The cast iron ere lasted from the 1880's probably till the late 1930's or longer. A mould was made, a molten liquid metal was poured into the mould, and then when the temperature was cool enough, the solid new toy was removed.
An assorted collection of cast iron toys
A Cast Iron Arcade Car
An Arcade or Hubley Cast Iron Coupe
? When I have more time I'll research this
A Cast Iron Hubley Tow Truck with Missing Hook
An Authentic or "Reproduction" Hubley Gasoline Truck?
A Hubley Cast Iron Tow Truck
A Hubley Stake Truck
Hubley Tow Truck and Hubley Chrysler Airflow Car
What you notice when you get a hold of cast iron toys is their weight. They're heavy and have "substance".
Also, they're very colourful. Of course, the paint probably contains lead which we now know can be harmful to people.
What unfortunately is also has happened is that there are plenty of "fakes" or "reproductions out there.
Honest E-Bay merchants will tell you that their listing is in fact a "repro", which others will place a "?" in the listing, and others will list the item as authentic.
What's interesting if you are an old or vintage toy collector is the transition of toys as time progressed.
1. Most cast iron toys have wooden wheels or rims and rubber tires that fit over the rims.
2. The actual toy has nice detail.
3. As the die cast era replaced the cast iron era, the "faults" in the metal pour were left, rather than being filed.
4. Die cast toys are very lightweight, and sometimes there are impurities (read 1 of my blog instalments) that will cause the toy to become very brittle and weak.
5. The plastic era. Not one of my favourite eras - enough said!
As the toy market has taken a nosedive in terms of sales, I've purchased less and less, and have had a harder time selling on E-Bay. People have their priorities, and as such vintage toys are less and less a priority when you're worried about your job, and providing for your family.
2 comments:
how can I find an appraisor close to me? I live in the Tyler texas area and have 3 cast iron horse drawn wagons, one horse drawn sleigh with woman figurine, and a solid brass cart, drawn by a clydesdale horse
Hello,
Try doing a search for "Tyler, Texas antique dealers". I did one and came up with the name of 2 dealers. I also checked to see what bigger cities are near you,and saw that Fort Worth, Texas is close to you. If you are able to drive there, you might want to also do a search for "antique dealers in Fort Worth, Texas".
My suggestion would be to first see if the antique dealers know about old toys.
If they do, then select at least 3 different dealers to visit with your items to get estimates as to what the value of your items are worth.
Thanks for visiting my blog, and asking a question.
Stacey
Post a Comment