A very, very rare Marklin refrigerator car

Thursday, May 21, 2020S
Sunny
24 C 75 F
S

Marklin Schlitz Refrigerator

Car 2959S

1 gauge. Yellow refrigerator with opening doors on each side

Produced for the American Market 1907-1915

Version from before 1909

Hinged roof

Please click on this sentence to redirect to the Soulis Auctions website

As you know, I've been searching through my past posts to see

whom I had written about, when Dirk Soulis Auctions came up.

So that's how this post came to be.

I wanted to find something "exceptional" or rare, 

and came across this "real" antique, which

is dated to have been made around 1907, 113 years ago!

I was going to title this post

"Honey, I'm going out to get a Schlitz", but

I decided that this title would be a bit un-classy, for

a real class company such as Dirk Soulis Auctions,

But if those words were true,  I can just imagine how this person's wife would have felt, 

when this buyer came home with this refrigerator train car!

 Exceptional

rarity sold for at auction on June 9, 2012.

The estimated price before the auction started was between

$ 20.00 - $ 2000.00 US.

Please click here to see what this fine model car sold for

Now if I had saved my 1950's Lionel train set, 

my microscope set, my toy brass trumpet,  my toy tool box,

my comic books, my Classic brand of comic books, and my toy six shooter!

I can dream can't I?

Thanks for dropping by,

and as always,

have a great part of the day 

or night, wherever you may be.

toysearcher@gmail.com

Stacey Bindman

An Interesting Air Drive Toy Bus

Friday, November 14, 2014
Partly sunny and very cold

A Very Interesting 

Air Drive Toy Bus

   A few days ago, a reader sent me some photos and asked if I could identify the toy. He mistook the toy as being cast iron when in fact it was a slush toy. A slush toy is manufactured from a mild. A molten alloy of metals is poured into a cavity (hole), swirled around to create the items's shape,and the excess liquid is pouted back into the hot cauldron  to put again. The reader had written that a mechanic by the name of Arthur created the toy. I should have investigated further, but didn't. Gladly, the reader found the answer to his own question.  The company name was the Kansas Toy and Novelty Production Company,and the name of the mechanic who became a toy manufacturer was Arthur Haynes.

   I's written about slush toys before, so I decided to check out Liveauctioneers to see what is currently being offered "et voila" (and here in English) was a fine toy being sold by Dirk Soulis Auctions. I found a masterpiece that was made by another company called the C.A.W. Novelty Company. Sadly, it closed down in 1940.

Please click here to visit this very interesting auction company

Dirk likes to add this apple (wood or plastic) as a reference 

to the relative size of smaller items that come up for auction.

You can always identify a slush toy by the 2 openings at the bottom.

One certainly doesn't see one of those toys every day,so it's quite interesting. 

It "easily" fits in to those sci-fi movies from the 1930's and 1940's.

Thanks for dropping by, and as always,

have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be,

Stacey

toysearcher@gmail.com

A Superbly-Photographed Smith-Miller Timber Truck

Monday, October 13, 2014
           Cool and Sunny

A Superbly-Photographed

Smith-Miller Timber Truck

   While I was searching out Strauss timber trucks yesterday, I came across a very nice Smith-Miller truck. Better still, it was excellently photographed by Dirk Soulis  of Dirk Soulis Auctions. I had only recently write to Dirk to ask for his permission to write about his company and of course his fine items that had gone to auction.  His photography is gréât, and his images sises are large. This not only helps make my life easier when posting, but also allows readers to see the small details of the  toy items that he has sold.

Please click here to visit this fine American Auctioneer

The Smith-Miller company was purchased a while ago and still continues to produce their fine toys.

The truck below was produced in the 1950's and is in gréât shape. It is however missing the chaine that would have held the timbers in place.  I'm sure that anyone who purchased this toy, would be able to contact the company today for replacement parts. These toys became collector items rather than toys, so it's rare today that a child would play with them.

Some of the rare Smith-Miller "items" (not using the word toys) can sell for 1000's of dollars!

When you examine the photos in the Blogger slide mode, 

you can see the nice detail in these dis cast toys.

I woiuld be willing to bet that there are many adults out there who have had their children play with thèse collectibles. Hopefully, the children played with them very carefully, so that the fathers wouild still be able to boast about their fine collection of "models"!

I sometimes wonder who the child is with regard to these fine "collectibles !

This would especially true on a rainy day, like today in Monrtreal, when children would be in the house rather than outdoors.

Thanks for dropping by,

and as always,

have a gréât part of the day or night,

wherever you may be,

Stacey

please feel free to comment on any post,

and you can write to me at:

toysearcher@gmail.com

Early Outboard Toy Motors - Gas and Battery-Operated

Monday, August 25, 2014
             Sunny and very hot

Early Outboard Toy Motor

Gas and Battery-Operated

   I had the good fortune last week to meet (on the Net) a fine Montanan by the name of Mr. Dirk Soulis who is the owner of  DirkSoulis Auctions. I wrote about an exceptional salesman's sample Adams Road Grader. These are not really toys, but actual scaled-down models of real machinery that would be taken by salesmen across America in the early part pif the 20th century when the railroad was more prevalent than the highway.

  Naturally, I had looked at Dirk Soulis' items that he had sold, and I came across many nice items to write about in the future.What I also noticed with lots of excitement was the fact that Dirk or his photographer take a lot of photos to present their items up for auction. If you've been following my blog or if you haven;t you'll know that I'm a pro photographer and taught the profession for 32 years before I retired. As such, I am always appreciative of auctioneers who make the effort to present excellent photography, as wells lots of photos.

   I've written before about these small outboard motors before, but just about the battery-operated ones. However, as I was looking at some of Dirk's previously sold items on Liveauctioneers, I came across a few gas-operated ones. I should have realized these would have been made long ago, but nevertheless I was very excited to see so many photos, and of course excellent photography.

Please click here to visit this fine American auctioneer

The Battery Operated Outboard Motor

I like to be able to see an item and try to understand how it works mechanically.

With the fine series of photos below, you can easily see this. A small battery with wires would be attached to the two brass clips at the back of the steering handle. Hidden from sight are what I assume to be are tiny motors to be able to propel the three-bladed propeller. There is a long vertical shaft that is connected to the propeller at the bottom via interconnecting round gears, one form the drive shaft, and one from the propeller.

The Gas-Powered Outboard Motor

This one is gas-powered. There is a glow-plug pr spark-plug that you can see above. It's in the repeating round petal plates at the top of where the propeller side is, and at the back of that round plate on the engine top. What's interesting is that that round plate has some string still there, so I am wondering if the engine started just like it's big relative - the true real life outboard motor?

I'm "guessing" at what I'm looking at since I have never seen one of these engines, nor been around the model-airplamne ones either. The rectangular shape below the rotting start plate (with the string) is a gas reservoir,and the long shorted screw is, I assume a n adjustment for the gas.

Since I don;t know much about this old engine, I asked an ebay seller who had sold many of these a few questions.I haven;t yet heard back from him (or her), so if anyone knows about these great toys, please help me out!

My questions  were:

1. Does this small engine need the plug to be replaced periodically like the real item?

2. How far can the to engine propel a small boat or does it have a rubber or plastic (plastic may not have been invented at the time of this engine) hose that attached to a "gas tank", like the later-model engines?

( I don't mind asking what might appear to be "dumb questions"!

As you can readily see, the photography is excellent, and if you do know about these great toy engines, I'm sure you'd readily say that the photos illustrate excellently how such an engine would operate.

 Dirk or his photographer always take lots of photos for their items that go to auction. He has sold exceptionally rare items with many photos, and muchness items with plenty of photos.  To me , that certainly tells you about the standard that Dirk, his employees, and his company maintain.

I appreciate and respect that, and the photos as well!

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

Two Exceptional New Discoveries - The Salesman's Model and The Auctioneer

Tuesday, August 19, 2014
    Sunny with cooler temperatures

Two exceptional New Discoveries-

The Salesman's Model and The Auctioneer

   I made two fantastic discoveries yesterday on Liveauctioneer. One is a salesman's early 20th century Adams Road Grader Sample and the other is Dirk Soulis Auction. I had never known that salesmen sample existed before I started to write this blog. A salesman sample is an exact replica of a "real" item that was used by travelling salesman in the first third of the twentieth century of the USA.. Because there were few automobile roads, or even automobiles for that matter, companies replied on the railroad system to sell and distribute their products. 

Part 1: Mr. Dirk Soulis and Company

I won't give away the whole story, because Dirk Soulis' biography is so interesting . From an early age at college, Dirk appeared to already have a firm foundation in selling. He paid  his own way for his education  at University by buying and selling antiques, as well as working for two Fine Arts and Antiques Dealers After finishing university he travelled with his fine collectibles across America, as well as acting as a broker for some major" pieces of art and antiques for others.

I'll let you read the rest of his biography and the link below, because for me to write the whole story would be like telling you the end of a movie before you saw it, and Dirk's bio, along with his wife Susan, is a great story! 

Please click here to read the most interesting history and 

bio of Mr. Dirk Soulis and his fine auctionCompany

Part 2: The Salesman's Sample

  Small towns had originally sprouted up all over America, followed by the rail system (trains) then followed by mail catalogues.  Salesmen would travel by train all over the USA (and Canada of course) with small exact models of why they were selling. Because the models were so accurate, the salesman and the customers could see exactly how the item woke in every detail.

  These salesmen samples are not really toys, but they are so fantastic in my opinion,that I write about them periodically. Today's discovery is the Adams Leaning Wheel Road Grader. I've written about the toy Adams engine-operated grader, a circa 1940's toy, but to find the salesman's sample is fantastic.  Today's presentation was pulled by horses or oxen because it had no engine. A driver would sit on a seat and operate the machine and I assume someone else would guide the hard-working horses or oxen. 

The most thorough description of this item was very well researched by Mr. Dirk Soulis or his staff, and I decided to present it verbatim for everyone to read.

Please click here to visit This fine American auctioneer's website

Description:

"A scarce and desirable Salesman's Sample for the ADAMS LEANING WHEEL ROAD GRADER. This patented leaning wheel design became the industry standard at the turn of the century. The Adams design was superior to other graders of the day in that it kept its blade level even when the terrain was uneven. It eventually became the industry standard for road grader design and was made from 1896 until 1922. Known as the 'Road King' this horse or oxen drawn piece of machinery featured a manually operated blade that smoothed unpaved roads. It could also serve as a snow plow. The tines on its blade could easily break up dry dirt or snow. This is a fine nickel plated brass example of these rare and desirable Salesman's Samples. It has three brass plaques with the maker's name and location. The controls work to adjust the blade and the wheels and a number of other functions. The finish is very nice, completely untouched. This great example measures 10 x 10 x 23 inches."*

Description Courtesy Of Dirk Soulis Auctions

I'll be returning from time to time to Dirk Soulis' fine company and his fine antiques and art. I'm very fortunate to have made these 2 fine discoveries, especially Mr. Dirk Soulis yesterday, and hope to find lots more in the future.

Now if I could just find two very small horses to see how this road grader actually worked!

Joking aside, whenever I find these salesman's samples, I am always enthralled to understand what made America great in her early history. This is one aspect of America that made her so great during the last century!