More Fine Toys from Mr. Ken McGee

Saturday, December 10, 2016
Cloud with some sun,
-6 C  21 F

More Fine Toys from

Mr. Ken McGee

Please click here too visit this outstanding ebay merchant

Mr. Ken McGee does sell toys, but his specialty area is in 

automobile (car) ephemera (paper collectibles).

He collects and sells all kinds of car manuals and other items from bygone era cars. 

The example below is from a 1912 Jackson car company specification booklet.

If you visit his store, you may become more interested in this section of his ebay store, that his exceptional toys!

1912 Specification Booklet for the 

Jackson Automobile Company

1925-1929 Buddy L Fire Pumper

Painted pressed steel, restored toy

Brass bell and bright polished boiler

Moving flywheels and rods on piston pump

L x D x H:  23 1/3" x 8 1/2" x 10 1/2"   596 mm x 216 mm x 266 mm

1940's Wyandotte Humphrey Mobile

Wind-up lithographed tin toy

Rear door opens.

L x W X H:  8 1/2" x 5" x 7 1/2"  215mm x 127 mm x 190 mm

The Humphrey Mobile is based on the cartoon character 

from the Joe Palooka comic strip of the 1940s.

THe front of the toy is offset, allowing for the toy to complete a 

right-handed circle when wound up.

1927 Chein Royal Blue Line Bus

Lithographed  painted pressed steel with metal tires.

Very rare toy.

L x W x H:  18" x 7" x 6"  457 mm x 178 mm x 152 mm

 1930's Keystone Air Mail Plane NX-263

Painted pressed steel with decals.

A pull toy when a string is attached to the hub of the propeller.

L x W x H:  24 1/4" x 24" x 9"  622 mm x 610 mm x 229 mm

1930's Kingsbury Wind-up Roadster

Painted pressed steel with wind-up mechanism and

battery-operated lights.

L x W x H:  12 1/2" x 5" x 4 3/4"  317 mm x 127 mm x 121 mm

The rumble seat of the above toy opens and closes. 

The size of the battery is a size "D". The rear tail light also turns on, 

as well as the front headlights. THe Kingsbury toys that moved all had a unique 

design wind-up mechanism that you can see to the left of the bottom most photo.

Thanks for dropping by,

and as always, 

Have a great part of the day or night,

Wherever yo umay be.

Stacey Bindman

Toysearcher@gmail.com

A Very Old and a Very New Toy

Friday, February 14, 2014
     (Lots of Snow falling and mild)

A Very Old and a

Very New Toy

   Happy Saint Valentine's day to all.  If my wife were to give me a toy as a present today, I'd want one of today's toys - either old or new! I've written about today's toy manufacturer and even the modern reproduction of today's toy, but never the two together. So for today, I decided to have old and new together. The original, circa 1920's was manufactured by the buddy "L" company, while I can;t remember who makes the modern day version.  However, booth are fantastic toys that were made, and I'd be very, very happy to play with one!

Please click here to redirect to Bertoia Auctions exceptional website

This is a huge toy, weighing 28 pounds (12.73 kg) and with a height of 20" ( 508 mm).

What's more amazing is that it will actually dig trenches. This particular one is  90+ years old, and one of the best examples of its kind. At auction it went for a very handsome amount for its seller.

This is the reproduction modern-era version, which is 1" 2.54 mm) lower in height.

At auction, it went for 8x less than the original 1920's toy.

I want one for my next Valentines' Day!

Thanks for dropping by,

and have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be.

Stacey

Write to me anyone at 

toysearcher@gmail.com

The Very Rare "Buddy "L" Tugboat

Wednesday, February 12, 2014
                      (Post # 2 of the day)

The Very Rare

Buddy "L" Tugboat

  If you read the preceding post, I was discussing rare Buddy L" toys. I decided to recheck the Buddy "L" tugboat, and sure enough it is quite rare. Correspondingly, it also garners high bids at auction. So as a second post of the day, here are 2 Buddy "L" tugboats from Bertoia Auctions.

Please click here to redirect to the fine website of Bertoia Auctions

The above red tugboat is the rarest because it perhaps was a saleman's sample. 

As such few of these would in fact have been produced.

Thanks for dropping by

and have a great part of the day,

wherever you may be.

Stacey

write to me anytime at

toysearcher@gmail.com

A Very Rare Part for a Buddy "L" Overhead Crane

Wednesday, February  12, 2014
           (Not again - Cold and Sunny!)

A Very Rare Part for a 

Buddy "L" Overhead Crane

  I've written about the Buddy "L" overhead crane once  before  at my own link below:

Please click here to be redirected to my crane post

  In that post, I presented 2 marvellous toys from Bertoia Auctions. I won;t add any photos, since I'd like you to visit the other post to actually see these fantastic toys from the 1920's-1930's. 

 When I saw a part for this crane, I know I hear real "treasure" here. The reason that I say this is that the actual crane is quite large. However, you can't truly present photos of it to see detail, and it's detail that I like in a toy, amongst many other things.  Since the toy is so large, you have to back up the camera to present the whole toy, and doing this diminishes the small detail. Of course, a seller could present detailed "close-ups", but most don't. An analogy if I can add, would be of presenting a Ferrari for sale, and then zooming on on detailed parts. Everyone wants to see the whole car, not just that see-through glass covering some of the engines.

   I received a reply from the people of EverydayChoices, a fine ebay seller, who said that I could use their photos. These are great photos technically and compositionally. And when you see just this part, then go to the link to see the whole toy, you get an idea just how large and how magnificent this toy is. This part is described as being from a 1925 version of this toy.

A great photo. The camera angle projects this toy part at you. I like the way the pressed steel has been made into steel girders.

The actual width x height of the toy is"toy is 

48"  x 33" or  1.22 M x .833 M

The "big question" for someone who would buy this piece would be as to where he/she could find an actual crane without the overhead part. Of course, there probably might just be such as person out there with the rest of the toy!

Thanks for dropping by,

and a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be.

Stacey

write to me anytime at

toysearcher@gmail.com

Big Buddy "L" Machines

Sunday, September 22, 2013
           Fall (Autumn) Begins

Big Buddy "L" Toys

   I did a cursory check to see what I had written about Buddy "L". After that, I decided to use Bertoia's great current listings for their Christmas Special auction.  Somebody must have had a great collection, since there are so many Buddy "L" toys listed. I decided to simply concentrate on the machines. Most of these toys were made between 1920-1931, not the best time to make large-sized, and most likely expensive toys. Remember, this is when the Great Depression had happened.  I especially like these toys. If I was a child, I 'd be playing with these. However, I could just hear my mother and  father had I even mentioned that I would like one of these toys. where will we put it? It's too big! It's too expensive! And imagine if I wanted a second one for my next birthday!

   The reason that I like these toys is that they're hands on. You get to play with them, load them, turn gears, and move them! It's interesting that compared with most European toys, these Buddy "L" toys are huge! There are the occasional "huge" European toys , such as Marklin naval and commercial ships, but those were made earlier, and they most likely were extremely expensive at the time! I would think that the Marklin toys were sold to a certain "niche" market, whereas, the Buddy "L" had a broader appeal, both in terms of cost, and appeal.

Please click to be redirected to the December 2013 Christmas Auction

If I had one of these toys back then, I would be out today playing with this toy - even in the rain.

Of course, today, if I was a kid, there would be a dozen reasons why I couldn't have such a toy and not be able to play with it. One reason would be that it was raining, and of course the second - try and find a sandbox in the 21st century today in a park - what's a sandbox?

Thanks fro dropping by,

and as always,

have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be.

Stacey

toysearcher@gmail.com