Toys of Times Past Auctions' Latest Upcoming Auction

Tuesday, October 16, 2018
Cloudy with Sunny Periods
8 C  46 F

Toys of Times Past Auctions'

Latest Upcoming Auction

    If you've been following be of late, you'd see that I've returned to writing. I can't promise for how long, but there have been nice upcoming auctions that have given me the impetus (incentive) to write. I ventured over to  Toys of Times Past Auctions and was surprised to see so many toys that I had not yet seen before. Also, the owner is quite knowledgeable, as the dates of when these toys were around are inclusive in the descriptions.

Please click here to visit their website

Like many auctioneers recently have done, Toys of Times Past Auctions have

decided to use an auction service company to have their bidders bid. The auction

service organizes the auction, takes bids, and of course receives a commission for their work on -line. Below is the auctioneer organizer's (Invaluable) website for Toys of Times Past Auctions.

This auction consists mostly of an exceptional 
collection of Schuco (Germany) toys in very good conditions.
I have not seen so many of the same toys in an auction before!

This auction is scheduled for November 3, 2018

Please click here to visit this auction on Invaluable's website

Made in Germany. 

Rare & very hard to find 1923 

Nifty Barney Google Riding Spark Plug horse 

early comic character tin windup toy with original box. 

Measures 7" ( 178 mm) L x 7.25" (185 mm) H.

Made in Germany by Schuco. Rare & hard to find 1933 tin wind up 853 Mouse Riding Tricycle Scooter with original celluloid balloon and attached key. This is the largest version of all of the Schuco tricycle scooter toys that they produced. 5" long x : 4.5 high.

 Made in USA by Marx. 1920's tin litho windup 

Ring A Ling Circus with the rare & hard to find rose base 

version of this circus performing act toy. 

All four of the circus performing acts work correctly 

and as they should! 

Measures 7.5" (191 mm) in Diameter x 8"(203 mm) T.

Made in Germany by Schuco. 

1930 fabric covered tin wind up 940 

Short Tails Jacket Version 

Dancing Charlie Chaplin with original key. 

6.5" (166 mm) high.

Made in Germany by Schuco. 

Scarce & hard to find 1937 tin wind up s:

1.  # 496 Walt Disney Dancing Donald Duck with Umbrella and original key. 5.5" high.

2.  # 495 Walt Disney Dancing Donald Duck with Back Pack and original key. 5.5" high.

3. # 497/1 Walt Disney Dancing Donald Duck Drummer and original key. 5.5" high.

 5.5" =  140 mm

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

The Distler Racers

Saturday, January 14, 2017
Clear skies & cold
-12 C  10.4 F

The Distler Racers

Please click here to visit this fine American toy auctioneer

History

"Johann Distler, Nuremberg, Germany, 1895 - 1968. Produced lithographed tin penny toys, comic and erratic action transportation toys. The company "Johann Distler KG" was established in Nürnberg in 1895. Johann started as a penny-toy manufacturer, specialized in lithographed tin toys but his range of products comprised 500 items. In 1917, Distler took on Brown & Mayer as partners. His partners took over when Distler died in 1923. Eventually, in 1935, they sold out to Ernst Volk.

After the Second World War Distler started to produce electric trains and, later, electric toy cars as well. Distler's electric model of the Porsche 356, produced since 1955, was beautifully designed. Distler's also made more simple models, but these were usually sold in department stores. Unfortunately, in the beginning of the 1960s, the company could no longer maintain it's position against the larger brands like the German Marklin, and Trix, and the British Dinky Toys.

The production in Germany was discontinued in 1962. The company was sold to a firm in Belgium (including machines and production rights), where Distler Toys S.A. in Nivelles continued to produce under the Distler brand name until 1968.Distler not only made toys, but also electric shavers." *

*History Courtesy Fabtintoys.com on ebay

Germany, a fabulous oversized tin lithographed racer, striking graphic pipe images 

on sides,bonnet (hood) vents embossed, spare wheel graphics on tail rear, 

seated tin driver, features electric headlights and clockwork (wind-up key) mechanism.

Length:  20"  508 mm

 A bright German-made tin lithographed car with separate side pipes, spare tire 

mounted on side, seated driver, clockwork wind-up by key.

Length:  12 1/2" 318 mm

Circa 1930's

Lithographed tin by Distler of Germany. The design is based on an AUto-Uniobn racer by Bernd Rosemeyer*. Seated driver, clockwork driven by a key wind-up, nice detail to rivet graphics on body.

Length:  13 1/2"  342 mm

Circa: 1930's

*Please click here to visit Wikipedia for a very interesting history of Berndt Rosemeyer

Mermany, lithographed tin, large scale example with separate side pipes, embossed pattern,

seated driver, electric (battery-operated) headlights, clockwork mechanism by wind-up key.

Length:  20 1/2"  520 mm

A well-detailed oversized German-made toy.  

Tin lithographed, with pipes mounted along the sides.

Electric (battery-operated) spot light is hood mounted.

Clockwork mechanism by a wind-up key.

Length:  13"  330 mm

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

The Penny Toy

Wednesday, November 23, 2016
Cloud with sunny periods
1 Celcius  34 Fahrenheit

The Penny Toy

Please click here to visit the search results for penny toys

Please click here to visit this fine American auctioneer

Penny toys is a name used for "cheap" tin toys mostly manufactured in Germany between the 1880s and 1914 that were sold in the United Kingdom for one Penny. They were originally sold to wholesalers by the gross for 8 Shillings allowing the seller, often street peddlers to sell them for one penny making a substantial profit. Offset color lithography enabled fine detail and color to be applied to sheets of tin plate quickly and economically. Shapes were machine-cut and stamped and then assembled by unskilled workers, sometimes in cottage industries. A Cottage industry is where individuals would take work home to their homes and work there. Once the work was finished, the people would return the work to the factory.Many were manufactured by the Johann Philip Meier company of Nurenberg. Penny toys included all kinds of vehicles , people and animals. Most of the toys  were mounted on 4 wheels and could be played with by hand ,or pulled with a cord.

The toys below yielded prices ranging from $65.00 USD to $200.00 USD. I didn't include written descriptions because all of the toys could not be attributed to any single manufacture. The written descriptions simply described the toy, and as such , I figured you could see for yourself what the toy was. As far as the size goes, most of the toys ranged in length from 3"- 4" (76 mm - 102 mm)/

In America, many toys would find their way to small sotres, and the larger department chains such as Woolworth and Kresge.

A New-Found Auction Site and A New Auctioneer

Friday, January 30, 2015
Cloud with snow, and milder 

A New-Found Auction Site 

and a New Auctioneer

   There are lots and lots of toys in Europe, but it's hard for me to be able to communicate in different languages, even though there are now  web translation sites to use. Moreover, not everyone  writes back to you. However, when I found  some fine toys on Catawaki Auctions together with of course an auctioneer, I had to write. I completely forgot about my sending an e-mail , when Mr. Rob Boot, an auctioneer on Catawaki Auctions wrote back. He gave me permission to use his nice photos of toys and their descriptions, and he mentioned that I should use the web address of Catawaki Auctions when you want to communicate with him.

Please click here to vista Rob Boot's location on Catawaki Auctions

What's refreshing about connecting with a European auctioneer is that the language and words used may be different when it comes to the parts of a toy. I think Rob Hoot is Dutch, and I assume that they use similar terms to the British. So tires (North American spelling) is written tyres in Europe, and windshield is windscreen.

Of course, what I liked about Rob's listings is his nice photography, and plenty of photos!

Most of the toys presented today are from the 1950's- 1960's. However, I wanted to connect with Rob  and see if I could get his permission. Now that I have, I will trey and figure out how to access past auctions, to search for my "usual" (pre-1940 and true antique toys).

What I like about this listing is the artwork on the box. Of course, if I was a "kid" 

(an expression for a young child here in North America, and not a baby goat!),

 I'd certainly have fin with this toy. It not only moves, but it has a dumpster that tilts to unload!

There are a lot of Schuco toys for sale on ebay and they always  have lots of bidders. One time, I purchased a modern-era (2000's) Schuco to see just what "all the fuss" (attention) was about. Even today, these toys are made to last. They're heavy, strong, and the wind-up mechanism certainly gives these toys a very fast send-off when you let then run!

If you've ever seen a period French move circa 1950's or early 1960's you'll have seen this truck. The "real" Citroen truck must have been very popuar at the time, since every movie (especially the crime and police movies) always use these trucks for escapes.

Here's  a nice Russian motorcycle toy. I like how the driver is "masked", but the best of all is the excellent photography that Rob has taken of this toy. What's also interesting is the excellent condition that this toy is in.

I rarely venture into the 1950's, but  there are  nice toys from that time. The world was recovering from WWII, and the defeated countries (Germany and Japan) were helped by the victors to get them back on their feet. I like the yellow/red combination of this Tippco truck.

Below is the "piece-de-resistance" - a fine Tipp & Co. toy from the US-Western Zone (Germany) after WWII. At the time, the USA had a "protectorate" as did Russia. Tippco or in this case Tipp & Co. made excellent toys since the beginning of the 20th century, and here is still a fine toy circa the 1950's. This particular toy received the highest value at the end of bidding of all the toys presented today. What noteworthy is to still see that this toy had its original windscreens (windshields) both on the rider's motorcycle and the passenger's side.

 I already mentioned the fine photography of Rob, but here is an interesting and successful use of a plate or dish as a foundation (underneath an object). This framing of the dish created four rounded corners that literally frame the toy.  It's a compositional term in photography, and here the plate is a great idea. Not only that, but the  shadow on the plate and some reflections enhances the photo and the toy even more. I also like the high camera angle taken to illustrate a direct top view of the toy. You don't see this done much on ebay or elsewhere, but it's a great camera angle to show the features of the toy from a very different bangle and point-of-view.

Thanks for visiting and as always

have a great part of the day or nigh,t

wherever you may be, 

Stacey Bindman

toysearcher@gmail.com

The Extraordinary Karl Bub Automobiles

Sunday, January 25, 2015
Sunny, very cold , getting warmer later

The Extraordinary 

Karl Bub Automobiles

  If yo search for old antique automobile toys on the Internet, you will eventually come upon the name of Karl Bub. This German company mace exceptional toy cars in the first quarter of the both century. They were beautifully hand-crafted, and the company spared no expense to produce a quality product that has lasted for a century, as you'll see below.

Please click here to visit this fine American auction company

We start first with this very large car. It has battery-operated headlights and is 21" long ( 533 mm) - that's large! It  also a wind-up. But the selection go colours and the care in crafting the toy to what the "real car" looked looked is exceptional as well.

Here's a limousine  made around the same time as the opening toy. This one also has battery-operated headlights, and the rear doors open up.

I usually select items in order of their final value at auction.,hence this toy is from 1915, whereas the 2 previous opening toys were from the 1930's. I always a doe those very-early headlights on cars. I haven;t researched these, but I often wonder if they were powered by an alternator in the car, or had candles or fuel inside the "lantern-style'"headlamps. I'll have to check this out!

Another beautiful car - this time a taxi.

ALthough the description does not mention the windshield, this one may have been made from thin panes of glass, as thin or thinner than slide covers if you ever took a biology course. The slide cover would "sandwich" your thin specimen to the glass slide so that keeping everything flat would keep the focus in one plane.

Here's a nice truck that I found that break's up the rest of the toys today.

If you loot at all of the toys today, you'll see that some are very high in proportion to their drivers. The real cars i or trucks wet win fact large, hence the people were small proportionate to the vehicles of the time.

Here's a limousine that definitely has glass windows! What amazes me is that the glass  has stayed intact (but for the rear left panel) without any damage. If you compare the other grey toy Town car, above, you can see that perhaps that one did have glass as well!

There are two things that are interesting to this final presentation of the day. There's a large "Felix the Cat" hood ornament that was a popular cartoon character of the day. But what's also interesting is the fact that the car has no headlights. I've seen this before, and this will also require research. I never really thought about this, so it will be interesting to see if cars perhaps did not all come with headlights - powered by the car alternator, or by fuel or candles inside what appear to be large-sued lanterns!

Thanks for visiting and as always

have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be

Stacey

toysearcher@gmail.com

The Rare and Magnificent Marklin Water Tank Truck

Monday, July 28, 2014
Overcast, coller, with rain forecast

The Rare and Magnificent

Marklin Water Tank Truck

   I first saw this fine German Marklin toy presented on Liveauctioneers for the September 19-20, 2014 Bertoia Auctions auction. It's description mentions that it came from the Donald (Don) Kaufman collection that had been sold a five years earlier. I decided to search for more of this toys on a search for sold toys on Liveauctioneers. Sure enough, I saw the previous listing for this toy, as well as another similar Marklin water tank truck, but a smaller version.

   What was interesting for me was that Bertoia had rephotographed the toy since I'm sure they wanted to photograph it from its new owner should there be anything different. But was more interesting is how the new images make this toy look even more magnificent. Also, the smaller version is just as great  with its attention to detail, and its sheer size and beauty, even for a smaller version measuring 15 21 1/2" or 546 mm" or  381 mm. The larger version is 21 1/2" or 546 mm.

Please click here to visit this fine American Auctioneer's website

You have to look closely to find the differences between the smaller (top) and larger (bottom) water tank trucks. Since they're modelled after a real truck, there would not be too many differences.

1. First and foremost is the painting of the circles on the back of the tank part of the truck. The smaller truck has the 2 circles (yellow and black more towards the centre,  and equal in thickness. THe larger truck has a thinner yellow circle and a wider black one. Their positions are placed outwards than in the centre. 

2. The smaller water tank truck has only 1 rim and tire on each side of the back of the truck,while the larger one has 2 rims and tires on each side on the rear.

3. The larger truck has more spokes on its rims than the smaller truck.

 4. The  larger truck has 2 water spreaders (sprinklers) at the back of the truck,while the smaller truck has only 1.

These are the major easily-identifiable differences. I'm sure there are more, especially in size and proportions of the parts. However, it's hard to see this from photos that are similar in framing and camera distance, and lens selection.

   It's the attention to detail that makes these 2 Marklin trucks so interesting and valuable. The dimples of the seat,   the use of what appears to be brass parts, the springs of the trucks, the holes in the sprinklers, and so on.

Below is what I assume is the same truck as was previously auctioned. As I mentioned earlier, I especially like the photos for this relishing. The higher and lower camera angles help to present different features of the truck better. I also like the use of a wide-angle lens or focal length selection on a zoom lens to also emphasize certain features.

You can see the Marklin logo  next to the right tank in the photo.

I'm assuming that these are gas tanks.

This wide-angle and lower camera angle help to emphasize the size of the truck. AS well, the rear pairs of rims and tires, and the dual sprinklers are well illustrated. You also get to see the leaf springs at the rear of the truck. 

As Bertoia Auctions mention above, people, especially children must have certainly been attracted to the real truck when it appeared to clean the streets way back in 1912. However, you also have to realize how much dirt and waste there was back then considering all of the horses that still outnumbered automobiles and trucks at that time. There certainly was lots to clean up.

Thanks for visiting, 

and as always, 

have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be,

Stacey.

toysearcher@gmail.com