge for an unproxied gift certificate. While there will be other wedges to come directly representing gift certificates, this is the only wedge variant with this particular text. Other gift certificate wedge examples are G.C., GIFT CERTIF., and GIFT CERTIFICATE in full. I only have record of a single use of this particular variant, in [S4-E642 Becky/Mike/Cathy 11/25/1986].

The gift certificate offered with this wedge variant was for Gucci:
"One of our contestants could win a gift certificate to shop at Gucci's where they might select this stunning ensemble. It's a green Gaberdeen suit with a satin blouse, red leather shoes, and a bag. It's made in Italy, only from Gucci. $1,260!"


Do we want that GIFT CERT. on the Wheel or On Account? On the Wheel of course!

TV PHONE seemed to be another single use or low use prize wedge. It has been seen solely in [S4-E651 Jeff/Ruth/Debbie 11/13/1986].

This is a really exciting one: Decades before Zoom, Skype, iPhone, and Android, and years before the public internet, there was Luma. It was truly before its time in its vision. We're talking Knight Rider level tech here, folks:
"It's Luma, the first visual telephone for everyday calling! Using an ordinary telephone line, the Luma sends a video snapshot of its user anywhere in the world. It's from Luma Telecom. $2,900!"

Nevertheless, this was another wedge to use the special horizontal-vertical split formatting, with "TV" featured horizontally across the top, and "PHONE" featured vertically down the remaining length of the wedge.

Perhaps I should take a snapshot of this wedge using an old-tech TV PHONE. It wouldn't be in color, though.