The Ives, Blakeslee & Williams Company Trains

Friday,January 26, 2018
Sunny with Clouds
-12 C  10.4 F

The Ives, Blakeslee & Williams

Company Trains

Please click here to visit this fine American Auctioneer

The Ives, Blakeslee and Williams Company was located in Bridgeport, Connecticut (USA).

They manufactured many different types of tin toys,and some also being made of tin and cast iron.

The company was in business from 1868-1932.  In 1910, the company manufactured its' first electric train.  The company produced many quality trains in those times, but ran into financial difficulty. It had to compete with Lionel, which was a much larger company and advertised a lot more. Eventually, the company went through a bankruptcy, and later was purchased by the Lionel Company. 

"The scanned pages are from  a reprint (June 1965) of an Ives, Blakeslee & Williams catalogue circa 1893 featuring a complete line of toys for home and export trade by L.C. Hegarty, Collector of Iron Toys & Mechanical Banks, Coalport, Pennsylvania (USA"

If you look at the locomotives (magnify the pages by clicking on the first page), you will see

that they are slightly different in detail. As well,each one has a different name.

Ives, Blakeslee & Williams Company Clockwork Locomotive

"Giant"

Considered the "granddaddy" of all American tin trains.

Only 4 known examples of this model.

Tin & cast iron wheels

Clockwork mechanism

Circa: 1880

Length:  10"  254 mm

Ives, Blakeslee & Williams Company Clockwork Locomotive

"Transit"

Tin & cast iron wheels

Clockwork mechanism

Circa: 1880

Ives, Blakeslee & Williams Company Clockwork Locomotive

"Victory"

Tin & cast iron wheels

Clockwork mechanism

Circa: 1880

Ives, Blakeslee & Williams Company Clockwork Locomotive

"Whistler"

Tin & cast iron wheels

Clockwork mechanism

Circa: 1880

Length:  12.5"  307 mm 

Ives, Blakeslee & Williams Company Clockwork Locomotive

"Jupiter"

Tin & cast iron wheels

Clockwork mechanism

Circa: 1880

Length:  10"  254 mm

The locomotives in the photos do not match the scans of pages from the catalogues. 

This probably indicates that they were produced later than those from the 1893 catalogue. However, they are very similar to identify them as being produced 

by the Ives, Blakeslee & Williams Company.

They most certainly are quite nice!

Thanks for dropping by,

and have a great day or night.

Stacey Bindman

toysearcher@gmail.com

The 1893 Ives, Blakeslee & Williams Co. Catalogue - Early Trains

    Monday, October 13,2014
              Canadian Thanksgiving
Mixture of sun and cloudy, seasonally colder

The 1893 Ives, Blakeslee & Williams Catalogue-

Early Trains

  I recently purchased an 1893 reproduction of an 1893 Ives, Blakeslee, and Williams Co. catalogue that was reproduced by the Mechanical Bank Collectors of America, courtesy of one of its members- Mr. L.C.Hagarty. The Mechanical Bank Collectors of America isa long-established group that is dedicated to the fine antique collectible of vintage and antique mechanical banks. When they get together in a large group such as at a convention, one of their great ideas is to reproduce long-defunct toy catalogues.

The Ives, Blakeslee & Williams Company was once the premier and foremost toy train company in the United States. They had produced many other toys besides trains, but over the years until the early 1930's were the #1 train company. Eventually, they were overtaken by the Lionel Company,, and eventually closed down.

That's the logo that I use for my photos or scans

It's a trio of pairs of maple leaf seedlings

Pages from the 1893 Ives, Blakeslee, and Williams Company 

Catalogue Reproduction - Train

  There are several interesting things that you might want to know about the trains and the time period that they were produced:

1. The train locomotives are all wound by key.

2. The reasons for this is that electricity was not yet invented and was no yet available. 

Electricity would become available in the USA in about 25 years, and would be available across America  in about 50 years.

3. There were "rare" sets of battery-operated trains, but that was impractical.

4. What surprised me is the final prices at auction of these toys. 

They do yield good prices, but not exceptional prices.

If you go to the Liveauctioneers website, 

you will be able to find the final prices of these toys.

Ives, Blakeslee, and Williams Company Locomotives - Circa 1870's

Wednesday, October 15, 2014
Sunny, and record hot day

Ives, Blakeslee, and Williams Company

Locomotives - Circa 1870's

  Yesterday , I added a post of scans from a 1965 reproduction of an 1893 toy catalogue from the Ives,Blakeslee, and Williams, Company. Once upon a time, this American Company crossed over into the 20th century and was the leader for the manufacture of  toy trains. Eventually, they were surpassed by the Lionel Corporation, and eventually closed shop (their business). 

  The Bertoia Auctions toys presented today are quite similar to the  scans of yesterday's post, and some are even exact. I decided to add a separate post for the photos rather than "clutter" them altogether on one page. If you open up a new window with your browser, you will be able to place both pages side-by-side and make the comparisons yourself.

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Some of the locomotive models were made of cast iron, while others were made of tin.

There are 2 things that are quite interesting from my perspective:

1. I wonder why the company made so many similar toys that looked almost identical.

2. For true antique toys that are well over 100+ years ildm, they are "relatively"

inexpensive. I highlighted the word "relatively", because most of the time, very old toys metal are priced quite high.

So the questions that I,m thinking are why would these toys not fetch higher prices at auction?

Are there too many around, or are they noir attractive enough to create a big demand, 

ergo the higher prices?

It's a beautiful Thanksgiving Monday here in Canada, so I', going to make the best of it, and do some work around the outside of the house. The holiday is not celebrated as much as it once was, and is more of a religious holiday, unlike a festive holiday ion the United States.

Thanks for dropping by to visit,

and as always,

have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be,

Stacey

toysearcher@gmail.com