A Friend Shares his Well-Deserved Success

 Friday, July 4, 2014
U.S. Independence Day Holiday
   Overcast, raining and cooler

A Friend Shares His

Well-Deserved Success

   I woke up early this morning and received a surprise e-mail from Mr. Clifford Olsen of Gotham City Toys on ebay . He's a friend whom I met when I asked him if I might use his fine photos. His a successful ebay seller, who has sold some very nice and rare toys, as well as less-rare toys. However, like all successful sellers with an excellent reputation, he takes pride in his work, and photographs and describes each and every toy as if it were the rarest of them all!.

   So when I looked at the item, and them the final winning bid, I knew this toy was rare! I initially didn't recognize the name of the toy - a  KiCo, but upon reading the written description and reading further, the names Gely, and then George Levy, I recognized the company. I'll know for future reference the name of KiCo.

   I took longer than usual in writing this post because Clifford takes great photos, but as you know, I like to present them against a white background. But I debated (with myself), and finally decided what I'd do. I would present a few versions of just one photo ,but let Clifford's excellent photos show as they did on ebay. All I would do is colour-balance the photo, and remove some of the dust on that nice foundation that Clifford uses for all of his photos.

Please click here to visit Clifford Olsen's fine ebay store

Please click here to visit the actual listing of this rare toy!

(Please note that  this listing will be available for only about 60 days on ebay)

Description

A Rare 1915 KiCo (Germant) 2-Cylinder Motorcycle

Lithographed tin with wind-up Clockwork mechanism.The mechanism does;t work,but it is not overwound. The small support wheels are missing, so the toy has to be propped up to stand.

Age:  1915
Length:    8 1/4"  210 mm   

Clifford's Photo on E-Bay

I did minor improvements on colour-balance and exposure.

The way to tell if the colour-balance is off to look at a white area called highlight in photography/.

If the white area is coloured, then the colour-balnce is off.

I removed the nice sky background, as well as the coloured-relfection in the black glass base.

Regardless of my small improvements, Clifford's original photos are excellent.

A nice close-up photograph of the detailed lithography.

I like how Clifford found that small-sized crate to hold the toy.

It's just the correct proportion for the motorcycle and rider.

 As you can see, Clifford likes to take plenty of photos to present his merchandise well.

A close-up of the actual KiCo logo on the motorcycle.

I was trying to think how I would end today's post, when I thought to myself what the oldest item is that I have. I've only had this fish is riverbed sandstone for about 15 years, but the sandstone and fish are about 135,000,000 years old.

Of course, the age of an item isn't what makes something valuable- 

it's the rarity, and of course, the amount of interest that people have and are willing to spend in their bidding! In the case of this very rare KiCo toy,there were 10 bidders interested with 16 bids having been placed - that's a lot of bidders for one item on ebay!

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 Very Rare Gely Windup Motorcycle

   Sunday, March 30, 2014
(Strong winds and blowing snow for the whole day!)

A Very Rare Gely (Georg Levy)

Windup Motorcycle

   I'm very fortunate to have many fine people who help me out, and one of them is Mr. Frederick Pals from Holland. He's very easygoing, and has allowed me to photo-edit his images. He was even so pleased with the effect, that he asked me (and I readily agreed) to make a slide show for his brother who is studying photography, to show how the editing was done.  What's great about having European friends is that they sell European toys, and usually have many more since the toys are more readily available there.

   I wrote Frederick if I could go one step further with my photo-editing, and he agreed. I'll send him another mini slide show, as this effect is very easy to do.  The reason I asked Frederick if I could go further with the photo edit was because this particular toy is very, very rare. I felt it deserved to catch the reader's attention even more.  Frederick's listings on ebay are easily recognized because he always places his toys against a background of a book or two. I'd certainly like to see his book collection, because books are great resources when you find toys without enough description to them.

Please click here to visit Frederick Pals' fine ebay store

It's always interesting to see which toys are the rarest. Georg Levy (Gely) manufacture red many beautiful lithographed tin toys at that time,yet this particular model is very rare. For the image above, I simply removed the colour of the books photo, and the colour of the foundation (what the toy was resting on). I then did a "motion blur' to give the illusion that the toy was moving. This particular motorcycle came in 2 variations. One is the above with the spoked wheels, and the other was with plane wheels with only the cream colour.

The photo above and below are Frederick's style when presenting his merchandise.  The book that he's using in this case is one from Rich Bertoia of the highly-renowned Bertoia Auctions  in New Jersey, USA. Not only is he part of the successful American auction house, but he's an author of antique toy motorcycles. 

I always wonder why so many  American toy manufacturers in the 1920's-1930's were producing such less sophisticated toys (cast iron) compared with the European manufactures of the time. The reason has to be more than simply cost, and one day, I'll have to research my own question to find the answer. However, by the early 1890's ,Germans and Europeans had successfully developed colour lithography on tin, and the process readily transferred to toy production.

You can see Rich Bertoia's name (blurred) on the right side above the lady passenger.

I cropped the top (cut off part of the photo) so the entire foundation (why the toy is resting on) occupied the whole picture frame. With less distraction, the toy shadow adds a nice balance to the actual toy. 

In this photo, Rich Bertoia's book happens to be opened on a page that has the same model of toy as Frederick happens to be selling on ebay.

Here is the actual book photo of the toy from Rich's book.

If you go to Google Blogger's slide mode, you'll be able to see today's photos larger and much better against a dark background.

Thanks for dropping by,

and as always,

have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be.

Stacey

Please feel free to write to me anytime at

toysearcher@gmail.com