Old Antique Toys

This blog discusses old toys from the early 1920's to the end of the 1950's. All kinds of topics are discussed. The time span was the greatest period for "hands-on" toys, where a young child could actually go outside and play for hours at a time. You can see the elegance but simple design of these toys. It was a time when huge machines, and people made and finished toys by hand. The era has long passed, but many of the toys are still around, and that is what I would like to share.

Showing posts with label 1950's toys. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 27, 2018

The Magical Talent of Christopher Ferrone

Tuesday, March 27, 2018
Sunny with Clouds
+7 C 44.6 F

The Magical Talents

of Christopher Ferrone

A few years ago, I received a letter from Mr. Christopher Ferrone with some nice photos of a refurbished and restored toy. I thanked Christopher for the photos and naturally, I added a post about him and his super skills at toy restoration. From time to time, I receive "surprises" in my e-mail account from Christopher. Each time, I am more and more impressed with his mastery of toy restoration, and even metamorphosing old toys into new designs.

Christopher happens to be president of Americoach Systems, Inc., which also is affiliated with the Chicago Sightseeing Company, and I'm sure is owned by Christopher. Chris not only has the sight-seeing company, but I decided to check up on him for writing purposes. I discovered that he has a location where he also repairs and maintains his fleet of sightseeing busses. Aha! So that's where he got his skills to be able to make such nice toys.

Today's toy happens to be a Canadian-made Lincoln toy toy truck

from the 1950's. Lincoln toys were well made and included both trucks and farm toys.

The toys were produced by Milner Metal Products t6hat was located in Windsor, & Tilbury,Ontario, Canada.

Please do not copy without his written permission.

The toy truck was separated in the middle.

Chris wanted to add a centre elevation

to the middle of the truck.

Below is a photo of the newly-installed

centre of the truck.

The toy was sandblasted to remove

all of the old paint. A paint primer was then

sprayed over the exposed pressed steel.

The primed parts were then sprayed with a

finishing coat of bright red paint.

The parts were then assembled together.

The old 1950's truck was changed into a

beautiful retro fire truck.

So that's it for today,

Thanks for dropping by,

And have a great day or evening.

Stacey Bindman

Toysearcher@gmail.com

Sunday, February 4, 2018

Smith-Miller Toys Revisited

Monday, February 5, 2018
Partly sunny with clouds
-7 C 19.4 F

Smith-Miller Toys Revisited

Please click here to visit Dan Morphy on Live Auctioneers

Smith-Miller is a modern-day company that has produced large-sized models or toys, depending whether or not a child plays with them, or an adult collects them. They've been around since 1979, however, the original company was formed in 1954. Originally, the company was producing toys under the names "Smitty Toys" and "M.I.C.". These fine toys are 1/16 in scale or from 16" - 25" (402 mm - 605 mm) depending upon the type of toy. The current owner (1979) is Mr. Fred Thompson who had bought these toys when he was a young boy. Originally, the original company produced only 2 trucks, but today, there are 48 different toys (models). The newer trucks all have serial numbers and are produced in limited editions. The trucks are hand-assembled, and one can even order parts for trucks should the toy or part of the toy break. THe cost of the new toys can range

$ 995.00 - 1395.00 US dollars, and that includes shipping. For the budget-conscious person, the older versions of toys can be found on ebay or at toy auctions on Liveauctioneers. Prices for the "used" toys can range from $ 500.00 - $ 1200.00 US dollars.

Thanks for dropping by

and as always,

Have a great part of the day or night.

Stacey Bindman

toysearcher@gmail.com

Sunday, October 2, 2016

A Smith-Miller Hollywood Film Ad Search LightTruck

Saturday, October 2, 2016
Overcast (Cloudy)
16 Celcius /61 Fahrenheit

A Smith-Miller

Hollywood Film Ad Searchlight Truck

Please click here to visit the Timco Vintage Toys ebay Store

Introduction to Timco Vintage Toys

"Timco Vintage Toys is a family owned business located in Portland Oregon. My love for model trains and toy vehicles started as a child as my father and I collected the original Lesney Matchbox cars. We also had a massive HO scale railroad layout. My father really started my obsession with these toys. Our collecting continued for the next 45 years. We still collect and yes, I still play with trains. Currently we offer a massive amount of N-Scale model trains. Many of these come from our private collection as well as estates purchased in our local area. We have sold our trains all over the world and have been a eBay member for approximately 20+ years. We value each and every customer and treat each transaction with respect, care and timely communications with our customers. We will always do our best to provide excellent customer service, provide an awesome selection of auction items and be sure that both sides of the transaction are happy and the process remains fun. Thank You, Tim"

I have to admit first, that I was more interested in the photo location. I live in Montreal, Quebec (Canada) and true weather is starting to change. For some reason (I was wrong), I thought Tim, the owner of Timco Vintage Toys lived inn Hollywood, and took the photo on the beach. I had a lounging to be somewhere warm, because in 1 month, Montreal will start to hibernate for the winter and go into a deep freeze.

Nevertheless, albeit Tim lives in Portland, Oregon (USA), I still have that longing for the beach.

Now for the toy!

If you've read my posts about Smith-Miller toys,these toys are always in strong demand. I haven't seen this particular toy before, and it is being offered for $ 1,495.00 U.S. The Searchlight truck was built in the 1950's and these toys were built to last! As well,you can see that the searchlight is still in great shape.

As for the photography, it's great. The file size was large, so it was easy to resize for this post. As week, the integration of the seashore with the toy on the rail was done excellently.

The Smithy-Miller toys are still being made, and are quite expensive to purchase.

AS for myself, I'll soon start the countdown to spring. RIght now it's too early in October.

From today to April, 1, 2017, it's only 180 days to warmer weather. Then again,this years' spring was terrible with April and May being very cold.

Oh well, at least I have Tim's nice photos of the beach to remind me that

there are good times ahead for next year.

Thanks for dropping by,

and as always,

Have a great time of the day or night,

wherever you may be.

Stacey Bindman

toysearcher@gmail.com

Friday, December 6, 2013

Superb Condition Chinese Toys Circa 1950's-1960's

Friday, December 6, 2013

Superb Condition Chinese Toys

(Circa 1950's-1960's)

A few days ago, I added a post about Pieterjan Van Den Berg.a fine Dutch seller. I had started to ask European and British people if I might use their photos, since they of course, had more European toys than could be found here in North America. Pieterjan's post was on December 3, 2013. He had a fine collection of items for sale, but what also caught my attention was a fabulous more-recnet collection of Chinese toys from the 1950's-1960's. I don't know if the USA was allowing Chinese merchandise into their country, and I don't know about Canada,,who is of course, more was more liberal at the time with its international relations under our Prime Minister at the time - Mr Pierre Elliot Trudeau.

Anyway, I'm very please to present to you today a fine collection of 1950's-1960's Chinese toys. I changed the blue background to white, but you may see some occasional tints of blue in some of the photos. Nevertheless, these photos were excellently photographed and lit by Pieterjan and he saved me lots of time in having to improve the images in Photoshop.