Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Dinky Toys
Mr. Peter Cozens
Peter Cozens
Antique Toy World
Australia
http://www.antiquetoyworld.com.au/
This is my third post about M. Peter Cozens fine toy store in Australia named appropriately Antique Toy World. When I write, I usually like to write in real time while I'm creating the blog. What surprised me today though was how many word associations that I could make with the toys. You'll see what I mean when I add more than my usual commentary about someone else's fine toys.
What's interesting is that I never had any Dinky Toys. I wasn't for want of toys as a child. I had Meccano, Minibrix, A western American cap 6 shooter (with bullets that you placed the cap into), with a holster, A Lionel electric train set, a science kit, a carpentry set, and a crystal radio with clips that attached to a radiator. But Dinkys? Never. I don't know why, but I didn't.
I did a brief research on Dinky Toys, and was surprised. Frank Hornby, the inventor of Meccano, created the Dinky toys to go along with his model sets of Meccano. There was also a Dinky Toy company in France. The early toys were made from zinc alloys. SOmetimes the impurities in the pour or cast later caused the toys to be fragile and crumble. I have personal experience from a Tootsietoy. The sender sent it poorly packaged, and when it arrived in had broken into many parts. It was impossible to restore.When I grabbed 1 of the parts too hard, it literally crumbled in my hand. I even think I have a post from 2011 about that experience. Now I know what the cause was - casting impurities.
I said that these toys made me think of so many things as I was downloading the images. I thought that I'd share those thought with you. I purchased several cast iron Hubley and Arcade (American) Chrysler toys. They're beautiful take-apart toys. However, if you do a search on the Net for the real and life-size Airflow, you'll come across a "beauty" of a car. Unfortunately, this model only lasted 3 or so years, and was discontinued. It didn't sell all that well!
The USA had their brand of small toys called Tootsietoy. One of my favourties was the Woody
that you always used to see in those early 1960's Hollywood surfing movies. The toy was nicknamed a "Woody" as the side panels were in fact made of wood.
Who can forget when the British were racing those super-sized car on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah in the 1930-s-1950's. The first name that comes to my mind and rightly so, is Sir Malcolm Campbell. Sir Campbell and several other American and British cace car drivers would race their cars which at the time seemed every month, but in fact was probably 6 months. The world land speed record would also seem to be broken every time one of these Monstrous" and super fast cars hit the salt flats. The reasons for choosing that location were that there was miles and miles of flats for racing the car, which of course was for safety. The car and driver had to do 2 trials - back and forth in order to claim the record. Also, there was a certain amount of time in between the trials, that the racer had. So If a car had mechanical trouble and could not be repaired within the time limit, the "record would not stand on 1 trail alone.
If you were a child growing up in the 1950's as I was, you'd probably see old movies in B & W on tour TV. The Charlie Chan movies, and the movie about Shangri-La -Lost-Horizon (1937) are 2 titles that immediately come to mind.Of course alter, with the Harrison Ford - Steve Spielberg movie (Raiders of the Lost Arc), you'd have seen a similar plane like this moving on a map across the Pacific. Another thought that came to mind was the giant airplane that Howard Hughes' company Hughes Aircraft made. It was a huge aircraft (Amphibious),but only made 1 flight, and then was mothballed (stored). Imagine, when people like Howard Hughes would have an adjective in any news item about them title " Howard Hughes - the millionaire and handsome move producer. THat was the time when a million dollars was actually a lot of money (1940's and on).
What comes to mind from the title and name of this toy are the words "Air Mail". Years after the first flight by the Wright Brothers, the airplane got to be used for flying mail across countries and the world. Many of the amphibious airplanes crossed the Pacific to many of the US Territories (Hawaii and Guam) and further east to Asia.
This particular Dinky truck reminds me of many American toy trucks form the early 1930's-1940's. The Tootsietoy Company had their Mack Truck line of toys. What's interesting to notice is the similarity of the rubber tires and what appear to be wooden wheels (Someone please correct me if they're metallic). Of course, in every American or British gangster or WWII movie of the time, you'd see trucks similar to this - all of course in black & white. I'd be seeing those movies in the early 1950's every Sunday at my school, or on TV.
So that's it for today. Last night, My wife and I went out fir dinner last night with an old friend and his wife. As the night went on, the subject of old furniture came up. Both he and his wife had inherited nice furniture form their parents. None of their 3 children wanted the furniture as they grew up and married. I along with my 2 brothers and sister also inherited old furniture from my parents. I was left with some furniture and decided to store it before I got married. After 3 years, Heidi and I bought a house, and I thought we'd keep the furniture bedroom set. Not! We did keep the breakfront and credenza for our dining room though.
Why did I bring up the topic of old furniture? I was wondering what this current generation and future generations , as wel as the generation before me will do or are doing in terms of collecting or hobbies? I remember not long ago, when young kids and well-off parents were buying baseball cards by the case and keeping them for investment!. Nowadays, all I see are young children with IPads, IPods, Sony Play Stations, and other computer toys.
Will old toys survive to reach the category of the true word "antique" which is 100 years? For sure, since the population of the world is currently approaching 4 billion. Will collecting be on the scale that it once was - that's to be seen.
Once again, a special thanks to:
Peter Cozens
Antique Toy World
Australia
http://www.antiquetoyworld.com.au/
Thanks for dropping by,
and have a Great Day wherever you may be,
and whatever part of the day you are reading this post.
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