A Rarer Kingsbury Milk Truck

Tuesday, April 16, 2019
Cloudy with Sunny Periods
8 C 46 F

A Rarer Kingsbury Milk Truck

       I received an interesting e-mail last week.  Mr. Bryan Westmoreland sent me photos of a Kingsbury Dairy Truck. The name on the truck was  Biltmore Dairy Farms.  Bryan had wanted to know if this particular truck was rare. I searched on the Internet for this truck, but could not find any yellow Biltmore Dairy Farms Kingsbury Trucks.  I wrote Bryan back to say that I found a white Kingsbury truck with a Borden's Dairy decal written on the side, a red Dairy truck, but no yellow Biltmore Dairy Farms Kingsbury truck.  I wrote Bryan also to ask if I might use his nice photos, and he replied yes. I did this in the hopes that perhaps someone out there might have information about this truck. I mentioned also to Bryan that perhaps, this yellow truck might have been customized for the Biltmore Dairy.

The photo above illustrates the unique wind-up mechanism that the Keene Toy Company of Keene, New Hampshire had for their toys.

"Company history and description of the company Kingsbury Mfg. Co., Keene New Hampshire, USA
In 1895 Harry T. Kingsbury bought the company Wilkins and with the Clipper Machine Works and led her long continue under the old name. At first cars were produced. The Wilkins line was abandoned during the First World War in favor of the Kingsbury models. They manufactured famous models of aircraft, trucks, and buses. 
1942 the toy production stopped during the Second World War and was no longer included. Everything was sold to Keystone in Boston. The company still exists as Kingsbury Machine Tool Division, as a supplier to IBM, General Motors and GE. "**

**Courtesy of  https://www.historytoy.com/

If anybody has any information  about this Keene (Kingsbury) yellow toy truck, would you please comment on this post at the bottom, or simply write to me at my e-mail address below.

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

Some New Bliss Toys from Bertoia Auctions

Tuesday, April 16, 2019
Cloudy with Sunny Periods
8 C 46 F

Some New Bliss Toys

from Bertoia Auctions

     Bertoia Auctions was one of the first auction houses to allow me to use their excellent photographs.  This fine and famous auction house exclusively auctions old and antique toys from all over the world.  The Bliss toys presented today were from a recently-held auction of April 12, 2019.

Even through Rufus Bliss founded R. Bliss Manufacturing Company in 1832, it is not exactly known when  they started producing toys. The earliest mention of toys can be found in the “New England Business Director of 1871.”

R. Bliss Manufacturing Company was originally founded to produce wooden screws and clamps for piano and cabinet making. Rufus Bliss is known for inventing a machine for cutting wood screws rapidly and more accurately than had been done in the past. These toys cross the borders of collecting with their folk-art designs. They are known for their high quality, beautiful colors and artwork. R. Bliss Manufacturing Company sold their toy making division to Manson & Parker of Winchendon, Massachusetts in 1914. Toys carrying the Bliss name were produced until 1935 but only a few toys were marketed during these later years.**

**Courtesy of www.oldworldtoys.com / Mr. Richard Mueller Jr.

The above toys achieved final selling prices ranging from $ 330.00 - $ 660.00 US Dollars.

What's interesting about these toys is their very good condition, considering many of them are easily over 100 years old!

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

Livesteam Paddlewheelers

Monday, April 8, 2019
Cold and Sleet (Rain with Ice)
-1 C  30 F

Livesteam Paddlewheelers

Please click here to visit Peter's fine website

Please click here to see one of Peter's Steamboats in action

     I've had a cold or the flu last week, so I wasn't felling well. I always take a flu shot in November, but I guess this year, I got the wrong strain of the flu vaccine. Interestingly, I heard from several readers last week. One of them is Peter G.

In Peter's own words:

I "accidentally" found your blog packed with very interesting toy subjects, bravo ! 

I build large RC metal steamboats from scratch, and also (when time permits) restore antique steam boat toys for customers. I always loved steamboats, maybe partly thanks to a cruise, when I was, aboard famous "France". We lived not far from Lake Geneva (Switzerland); this clearly sealed my passion for the paddle steamers. In 1975, I was a 10 year old kid, and we used to build and fly RC planes with my father. The transition to building RC (Radio Controlled) steamboats was obvious to me.

    Peter also answered some questions that I asked of him. Building and restoring model paddlewheelers is his hobby.  He also builds models "from scratch" , meaning mostly everything is made with his own hands! Each model painstakingly takes between 2500 - 4000 hours of work - WOW!

    The model below is from a collector who asked Peter to restore it. , and "allowing him to do it the way Peter wanted"! " A collectorI know had bought this Carette and then realized it was in such a poor state, he realized that he  wanted the toy to be restored.

  "Of course, if a toy has a few scratches and is in decent shape, a collector will keep it as is, and eventually get the missing parts replaced (very hard to find) or rebuild. I had to get this old greasy toy to bare metal, disassemble, repair, and straighten it all up, then start rebuilding. I didn't go to the "like new" level, as I thought this toy would tell a better story the way I went"

Below are some photos of  before and after the restoration.

Peter certainly has his hands full to restore this model! The "Unterwalden" is a ship that Peter built, and you can see later in a YouTube video below.

    For myself, writing this post was a pleasure, as well as learning a little bit about radio-controlled RC) steamboats, paddle boats, and their restoration.  It was also a great introduction to this fascinating world of restoring model ships!

An Exceptional Set of 1920's Buddy L vehicles comes to auction

Sunday, April 7, 2019
Sunny with clouds
9 C  48 F

An Exceptional Set of 1920's Buddy L vehicles comes to auction

      I'm always elated  when readers write to me. And so it was with Mr. Myron Frank.  Myron had inherited a set of 10 Buddy L cars and trucks, and was asking for advise as to what these fine early 1920's Buddy L toys would garner at auction.

"Hi, I have a small collection of Buddy L trucks.  They were my Dad's and he passed.  I know these have value, but not sure the actual retail.  

There is a local toy auction house that will put them up in April, but with no certainty on sale price, and there is also a lot of "trust" involved in the auction process.  e.g. we will sell them but you just trust us on what they sell for.  

I am attaching photos of the ten trucks we are considering selling.  Any estimate of value appreciated.  Also, if you would like to make an offer on the lot, let me know.  The trucks are located in Central Indiana.  

Thanks, Phil F. " 

      I'm not an expert on the value of toys, so I didn't want to give  any incorrect information to Myron. What I did suggest however, was to do a search on the Bertoia Auctions website, a very famous and successful toy auctioneer.  I also suggested for Myron to visit the  Liveauctioneers  website.

    There are innumerable factors that determine the price of what a toy (or anything else) will sell for at auction. The time of year, a local auction or an Internet auction, the number of people bidding on the toy. As well, sometimes you'll find a toy at one time will sell for more than at another time.

Please click here to visit the Bertoia Auctions website

Please click here to visit the Liveauctioneers website

Please click here to visit the ebay website

Interestingly, the ebay website was the one website that offered the most number of these Buddy L Flivver cars and trucks.

          Myron's collection most certainly is a fine collection. I especially like the "dust" that has collected on these toys over the years.  I wish Myron great success as his collection goes to auction

Can Anyone Identify This Fine Toy?

April 5, 2019
Overcast and Cool
3 Celcius 37.4 F

Can Anyone Identify This Fine Toy?

   I received an e-mail from a reader. He wanted to know if I could identify his fine toy - a team of  oxen along with a stagecoach. There were many toy manufacturers in the early part of the last century, who manufactured these cast iron toys. The chances of finding out who manufactured this toy, was far above  my level of information. Therefore, I am putting this fine toy in front of everyone, and asking that you investigate this, and see if you can find who might have manufactured it.

    I think that this stagecoach  was made  in a mold  (mould) from a molten alloy, and the team of oxen are cast iron. The golden-coloured wheels appear to be also cast iron.  I'm guessing that the size of the stagecoach is 6" (152 mm) long and the oxen are about4" (112 mm).

So that's it for today, and I hope someone will be able to identify this fine toy.

Thanks for dropping by,

And as always,

Have a great part of the day or night,

Wherever you may be.