The expiration date for Necco wafers, the pre-Civil War chalky sweets that were facing extinction, just got an extension, the Wall Street Journal reported. Ohio-based Spangler Candy Co. made a winning bid of $18.83 million at a federal bankruptcy auction in Boston on Wednesday for the assets of the New England Confectionery Co., the 171-year-old maker of the Necco candy. The sale to family-owned Spangler—which makes Dum Dums lollipops and the orange marshmallow Circus Peanuts—is expected to close Friday. In March, New England Confectionery—creators of the iconic wafer since 1847 and the oldest continually operated candy maker in the country—notified its hometown of Revere, Mass., that it would close operations in May and lay off hundreds of workers if the company didn’t find a new owner. The company, which is owned by New York investment firm Ares Capital, filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in April.
