Monday, April 1, 2013

Henry Katz

Monday, April 1, 2013


Henry Katz

    Yesterday, I wrote about several of Louis Marx's toys, one of which was called "The Parade". While searching out to see if he had made any another similar toys, I came across a similarly designed toy that was manufactured by Henry Katz. It took me a while to find out information about Mr. Katz, as he only made toys for a short time (1928-1931) and then dissolved his company to work for the Hoge toy company. Before joining the Hoge company, Katz had worked for the famous Ferdinand Strauss  toy company (1917-1928).

    Since Henry Katz only had his company for 3 years, a short time in the toy industry, he naturally didn't make many toys.  However, his toys did last, and I was able to find 10 from Bertoia Auctions.




There are several interesting things about the Henry Katz toys. First, he was producing quality toys at an early time (1928-1931). Secondly, he used lithographed tin. At the time, many of the European toy companies were producing marvellous and beautifully-crafted toys with this method. Lithographed tin is simply the process of printing (like photos in magazines) on a metal (tin). I don;t know why more American companies weren't using this method, but the Europeans were "en masse"! His 3 mini "landscape" toys were also complex, and were similar in mechanical design. They all had moveable parts or characters that moved  around, or in a line. I was surprised that for whatever reason, his toys do not yield high values at auction considering the rarity and the age of the toys. And finally, what's even more interesting is that several of today's toys still came with their original boxes!

Many of Henry Katz's toys were airplanes. That's not to figure out why, since the Wright Brothers had made their famous flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina (USA) on December  17, 1903. What's more, these toys were huge compared with many other toys of the time.













   Other toys were made such as the train and the kitchen set-up above. There again, we see an "ice box" - the item second from the left. For those who don't know, an ice box was a tightly-sealed container that was used to store perishable foods. An "ice man" would travel door-to-door, and deliver one or 2 blocks of ice to a household. The blocks were about a cubic foot or .3 cubic meter, as the block of ice had to fit into a small-sized compartment.  Although the first household refrigerator was invented in 1913, by Mr. Fred R.Wolf, electricity was still not all that common, and the cost of a unit at the time was high, relative to the average worker's wages at the time. The iceman would come to your house about every 3-5 days with another blog of ice. 
As for my next blog post, it will be perhaps tomorrow!

Have a Happy Easter Monday, Passover, or other holiday.
 If you don't celebrate at this time, then have a great day, wherever you happen to be.

Thanks for dropping by to read my blog.
Stacey




11 comments:

castors said...

Almost all toy racing cars are available in a range of scale factors. The scale factor determines the proportions of the model in relation to the actual racing car.

toysearcher said...

Hi Castors,

Thanks for the comment and the information. I've even discovered that there are actual-working scale models of Ferraris, and even older 1940's era "real" cars. As to why someone would spend a large amount of money to drive a 1:2 sized car, is beyond me!

Anonymous said...

Hi, I am selling a Henry Katz Cannon, 60cm long. no, 330. if you would like to know more:
arjan_ginkel2@hotmail.com


toysearcher said...

Hello,

Thank you for the offer, but I'm not selling or buying toys right now.
However, if you're a collector or seller, and how would you like to appear as a guest on my blog?
All you need to do is send me 4" x 6" colour JPEG photos @ 300 DPI, and a brief narrative.

Have a nice day, and thanks for dropping by,

(Mr.) Stacey Bindman
Toysearcher@gmail.com

virginiacreeper said...

I own a Katz toy, a Zeppelin.

toysearcher said...

Hello,

Thanks for reading my blog. If you have some photos or can take some
I'd be glad to add it to this post. I just need JPEG colour photos of a minimum size of 4" x6" @ 300 pixels/inch (100mm x 150mm).

Thanks,

Stacey

Anonymous said...

I have a Henry Katz "Coney Island Giant Dip tin windup toy I would like to sell. Any interest or should I put it on ebay

toysearcher said...

Hello Anonymous,

I'm not buying and selling right now, so the best is your option of selling it on e-bay.

Thanks for the comment,

Stacey

Unknown said...

Hi There! Is there an email address to which I can send you photos of my Katz Zeppelin Toy?

toysearcher said...

Hi John,

My e-mail address is toysearcher@gmail.com.
Try to use soft diffused light and if you have white reflectors, use them to add light into the shadows. 4" x 6" coloured JPEG's @ 300 dpi (Pixels/inch) work well.

I assume that I'll be allowed to add your photos to the post, but just "in case" - do I have your permission?

Thanks for reading the blog and offering to send photos.

(Mr.) Stacey Bindman
Toysearcher
I am the writer of this blog

Unknown said...

We found a set of the Katz 515 in very good condition while cleaning out my father's storage. Are there collectors and any suggestions when determining value?
My email is allencharris@bellsouth.net