Check The Oil Promotions

Monday, November 18, 2024
Overcast and Cool
9° C / 48 ° F

Check The Oil Promotions

I was browsing through LiveAuctioneers last week, when I came across a very interesting company, by the name of  Check The Oil Promotions, LLC

 What I found interesting were the toys that they had up for auction. There were many toys, and some of them were from companies that I had never heard of or came across after 14 years of blogging. I was exalted and excited at the same time. Also, some of the toys were from the 1950's, and I've written very little on toys from that era. Moreover, the photography was excellent, and the descriptions were well written.

I contacted the company by email, and got permission from Mr. Andy Hussar.

His company is truly a multi-level business that sells many different types of merchandise related to the oil industry, as well as toys, and even automobile memorabilia from eras long past.If I had more time, I would write about other collectibles, especially relating to cars and trucks!

Please click on this sentence to  visit Check the Oil Promotion's current auction

"Check the Oil specializes in selling Gas & Oil Advertising including gas pumps, globes, signs, oil cans, and much more. Along with advertising sales, Check the Oil proudly offers Automobilia, including radiator mascots, emblems, hood ornaments, literature and more. Annually, we run a dozen online only sales selling thousands of authentic collectibles at no reserve!"

Wow!

That most certainly is a lot of work to manage for a company, as well as having piqued (perked) my interest.

I spent a lot of time searching for the Chiko toy company, 

but it was hard to find much information on the company.

The Schieble Toy and Novelty Company was an American company 

that ran from 1909-1931. If you go to hobby db, you can find lots of information about this company, as well as many other companies.

I never heard of the Ted Toy company before, 

so I did a fast search and found a link to this company.

The company that provided information about the Ted Toy company is called "oldwoodtoys",

 and there is a lot of information about wood toys.

 

This website is a great resource for wooden toy collectors.

Please click on this sentence to redirect the oldwoodtoys.com website

 

The Nomura toy company also known by the initials TN (Toys Nomura)

began in Japan in 1923. They made many toys from tin. 

The Nomura toy company, also known by the letters TN (Toys Nomura) was founded in 1923. They started to make tin toys, and became  very successful after WWII.They produced lots of colourful toys that attracted many to buy them.

So that's all for today.

I was elated to get the permission from Mr. Andy Husser, 

and seeing these toys from a more modern era 

was a like "a breath of fresh air".

I hope you enjoyed this post as I did in writing it.

So thanks for visiting, and as always,

have a great part of the morning, afternoon, or evening,

wherever you are.

My name is (Mr.) Stacey Bindman,

and I can always be reached at 

toysearcher@gmail.com

Revisiting Mr. Frederick Pals on Ebay

Monday, June 24, 2024

Overcast with drizzle 

66° F / 18.9° C

Revisiting Mr. Frederick Pals on ebay

I've been slow to add blogs this season. However, what I've been doing is to bring back people and companies who have helped me out in the past. Today's post is about Mr. Frederick Pals. In the past, he allowed me to use his photos and write about him, and use his excellent photos. You can do a search on my blog to find the previous blog posts that I've written about him.

His ebay address is:

Please click on this to visit Frederick's Excellent ebay store

What's great about Frederick's store is the fact that he has lots of toys from Europe. That's where he live, and specifically in Holland. You don't see lots of toys from Europe in North America in one place or seller, so visiting Frederick's sight lets you see lots of toys that you might not be familiar with, or normally see in North America.

Below:

Antique Tin Toy

Gunthermann Clockwork Double Decker Bus

Pre-War (WWII) Germany

Below:

Ichiko Circus Volkswagen Samba Transporter

1962

Japan

Below:

Gunthermann 1951 Ford Fodor Limousine

US ZONE Germany 

Frederick is very knowledgeable about toys, and has reference

books that help him add the specific description details of his

merchandise.

So that's it for today,

As always, have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be.

I can always be reached at:

toysearcher@gmail.com

A New Toy Seller Helps Me Out

Friday, January 5, 2018
Overcast with strong winds
-20 C   -4 F

A New Toy Seller Helps Me Out

Please click here to visit this very fine ebay store

It's the new year, and lately we've had -15 to -23 C up here in Montreal. With a wind chill factor added, that will certainly free your nose off. We put our 16 year old dog Buddy outside, so that he doesn't have to walk very far in the cold and snow.  Fortunately, it is going to get warmer next week.

That will give me more time outside for shopping, since nobody likes to shop in blizzards!

In His Own Words:

Good Afternoon - Stacey , 

You have my permission to use my toy photos for you blog. You may improve photos with Photoshop but not change the contents of my photo's and you can and I also add a link my ebay store. I've been in the antique business on and off for the last 40 years. Now I'm retired and just collect. I add some pictures of about 1/3 of my collection.

 Always hunting.
Hardy Littleton

Description:

YONEZAWA USAF B-29 BOMBER AIRPLANE TIN LITHO FRICTION JAPAN

VINTAGE 1950's USAF B-29 SUPERFORTRESS BOMBER TIN LITHO FRICTION TOY. 

Made in JAPAN.  YONEZAWA . Friction works , No missing parts. Excellent condition. All 4 Propeller spin when runs!  

About 19" (482 mm) Wingspan & 15" (381 mm)  Long.

The toy was made in 2 sections and came apart. To assemble the 2 parts, 

the underbelly of the toy was shown, and the wing then 

fitted into an opening there. A small lever was then turned to keep the 2 parts together. 

When the toy was moved on the ground, the wheels turned the propellers. 

Some information about the Yonezawa toy company

History

The logo for Yonezawa Toys.

Yonezawa Toys (米澤玩具 Yonezawa Gangu) (known also as Yone or simply Y) was founded in the 1950s in Tokyo. It was one of Japan's largest and most prodigious post-war toy manufacturers and an early participant in the growing radio control market.

The company and focused on the production of thousands of different electrically operated and mechanical toys through the early 1970s. Some were branded not as Yonezawa but as STS. It is unclear as to the origin of the STS label, but it is presumed to be that of an importer. Yonezawa briefly dabbled in radio control in the mid-1980s with the introduction of the 1/10-scale Wave Hunter buggy, sold in North America as the Monogram Lightning.

Under Sega’s leadership, Yonezawa Toys was briefly known as Sega-Yonezawa until the Yonezawa branding was dropped entirely in April 1998. Once Sega Sammy Holdings was formed, Sega Toys was reorganized under Sega’s entertainment contents business.*

*Please click here to read more about the Yonezawa toy company

This particular is in great shape considering it's about 60-65 years old.

These more modern toys are somewhat rare, and as such, this particular one 

is selling in the 4 digit numbers (U.S. Dollars)!

You should have a look at Hardy Littleton's ebay store.

He most certainly has lots of interesting toys for sale!

Thanks for dropping by,

Stacey Bindman

toysearcher@gmail.com

Smith House Toy and Auction House

Tuesday, December 20, 2016
Cloud with sunny periods
-2 C  28 F

Smith House Toy

and Auction House

Please click here to visit this fine American auction house

A Brief history of the Japanese Toy Industry

Japan was in dire straits when WWII ended. The Marshall plan was initiated to help Japan get of the terrible state that it was in at this time. There were food shortages, and their industries for the most part had been decimated from the constant bombings that the Americans had done as a precursor for the invasion of Japan. However, with the dropping of the 2 atomic bombs, the war ended and the invasion was not needed.

The Marshall plan was initiated in order to help Japan recover from the effects of WWII. Food was in short supply, and the country had to be rebuilt. One of the purposes of the Marshall plan was to help with the reconstruction, and to bring in much need money. As such,  some industries were designated as "export industries" during the mid-1940-s-1950's in order to bring in foreign cash (e.g. US Dollars) for the purchase of food and other supplies that were needed.

I remember in the 1950's when "Made in Japan" was a derogatory term for poor quality and "cheapness". However,  Japan worked very hard to manufacture excellent-quality products, and by the mid-1960's became a major exporter around the world, and known for the manufacturer of excellent products with excellent quality control.

A brief history of the Smith House Toy and Auction House
(In his own words)

" Smith House was founded in 1986 by Herb & Barb Smith. They were one of the first to do a catalog/phone format auction. I was a long time buyer/consignor to them. I purchased the business from them in 2004 when they retired. I do 2 auctions a year handling only toys and toy related items. Bidding is done these days mostly on our website although we do still have quite a few phone bidders.

I would suggest you sign up for the email list to get notices about upcoming auctions. We also have a Facebook site that I recently started. I just posted a photo yesterday on the Facebook site of an incredibly rare airplane that will be in our spring auction. There was a 3 page article in a recent Antique Toy World magazine about the toy. The example I'll be selling has the original box."

Craig Thompson

The photo of the extremely rare toy mentioned in Mr. Craig Thompson's letter to me.

Craig's second e-mail to me:

"Thanks for the email. I sell more Japanese toys than anything else so I guess you can say I specialize in them. Depends on what comes in and what I find. I've sold quite a bit of American tin as well as European tin over the years as well. As far as what I find it's a result of years of 35+ years of being in the business in some way. I have quite a few connections and friends in the hobby in many parts of the world. I think the results I get are also an attraction for potential consignors. If you take a look at the past auction results on the website you'll get an idea. As far as condition I'm pretty picky on what I accept and purchase." 

If you look at the toys that I have selected, you will notice that they mostly are in very good

condition. Also, if you visit the website, you will also notice that many of the toys come with their original boxes. When people buy toys for their children, the boxes are often thrown out.However, for collectors, the box is very important, and even increases the value of the collectible.

The Toys

X-15 Moon Explorer

Manufacturer: Yoshiya

Crank operated astronaut moves with waddling motion as the antenna spins.

Lithographed tin and plastic dome over head.

Length: 7"  178 mm

Future Car

Manufacturer: Kaname

Lithographed tin

License plate dates to 1957

Length:  8"  203 mm

Sonicon Rocket

Manufacturer: Masudaya

Lithographed tin, Battery operated. 

The rocket moves with mystery action and working rear lights.

Length:  14"  355 mm

Space Elephant

Manufacturer: Yoshiya

WInd-up mechanism

Ears and tusks and trunk move and a spark shows in the window of his back.

Length: 8"  203 mm

Chime Trooper

Manufacturer: Aoshin

Rare toy, mechanical wind-up mechanism

Advances as he plays a "plinking" musical sound.

He stops, and then heads off in a different direction.

Length:  9 1/4"  235 mm

Space Gun

Manufacture: Daiya

LIthographed tin.

When the trigger is pulled, a firing noise is made.

Length:  7 1/2"  190 mm

Lighted Space Vehicle

Manufacturer: Masudaya

Lithographed tin, battery operated

Moves with mystery action, blinking lights, and a "satellite" white ball 

that floats above the vertical stalk behind the driver of the vehicle.

Length:  8"  203 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

Part II of Bonham's Mr. Yoku Tanaka's Toy Collection

Thursday, August 28, 2014
Overcast, windy, and cooler temperatures

Part II of Bonham's

Mr. Yoku Tanaka's Toy Collection

   I received a nice note from Joalien Johnson of Bonhams yesterday. Joalien e-mailed me to say hello, and to thank me for my initial presentation of the  Yoku Tanaka Toy Collection Auction that had occurred on January 16, 2014 of this year. Wow, how time does fly!  I had known about a second part of the auction that had occurred on  August 25, 2014 of this year, but I was very busy writing writing post after post to try and reach my 200,000 page view milestone.  The two auction are a fantastic collection of post WWII toys from the 1950's-1960's with some much earlier entries.

  These will be the great collectibles in 50 years from now, just like I like the 1920's cast iron American toys, and the early 1900's French, German, and English tin toys. The Japanese toys of the 1950's and early 1`960's still are sought after and achieve good returns at auction. They usually have lots of lithographed detail, are larger in size, and have movement (windup, friction, or battery).

Please click here to visit this famous and world-renowned auction house

Bonhams is one of the oldest and long-established auction houses (companies) in the world. They were established 321 years ago, and I always wonder about all of the fine items that have come to auction in such a long and illustrious career.

Not all of the  Yoku Tanaka collection was Japanese-made. 

There were earlier-era (1930's) toys that appear below

Of course most of the toy collection was in fact Japanese-made. What I find personally interesting is that I do remember the actual cars and trucks of the 1950's and early 1960's because I was a "kid" then. But at that same time, I was not a car or truck fan. I was too busy playing outdoors or going to school. 

Most of Bonhams listings consist of a single photo. However, they present each and every image in a large size. As such, it's quite easy to magnify the image to view the small details on any item.

I decided to enlarge a portion of the above image,  as you can see below.

I particularly like the  S-57 and D-196 speedboats for their detailed lithography.

I'd also be curious to know if these toys were able to float and move on water, or were they land-based with wheels?

 These 1950's car look so  "old" to me now, yet in the USA, collectors love to restore the original cars, as ell as to collect them.

If you ever see a modern-era movie taking place in the American South or southwest, you'' inevitably see a truck similar to the one below. Either the old trucks (and you even often see 1950's or 1940's trucks) are the "standard fixture" in these movies or these trucks actually exist and are still going strong after 300,000 miles!

What's interesting about "real" old cars and trucks is that there are so few parts under the hood (bonnet), compared with today's vehicles. One of my friends purchased a 1960's Dodge Valiant from an old lady. When he lifted the hood, you could see a lot of ground underneath the engine. THere was a fan belt and blades the radiator, the engine, the air filter and carburator, and the power steering and brake cylinders.

Today, everything seems to be enclosed with plastic coverings, and there is so much "stuff"

under the hood that I have no idea (not do I care to know) what it is!

One thing that you can definitely say for sure is that these toys have lots of colour.

It helps to cheer you up when you're writing a post on a cloudy or rainy day!

Thanks for dropping by, 

and as always,

have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be.

Stacey

toysearcher@gmail.com

The Tri-Motor Airplane Toys-Part I

Tuesday, August 5, 2014
                    Sunny and hot

The Tri-Motor Airplane Toys

Part I

   I remember  when the first Boeing 747, nick-named the Jumbo first flew over out house in 1970 in the Montreal suburb of Ville Saint Laurent. It was huge, and majestic,and it seemed to move to slowly, that you thought it would drop down to earth - but it didn't.  For weeks at a time, the whole family would be sitting outdoors in the summer, and we would watch the immense-sized jet passenger airplanes land at Dorval Airport. The airport is now renamed Pierre Elliot Trudeau Airport in honour of one of our 20th century prime ministers.

   I had seen a nice tri-motor airplane on Liveauctioneers, and so decided to investigate further just to see how many companies had made this particular type of aircraft. As it turned out, plenty of companies had made this airplane. Because of it's interesting design of having 3 motors, I'm sure this airplane (later 1920's - pre WWII) must have certainly attracted lots of airplane aficionados at the time. I'm sure that's what inspired so many different companies to manufacture this unique airplane, and also to create so many different designs on the exterior of the toy.

  Because so many companies made this toy, I decided to create a 3-part mini-series presenting 3 different fine auctioneers and their sold tri-motor airplane toys. Bertoia Auctions is the first.

Please click here to visit this exceptional American auctioneer

I'm not sure if the Ford Motor Company made the first tri-motor airplane, but there are lots of references to them. The first plane was made in 1925, and continued to be produced until 1933. As such, the extreme contradiction of having some cast iron toys ( a very old process) made of such a modern airplane is exceptional, One has only to realize how so close in time the Wright Brothers had flown the first successful airplane that was on December 17, 1907, a mere "blink of an eye" in time  at 18 years earlier from the Ford production time.

Below are 2 fine examples of Japanese  quality of tri-motor toys. I remember in the 1950's when "Made in Japan" was synonymous with low-quality, but when you look at the pre and post WWII quality of all merchandise, I realize now that this simply must have been  a myth against the fact that Japan had in fact started the Pacific War and entered into WWII.

Of course, the Americans also had their fine expertise in toy-making, and many of the American companies produced this fine airplane. The Bertoia Auctions photos below present that famous patented wind-up mechanism that was seen all of of the Kingsbury motor-driven toys.

I've never heard of the Aero toy company, but this model certainly is most impressive.

A wingspan of 37" (940 mm) certainly has to be investigated!

All of these different interpretations of the tri-motor airplane reminds me of a design contest for a new automobile, bridge, or a building. The engineers and architects all are given a set of rules by which to design the structure or product, and the final one is selected by the contest committee.

I would have an extremely hard time selecting a winner. All of these toys are stupendous, but the difficult part, for me, would be to stop playing with the toys, and selecting a winner! With many of these toys, there was a mechanism that allowed all 3 propellers to rotate together - now that certainly was an engineering feat for toy-making!

Thanks for dropping by,

and as always, 

have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be,

Stacey.

toysearcher@gmail.com