A common adornment of dealmakers’ offices and cubicles, deal toys symbolize the work they spend their lives doing. But beyond being souvenirs, deal toys have a history, which D. Graham Burnett explores in ‘Tombstones and Toys,’ an entertaining essay that appears in the current issue of Cabinet Magazine. Don McDonald is said to have created the first Lucite deal toy in 1973 for a school friend who became an investment banker. Sensing an opportunity, McDonald quit his job at an advertising agency and founded Don McDonald & Associates, which went on to ‘create its own production facility, open multiple offices abroad’ and make as many as 5,000 toys a year in the mid-1990s. McDonald’s son Michael followed him into the business, which is now part of Altrum Honors Inc.
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