A Case of "What Might Have Been"

Sunday, January 12, 2025

Sunny and Cold 

-9°C / 16° F

A Case of What 

Might Have Been

Mu usual blog time starts with scrolling through the 1667 posts and

checking to see who I haven't written about. So when I saw that 

I  hadn't written a post about Model Cars of The World,

 I decided that they would be my next post.

Model Cars of The World are located "down under" in Australia.

If you're wondering who created the expression "down under",it was from 

Matthew Flinders. 

"The nickname "Down Under" came as a result of the European explorers

who were looking for a land located below the continent of Asia.*

*Reference from a Google Search

He was part of the team that coined the name "Down Under" with reference to

Australia, although New Zealand is also sometimes referred to in the same way.

You can find his autobiography on Wikipedia

Click on this sentence to redirect to Wikipedia for Matthew Flinders biography

Today's post is about 2 companies in Australia who were going to 

work with the American company Tootsietoy to create die-cast based

on several models of Tootsietoy vehicles. Tootsietoy was an American company 

that produced small-sized die-cast toy cars and other vehicles. 

Model Cars of The World is an excellent ebay  company. 

They specialize on selling small-sized toys. 

Please click on this sentence to redirect to their store 

Description:

"TootsieToy Jumbo Tow Truck 140 mm long.

This toy was to be made by Winna Toys Australia. The Australian

version of this model was advertised in the toy retailer as being

manufactured by Winna toys in the 1940's and was called 

"big brother tiny toys family",but after 60 years of collecting, I

have never seen one by stamped Winna"*

* Courtesy of the owner of  Model Cars of The World

"TootsieToy Jumbo Saloon in red 140 mm long

was to be made by  Winna Toys Australia. The

Australian version os this model was advertised in

the toy retailer as being manufactured by Winna toys

and was called big brother tiny toys family;

so I am not sure if it ever was produced by Winna or was it?????

* Courtesy of the owner of  Model Cars of The World

"TootsieToy Jumbo Saloon USA 140 mm long in orange

was copied by Tink-E Toys in New Zealand in heavy cast metal,

it is approximately 138mm, so it is a bit smaller than the Tootsietoy".

The one for sale is in cream, missing wheels and axles with some damage"

The Tootsietoy was copied by Tink-E Toys in lead in New Zealand"

I did a search and found the toy website below that

wrote about Tink-E Toys

Please click on this sentence to read some history on the TINK E TOYS Company

Well, this was a very interesting story about the 

Tootsietoy and the Tink-E Toys toy companies.

As I once wrote in another blog post about a famous movie quote by 

Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump (1994):

"My Mom always said life was like a bowl of chocolates. 

You never know what you're gonna get."

Thanks for visiting my blog, and as always

have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be.

My name is Mr.Stacey Bindman,

and I can always be reached at:

toysearcher@gmail.com

 

 

Lesney Toys

Monday, May 15, 2020
Sunny and Clear Skies
19 C  66 F

Please click here to visit this fine website

Lesney was founded on 19 January 1947 as an industrial die-casting company by Leslie Smith  and Rodney Smith , who are not related. The company existed from  1947-1982. The name of the company came from the first 3 letters of Lesney, and the last 3 letters of Rodney. Rodney left the company in 1951. Because of a poor economy in Britain in the early 1980's the company was forced to close down. The first models were based on the Dinkey design, and the sizes of the toys were sm all- hence the name "Matchbox".*

*Abridged history version  from Wikipedia

I just checked on ebay, and there is a lot of people there selling lots of the Lesney toys, and the prices are quite high. I'm sure in Great Britain, where the company was founded, has a very big demand for these small toys.

Down Under (Australia) there is also. a demand. I visited AntiqueToyWorld, whom I wrote about a while ago,and they are also selling these Matchbox toys. Of course, if the original box is included, the value of the toy rises.

Matchbox Lesney 19a MG TD Coupe

Matchbox Lesney 

55A DUKW Amphibian

Dinky Toys 237 Mercedes Benz

Racing Car

I included the above Dinky Toy as a reference 

to the relative size of the Matchbox toys

Matchbox Lesney

19c Aston Martin Racing Car

Matchbox Lesney Moka Conestoga

Covered Wagon Red Barrels

Thanks for Dropping by,
And have a great day or evening. 

Stacey Bindman
toysearcher@gmail.com

Bill Buttaggi's Barclay Toys

Thursday, April 23, 2020
Sunny
7 C  43F

Bill Buttaggi's

Barclay Toys

Please click here to visit Bill's fine collection of slush (die-cast) toys

     The last post that I wrote about was Bill's excellent collection of die-cast (slush) toys. If you haven't followed 4 posts about Bill, then I'll explain. Bill asked me if I would write a post to promote a very good book on his toy collection of these toys. I did so, then asked if I could use his other photos to post more about him and his toys. This is part II of a four-part series. First I did the Tootsietoys, Now Barclay, then C.A.W., Kansas Toy and Novelty .

A History of the Barclay Toy Company

"The Barclay Manufacturing Company was an American metal toy company based in New Jersey that specialised in diecast toy cars and hollowcast toy soldiers. Due to their common availability at five and dime stores, collectors often refer to Barclay's toy soldiers as "Dimestore soldiers"."

"Barclay Manufacturing was formed by Leon Donze and Michael Levy in about 1922 (O'Brien 1997, 62). The name of the company came from Barclay Street in Hoboken, New Jersey. During the 1930s, the company was later based in North Bergen, New Jersey."

"Some of Barclay's first vehicles were slush cast white metal made in the 1930s. Some of the most interesting models were in art deco style. One intriguing selection was a "Coast to Coast" art deco style bus – another a two tone oil tanker with pontoon fenders – on both models, fenders were different colors from the bodies. One available set had a cartoon-like strip on the box lid that stated it was a "Build and Paint Your Own Auto Set" which was "Loads of fun". The set included a four-door sedan, a two-door, and a tanker truck. It included paint and the cars had white rubber wheels.

Also about this time, and into the 1940s, the company made a variety of military vehicles – tanks, trucks with cannon and other cars painted brown."**

Please click here to learn more about the Barclay company (Wikipedia)

What made these toys so popular was their design and cost.  They were nicknamed  

"dimestore toys" because most small toys in the dimestores  of the time would  cost 10 cents.

Interestingly, these toys are still very much in demand. However, for some of these toys, they would cost you 100-500 times their original cost of 10 cents. 

Talk about what investments you could invest in to retain the value of your money!

That's it for today.

I phoned a couple of friends that I meet at McDonald's every day (before the Covid-19 virus came. 

They're fine, and some of the other people are fine also. I've been trying to get more facemasks and latex gloves, but it's impossible to find them!

Thanks for visiting my blog,and please take care of yourselves and loves ones.

As always,

Have a great part of the day or night wherever you may be.

Also, I can always be reached by e-mail at:

toysearcher@gmail.com

Stacey Bindman

More Nice Dinky Toys

Tuesday, December6, 2016
Cloudy with sun
-3 Celsius  26 Fahrenheit

More Nice Dinky Toys

Please click here to visit this fine ebay merchant

Dinky Toys, which were first known as Modelled Miniatures were first introduced by Meccan (British) at Christmas of 1933, and ended when the factory closed in 1979. During the 46 years that these toys were made, millions and millions were made for the enjoyment of children, and later on for the enjoyment of collectors. The idea for these small die-cast toys were from the inspiration of the Tootsietoy Toys that were already being made in the USA.

Within a short period of years, these toys were the most popular in the world, and the name "Dinky Toys" entered the lexicon of the English language being defined as any small toy vehicle - car or truck alike. There were hundreds upon hundreds of different car and truck models made during the timespan of the company. There were even airplanes and farm machinery toys.*

* Citation:  Dinky Toys and Modelled Miniatures By Mike and Sue Richardson

New Cavendish Books, 

London, England, 1986

(revised edition)

I've taken a cross-section of 10 Dinky Toys from Vintage-Toymasters on ebay,  and there is no direct correlation between the age of the Dinky Toy and its' value as a collectible. In other words, the oldest toys are not necessarily the rarest or the most-costly, were you to but them on the open  marketplace. In all cases, these toys have appreciated in value over the years, and their prices to purchase are relatively high compared to their original costs.  As usual, having the original boix that the toy came with, appreciates the value of the toy.

Most of the toys are between 3"- 4" (76 mm-101 mm) approximately.

If you carefully look at the above toy, you'll notice some hairline cracks at the front hood area. Early die-cast molds had some problems due to the nature of the metallic composition of the toys. 

In later years, the  metallic composition of the different metals was improved, 

so that the cracks were no longer a problem. Nevertheless, the toys do sell for their

 asking price due to their value as collectible toys.

Techno Toys

Tuesday, December 6, 2016
Overcast
1 C 34 F

Techno Toys

Please click here to visit this ebay merchant

The Tekno company was a successful toy company located in Denmark from post WWII (1945) until it was sold to another Danish company in 1972.By the 1950's the company had achieved such a success that it rivalled the British company Dinky Toys. The company produced cars, trucks, tractors, cranes,and even pots, pans, and kitchenware. The vehicle scale was 1:43. This meant that the toy models were 1/43 the size of the "real"  items (e.g. car) that they were modelled after.*

Courtesy en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Tekno_(toy_manufacturer)

Techno 804  MG Midget with rare smooth base

painted diecast metal with rubber tires

Circa: late 1950's

Scale: 1:43

Tekno 803 Porshe 356A Coupe

Painted diecast metal

Circa: 1950's

Scale: 1:43

Tekno 440 (Denmark)  Ford Mercury

Painted diecast metal, rare green version

Scale: 1:43

Circa: 1950's

Tekno  739 Dodge Covered Truck (Denmark)

Painted diecast metal with rubber tires

Circa: Late 1950's

scale: 1:43 ( this toy measured 6" (152 mm)

Tekno 806 Opal Olympia Rekord

Painted diecast metal with rubber tires

Circa: 1950's

Scale: 1:43

Tekno 931 Monza Spyder

Painted diecast metal with rubber tires

Circa: late 1960's

Scale: 1:43

The toys above (top to bottom) ranged in price from $ 266.00 Canadian dollars to $ 83.00.
They were built quite sturdily, and have survived to this day.  The toys can be easily recognized because the name Techno and Denmark appear on the underside of the toy.

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

More Nice Dinky Toys from ebay seller Fredtoys2727

Friday, December 2, 2016
Overcast
4 C  37 F

More Nice Dinky Toys from

ebay seller Fredtoys2727

Please click here to visit this fine ebay merchant

I had written the first post about Frédéric Chemin on  October 9, 2016. His excellent photography had caught my attention, and at the time, I was introducing Dinky Toys. I like these small toys because they remind me of Tootsietoys. In that respect, I've included 1 Tootsietoy for comparison to the other Dinky Toys.

Frédéric likes to buy  toys that are in very good condition.  If you visit his ebay store, you will see that most of his cars are in that condition.

Below is a Tootsietoy. Both the Dinky Toys and the Tootsietoys were die-cast from a mould. 

Tootsietoys are larger than the Dinky Toys, and  except for the sets of Tootsietoys, you never see individual toys in boxes. In the  1930's both companies also made cars specific to their respective countries Dinky Toys were British and European,while Tootsietoys were American.

Dinky Toys also sometimes suffered from the nature of the metal casting. On some toys, you will notice small cracks, and in some toys much more visible cracks, and small pieces of the casting that have come off. In the Tootsietoys, occasionally, you'll see the cracking, but not as frequent as Dinky toys.

In that respect, Frederic has truly selected his toys very carefully.

So that's another post.

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

Moko Lesney Matchbox Toys

Monday, November 28, 2016
Overcast with snow 
1 Celsius 34 Fahrenheit

Moko Lesney Matchbox Toys

Please click here to visit this fine ebay seller

Gotham City Toys is a successful ebay seller.

In his own words:

" I love collectible nostalgia.One of a kind,hard to find, and unusual items are the best. History is fascinating and period pieces are like a window into the past. Don't you love to hold an item that was here 50-150 years ago?"

Matchbox is a popular toy brand which was  introduced by Lesney Products in 1953,and is now owned by Mattel, Inc. The brand was named as the original die-catch Matchbox toys, which were sold in boxes similar in style and size to those in which matchboxes were sold. Subsequently, the brand would encompass a broad range of toys including larger scale die-cast models and various non die-cast lines such as plastic model kits and action figures"*

* Citation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matchbox_(brand)

1959 Lesney Moko Matchbox # 20

"Ever Ready" Truck

1958 Moko Lesney Matchbox # 43

Gray Wheels Hillman Minx

1958 Matchbox # 50

Gray wheels commercial pick-up truck

Mark VIII

 1959 Moko Lesney Matchbox

Regular wheels - Ford 3 Ton Service Ambulance

 1959 Moko Lesney Matchbox # 68

Regular wheels Austin MK2 Radio Truck

Thanks for visiting,

and as always,

Have a great part of the day or night,

Wherever you may be.

Stacey Bindman

toysearcher@gmail.com