hobbyDB

Tuesday, September 6, 2016

Sunny and Seasonal

26 C / 79 F

hobbyDB

I'm always getting e-mails from people from all over the world, and I never know what to expect. A month ago, I received an e-mail from Mr. Christian Braun

In his own words:

"Dear Stacey,

We just got through 200,000 catalog pages for hobbyDB and are now working more on vintage toys.  Your website comes up all the time when I do research and I wanted to ask you if you like to do two things for us:

1. Join our Advisory Board - we use our 60 advisors when we look at new types of collectibles to ask ontology and taxonomy questions, normally just one or two times a year.
2. It would be great if you add links to relevant hobbyDB pages, for example add a link to this page (note that I linked to your page on this as you have interesting information and images, we should do this with each of your brand specific posts).

Please let me know if you like the idea and if you have any questions.

Best,

Christian"

I've been writing less and less since about 1 1/2 years ago, but I still try to write. Below is the link to Hobby DB.

Please click here to visit the hobbyDB website

I decided to check out HobbyDB's website. I searched for old toys since that is what I write mostly about. 

Please do not copy any of the images below without the written permission of HobbyDB

My first search was for Buddy L. When you do a search, a page is presented with the current items that hobbyDB has in its' catalogue.

When you then click on an image, you get a catalogued and sorted image, as well as information about the toy.

And when you click on a specific image, you get an enlargement;.

Below is a screen capture of a Meccano Magazine. I also like old catalogue photos or old old magazines because of the style of artwork and old typography (fonts). 

Below is a sampling of toys from the HobbyDb database.

Below is a screen capture for the Wyandotte toy company.

The web page about Hobby DB

 The company obviously is more elaborate than mine, and also is a website that has a section for selling toys. This is a part of the company that is commercial in nature. The page below is just a "clip" of the whole page, so if you are interested in reading more, or in selling toys, you should carefully read this page.

Below is the result for a search of the Steelcraft Company. What  resulted were modern-day images from the Hallmark greeting card company. I assume that Hallmark has a licence to sell their own Steelcraft mini-reproductions of the toys that were made back in the 1930's-1950's.

I fared much better for a search of Hubley toys. Hubley, for those who don;t know, is an American Company from the 1940's-1960's.

Below is a screen-capture of the people on the Advisory Board of the HobbyDB company.

Hi Stacey,

Thanks for coming back to me.  You have our permission to use any of the hobbyDB images or screen shots and I think you know a ton about toys.  Our Advisory Board is a pretty relaxed group of people that bring a lot of perspectives to collectible taxonomy and ontology questions - I think you would be a great addition.

Re your blog and adding links, it is a little bit of manual labor and I would totally understand reluctance.  I have a team that does this kind of thing (we are sitting on 800,000 data donations, i.e. catalog entries that museums, companies, auction houses and collectors gave to us to upload, they could do this (here is how to give us access).  

Just as an FYI here is our announcement from yesterday.Please click here to visit the latest entry to their website.

As you can see, HobbyDB has an exhaustive website of lots of modern and older toys for your reference. You are also welcome to join HobbyDB and to add your own photos and information about your toys. Eventually the website will be even better, as it is always expanding its' database. You might just want to add add a link for future reference. 

Another interesting part of their website is their "manifesto". This section informs the viewer as to their purpose in their website, and how they want to help collectors out there in the world.  This section is well-written, and helps explain what hobbyDB is all about.

Please click here to read about hobbyDB's manifesto

Please click here to visit hobbyDB

Thanks for dropping by to visit,

And as always,

have a great day or night

wherever you may be.

oldantiquetoys.blogspot.com

Stacey Bindman