Monday, October 31, 2016

Cast Iron Toys Match-Up

Wednesday, October 2, 2016
Overcast
13 Celsius  56 Fahrenheit


Cast Iron Toys Match-Up

I like to match-up real toys to their old catalogue photos. So when I received a recent Hubley catalogue, I decided to  match-ups of  the upcoming Beertoia Auctions auction to this catalogue.




This truck came in 2 sizes - 6" & 7" or  150 mm & 178 mm) in the catalogue.
The one above is 13" (332 mm) long. It must be from a later catalogue.
There are 2 things that are interesting above. That ball and string were attached to the from of the truck, as this toy was pulled by a young child along the road or sidewalk. It's called a "pull toy".
The other interesting to note is the rear chain pulley in the back wheel area of the truck (on both sides). These trucks moved with these large chains.
The above Hubley "Panama Differ" is 13" (332 mm) long.





The Bell  Telephone Truck above is # 41 in the upper right hand corner of the catalogue page.



The Borden's Milk Truck (above) is the largest of the milk trucks.
Below are 3 different sizes of the milk truck, although these assorted sizes 
were probably made later on. 2 of the largertrucks are in fact Borden's, while the
 smallest truck is not.On another page of the catalogue (not shown),
the smallest truck is described simply as a "Milk Truck".
The sizes are 3 3/4", 6" & 8" (76 mm, 152 mm, &203 mm) long.


Thanks for dropping by,
and as always,
Have a great part of the day or night,
Whereever you may be.

Stacey Bindman
toysearcher@gmail.com












Dinky Toys from Vintage-Toymasters

Tuesday, November 2, 2016
Sunny and Cool
6 Celsius 41 Fahrenheit


 Dinky Toys 
From Vintage Toymaster

I've started to present Dinky Toys on this blog. They were, and still are one of the most popular miniature toys that were made. I was able to get permission from Vintage-Toymasters to write about them and their fine Dinky Toys available for sale on ebay.  The reason for my having selected Vintage-Toymasters, is that they have a fabulous selection of older Dinky Toys available for sale.



In their own words:

"Welcome to my eBay Store. Please add me to your list of favorite sellers and visit often. We sell a wide variety of vintage and antique toys including toys from the 1930's, 1940's, 1950's, 1960's, 1970's and 1980's. We have one of the largest antique toy stores on eBay so please be sure to check out our store to find that must have item that you have been missing from your collection. We are constantly purchasing new items from collections, estate sales, auctions, flea markets, etc. so be sure to check back often if you do not see the item you are looking for."

A Brief History of Dinky Toys
(Courtesy of wikipedia.org)


Introducing Vintage-Toymasters Fine Selection of Dinky Toys
Dinky toys were originally made in Liverpool England. As Dinky Toys became more popular, these toys were also made in France. Most of the model toys were reproduced after British vehicles, although there were some modelled after then famous and popular American cars.











As you can see, Vintage-Toymasters certainly has a fine grouping of early Dinky Toys.  They also present excellent photography with large-sized photos that always help to present the toys in their best manner. I haven;t added much narrative because I thought that these fine old toys tell the story much better.

Thanks for dropping by,
and as always,
Have a great part of the day or night,
Wherever you may be.
Stacey Bindman
toysearcher@gmail.com







Hake's Americana & Collectibles

Monday, October 31, 2016
Cloudy and Cold
7 Celsius   44 Fahrenheit



Hake's Americana & Collectibles




The above link is from an article in the Antique Trader magazine.


Hake's can best be described by their brief, but well-written  sentence below: statement:

"We have set the standard for quality collectibles and customer service in the world 
of popular culture collectibles since 1967. Your satisfaction is always our first priority."

The company was established in 1967 and is located in York, Pennsylvania (USA). Ted Hake was a college student in the mid-1960's, when he first got into the business of buying and selling all kinds of collectables. Later on, his passion for collectibles turned into a full-time business. Not only does Hakes's auction toys, but they auction off all kinds of collectibles.

Below is a screen-capture of just 1/3 of what subjects they auction.


They currently have a cornucopia of collectibles ranging from posters to comic books, to gum cards and cartoon-related items. If you visit their fine website, I'm sure everyone will find something that can interest them. But for today, I'd like to get back on track for what I wanted to write.


About 10 days ago, I posted about a 1933 Dowst Manufacturing Company catalogue. The company, of course is most known for having produced the famous American toys - Tootsietoys. I decided to do a search for "Tootsietoy Cartoon Characters", and was fortunate to find great results. THe best results were from Hake's Americana & Collectibles. Not only were the photos excellent, but they were large-sized files which best shows the details of these toys.


I removed the colour and lightened the part  from the bottom half of the page. What is still in colour are comic strip characters from the 1920's and later on.

Hake's description best describes these most-interestimng and rare Tootsietoys:

" This popular painted die-cast set of comic characters of the period was produced 1932-1933. Done in two versions; an articulated and more fully painted set as offered and in two-colour non-articulated versions."


I've never seen a complete set of these cartoon characters, so I'm sure they are quite rare altogether. 

Below:
The non-articulated set which also was done in only 2-colours( comic characters and vehicle)





The 2-colour and multiple colour comic characters.






And once again, a comparison of the multi-coloured and 2-coloured comic characters.


While I was screen-capturing these images, I noticed that the final prices at auction were in the 
3-digit price (hundreds) in US dollars. Certainly, this fine set of collectibles deserved this price. You have to remember that these toys are from 1932-1933, and range in size from 2 1/4" (55 mm) to 3 1/4" (82mm)!

Thanks for dropping by,
and as always,
Have a great part of the day or night,
Wherever you may be.

Stacey Bindman
toysearcher@gmail.com




Saturday, October 29, 2016

Finally, Another Great Resource for Dinky Toys

Sunday, October 30, 2016
Cloudy and Cold
7 Celsius  44 Fahrenheit



Finally,
Another Great Resource for Dinky Toys

Sooner or later, I knew that I'd be writing about Dinky Toys. These fabulous small toys were to England and Europe as Tootsietoys were to the USA. These toys are highly collectible, and often yield high values at auction for the rarer models. I only just started to write about Dinky Toys, and I was fortunate enough to find a wonderful sight with lots of information about these toys.





When I first came across Andrew Wood's extraordinary Dink Toy website, I was in awe. There was lots of information about the toys, as well as large-sized and excellent photographs. I wrote to Andrew and he gave me his permission to use his photos and his descriptions. 

The reason that I added 2 links (websites) is that the first link is Andrew's dealership (store) where he sells Dinky Toys, while the second link is all about Dinky Toys and their descriptions. 

Description (Above)
The car above is a model of the pre-war (WWII) Sunbeam-Tabbot 10hp tourer. The 10 hp tag means that it has a 1000cc engine. It was released in the UK (Great Britain) in only 1940/41 and then re-released in the USA in 1945, where it remained available until 1954. The model was sold in the UK from 1940-1949 (Ramsey) and was sold from 1945-1954. Ramsey lists 14 colour variations to this famous car.


Description:
Interestingly, both Corgi and Dinky Toys made the same car at the same time. Dinky Toys made the Austin Healey model from 1955-1959. The "100" comes from the fact that it was one of the few cars of that era to go over 100 mpg (166 kph). The Austin Healey 100 was produced by the British Motor Works (BMC), which owned the Austin Company.



The Red Jaguar XK120 -157 above was made during the early runs of this Dinky Toy model. 
Later runs were two-toned.
 The Standard Vanguard was a ground-breaking car that returned to production after WWII.
The above Dinky model is a later version, which was called Phase II. The original Phase I model had enclosed rear wheels , while the Phase III model was only made by Corgi.


The RMA was the first post-war (WWII) Riley. It used the 1.5 L engine and was equipped with hydro-mechanical brakes and an independent suspension that used torsion bars in front. The chassis was made of wood in the English tradition. The RMA was produced from 1945 until 1952, when it was replaced by the RME. It was the last Riley developed independently by Riley before it was absorbed into the Nuffield organization.
Triump made this car from  1946-1955.  About 1950, this car was renamed the Renown and given a 2000 cc (2 litre) engine. It's razor-edge body styling was typical of Triumph's pst-was saloons. Dinky made this model from 1948-1960. This example is a 1949 model, when the rear axle was located into the baseplate rather than on pillars cast into the bodywork. It was renumbered 151 in 1954.

As you can see, Andrew not only takes excellent photographs, but he takes the time to give the reader lots of information about Dinky Toys, as well as the cars that they toys were modelled after.
Don't forget that Andrew not only has a website dedicated to viewing and reading about Dink". That website can be visited by pressing the link below:


I enjoyed writing about Andrew's websites because  of the information that he wrote. Not only that, but he takes about 8 photos for each model car. In this way, you can see all of the features of the car. So if you're interested in purchasing one of these models, you can see the condition from every camera able possible.

Thanks for dropping by,
and as always, 
Have a great part of the day or night,
Wherever you may be.

Stacey Bindman
toysearcher@gmail.com

Friday, October 28, 2016

A Fabulous Dinky Toy Website

Sunday, October 30, 2016
Cloudy 
6 Celsius  41 Fahrenheit


A Fabulous 
Dinky Toy Webbsite 


I was searching for toys, when I found this wonderful website "diecastplus.info".  What was interesting is that it was a great resource for people who collect Dinky Toys. The site is divided into many different area, but my attention was focussed on the Dinky Toys. Mr. Nigel Gent is the person whose website this happens to be. He gave me permission to write about his website, and to use the photos on the website.


Above:
When you go to the opening page for Dinky Toys, you are presented with a numerical order of the toys. The numbers start from 0 and ascend into the 3-digit numbers. I selected 22E as a starting point. 22E is an early Dinky Toy tractor. Clicking on the upper left hand yellow box gets you to the page below. The lower numbers usually are representative of the older and earlier Dinky Toys. This tractor was released in 1933 and was withdrawn in 1940.

I haven't included any modern era (post 1950) toys, but the site has them as well.


Above is the page that I got from having clicked the yellow box in the first screen-capture.  There is the # 22e Dinky Toy, with a brief description of the tractor. People who collect Dinky Toys are invited to contribute information and photos about the tractor 22e. Notice that the copyright has different names from 2 contributors.





Below is a variation of the 22E tractor. It has a different colour theme, and the engine is different.


Below is another page that I obtained from having clicked on numbers 23-25
The "Thunderbolt Speed Car" is the you that I was interested in. It's # 23m.


Below is the Thunderbolt Speed Car with its' expanded information. 
Notice the names of the people who sent in photos of their Dinky Toy Thunderbolts.
Each page within the site always invites viewers to send in photos or information.

Below are 2 variations of the Thunderbolt that 2 contributors sent in to the website of Nigel Gent.


Below are a low-numbered group of Dinky Toys. I selected # 28E, a Delivery Van.
When you click on "More about 28E", you are redirected to the page below this one.

Notice how easy it is to manoeuvre through the website. Below is the information about 
model # 28E. Pressing on either photo below will have an enlargement of the delivery van appear.

And below is the enlargement of the delivery van.
The person who submitted the photo is Mr. Stuart Bishop.


As you can see, the site is a great resource for people who collect Dinky Toys. As well, the site is always getting larger with more information that is shared by readers of the website. It's worth the effort to visit this website, not only for the information, but to see how  well-planned and organized this "database" for Dinky Toys is.


Thanks for dropping by,
and as always,
Have a great part of the day or night,
Wherever you may be.

Stacey Bindman
toysearcher@gmail.com