A Friend Helps me Out

Friday, May 23, 2014
            Cloudy with rain

A Friend Helps Me Out

I check my email several times a day, and so I was surprised to receive a letter from Mr. Clifford Olsen of Gotham City Toys on ebay. I had made an error (now corrected) in matching up a Hubley catalogue photo with the actual toy. He also sent me 2 interesting photos to compare (please see below) that  are great interest to collectors and sellers alike.

Please click here to visit Clifford Olsen's fine ebay items for sale

The great thing about the Hubley Take-Apart toys was that you could dismantle them and rearrange different top body parts with the respective bottom part. If you go to the link below for m McHoe, another fine seller from Wyoming, USA.

Please click here to visit my previous post about Mr. Red McHoe

The 2 cars above are Hubley cast iron Studebaker roadsters from the 1930's.

Hubley made these toys in 2 sizes - the Stream Model and the Midget Line.

The lengths are 6 3/4" and  5"  ( 172 mm and 127 mm).

Cliff  also sent me the 2 images below which is something I might have known about, but never thought about using the technique with regard to old toys. It's the technique of using "black light" to check for paint retouching of nicks. I believe the technique is one of several used by museums to check for forgeries or a painting redone over another painting. Rembrandt sometimes did this when he didm;t like a painting and simply replanted over it.

The red marks over the violet truck body (above)

are the indicators as to where the retouching or paint over was done to the toy.The person who did the repainting did a very good job, as it's very hard to see the work in the regular photo  (below).

The final great news from Cliff was the fact that he mentioned that he just purchase a nice collection of Tootsietoys that was he will be selling on ebay. 

I can't wait to see what Cliff has for sale!

Thanks for dropping by,

and as always,

have a great part of the day or night, 

wherever you may be,

Stacey

toysearcher@gmail.com

Similarities Among Some Hubley Motorcycles

Wednesday, March 26, 2014
                  (Cloudy and milder)

Similarities Among Some

Hubley Motorcycles

Two days ago, I presented the beautifully photographed Hubley motorcycles of Mr. Nathan Forman. I planned to continue yesterday, but he had a beautifully-photgraphed cast iron bank that I wanted to post. So today, I'm continuing with the  motorcycles. Several of the different models are similar in their basic design, as you'll see below. The motorcycle and side car are the same in all 3 models, but the passengers could be different, and an accessory (steel-plated bulletproof shield could be added to the pair of motorcycle policemen.

Please click here to visit Nathan Forman's fine ebay store

The 3 photos above illustrate the basic model of this cast iron Hubley motorcycle, circa 1930's. I forgot to mention in the previous post, that the wheels were made of nickel-plated steel.

If you look at the sidecar seat, you can see 3 holes where the passenger would replaced.

 The above photo illustrates the policeman-driver now having  an aide.

That large shield in the front was an accessory that I assume could be purchased together or bought separately after. 

 This top view helps to understand how the wield would be attached over the front headlight.

For those children and parents who preferred civilians as drivers and passengers, this version was offered. I'm sure people could buy both pairs of riders, so the children could have alternatives t play with. Some kids certainly had all the fun back then!

Thanks for dropping by,

and as always, 

have a great part of the day or night, 

wherever you may be.

Stacey

(toysearcher@gmail.com)

Nathan Forman's Beautifully Photographed Hubley Motorcycles

Monday, March 24, 2014
            (Very cold and sunny)

Nathan Forman's Beautifully Photographed

Hubley Motorcycles

    I always like to return to people of whom I've written about.  Because  I have already dealt with them, and had originally looked at their items, I know with almost certainty that they again will have nice items to work with. I was on ebay 2 days ago, and saw some very nicely-photographed American banks circa early 1900's. I checked  my ebay e-mails and I had posted about Mr. Nathan Forman. However, I was in a quandary ( a problem that is hard to resolve). Not only did Nathan have beautifully-photographed banks, but also beautifully-photographed  Hubley motorcycles. This was almost as bad as being single and having 2 dates lined up with 2 beautiful women (of course, before I was married).

   I wrote to Nathan  just to say hello, and see how everything was, and we write back and forth. I was happy to see things were fine with Nathan , as he was happy to see that things were fine with me. As for what I would post today, I decided on the motorcycles for today, and a small post tomorrow. On wednesday, I will present the American cast iron banks.  Nathan's ebay  store is toyclaus which you can find by clicking the link below Nathan name (below).

   I couldn't believe that I had last posted about Nathan back in July of 2013 and earlier. What's great about Nathan is that he takes fine photos, and now with ebay allowing 12 photos and with magnification features, his images and detail of the items is even more spectacular. As well, he prefers to photograph on white which to me is a big asset. There is less worry from a foundation or background bouncing colour on to the item, and there are no distractions to take away form the item.

Please click here to visit Nathan Forman's excellent ebay store

You've undoubtedly noticed by now that there are similarities among the 3 different toys above. That's what I 'll be talking about tomorrow.

You  have to look at these motorcycles in Blogger's slide mode in order to see the detail of these toys. What's more, Nathan, kept talking about the patina (the weathered and rubbed effect from handling these toys). When you see the polished effect from children and parents, and I'm sure collectors, you'll have seen just how much everyone wants to handle these toys. There is a fabulous smoothed effect from the years and years of people having played and touched these marvellous toys.

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

A Whole Lot of Fine Early Hubleys From the Lloyd Ralston Gallery

Sunday, February 23, 2014
        ( Sunny, windy and milder) 

A Whole Lot of Fine Early Hubley Toys

From the Lloyd Ralston Gallery

   I would have liked to have posted these fine Hubley toys long before the auction ended (yesterday), but I'll try for the next auction. It's not often that I am able to have many Hubley toys together, and selling in lots of two to four. This allows me to present many more toys on 1 post. My normal amount is 10, a lot for most blogs, but today, I was able to present many more. What's more, is that you can easily compare them to each other when they;re in a lot, and see many more toys on 1 blog page.

  I noticed that the Lloyd Ralston Gallery has increased the images sizes of their toys up for auction, when you enlarge the images. This is great when you want to see small detail, especially with small toys like the Dinky or Tootsietoy companies. Also, they place their items against light-colored or grey backgrounds, which allows me to replace them with white quite easily.  I like white because it  presents the toy better without any shade or colour behind.

Please click here to visit the fine website of Lloyd Ralston Gallery

I decided to add a few Hubley catalogue pages to cross reference the actual toys and the catalogue images. What I've always found quite interesting is how America produced such heavy toys, which is almost unique to the world, ad that time. Railroad shipping costs were quite low at the time,and thus very heavy toys could be shipped wherever the trains went. Also, you have to remember that in the 1900-1930's, the super highways and Interstates of the USA, were not built yet. Therefore, the railway system of the USA was the best way to ship., and the most accessible at the time.

The upper left # 387 Fire Engine from the Hubley Catalogue can be seen below

You can see the Hubley Airflow below on the catalogue page.

What would be a post about Hubley without occasionally including the Airflow?

That's one of my favourite Hubley toys.

The above black and white is from a 1930's Hubley Catalogue.

You can see 2 of the toys below.

Thanks for dropping by,  and as always,
have a great part of the day or night,
wherever you may be.
Stacey
write to me anytime at
toysearcher@gmail.com