I Looked for Toys and Found a Museum - Part 3

Friday, January 9, 2014
Overcast, some flurries, and cold

I Looked for Toys 

and Found a Museum 

Part 3

   This is the third and final post for a 3-part series titled "I looked for Toys and Found a Museum".

If this is the first time you've been to my blog, please look for the two previous posts of this series. My regular day starts with seeing if anyone has written me so that I may answer their questions or comments. Then I start to visit several places to search for new material and toys to write about. 

   About 6 days ago, I found Fairfield Auction, LLC on Liveauctioneers with a fine collection of toys coming up for auction on January 18, 2014.  I had seen the toys, but the more I looked within the auction ( hundreds of items besides toys), the more I was impressed and excited about all of the antique items that ere were. If I wanted to spend more time in writing,which I enjoy, I'd have a second blog about antiques, and a third about very interesting things, but I digress.

   After seeing all of the "non-toys", as I like to call items that aren;t toys, I decided to write a 3-part series on Fairfield Auction, LLC. THis post is about fine toys that I have seen and written about, yesterday's post was about most of the toys I have not seen, and 2 days before were the exceptional antique items including some of my favourite interests - you'll have to read the post - these items are exceptional!

Please click here to visit this exceptional American auction company

There wasn't much narrative (text) accompanying the photos on the Liveauctioneers website. I was very tempted to add information to the narrative, but I didn't.  I leave the descriptions as they are unless there might be a mistake,in which case I will inform the auctioneer.

 It's very, very rare that I ever find errors.

So instead of "filling in the blanks" with information about the toys, I simply decided to see how much I might remember about the toys presented today. In my 40's (age) and later, I found that rather than study material to remember and learn it, it was better to simply read it for pleasure, or to practise with software,rather than reading a 600 page manual or reference book.  This I "discovered" seemed to work for new learning. When I watch Jeopardy ( a famous knowledge question-based  American TV game show), I can usually answer many of the questions.

 However, if I were to appear on TV, I would "freeze" sweat,and get tongue-tied!

I found that with today's to presentation, I did know a fair amount about the toys. I had "absorbed" a fair amount on information just by repetitive writing about the toys, and just appreciating what I was doing. You'll see what I mean when I "ad-lib" with my writing in-between the photos.

By the way, one of the reasons I selected Fairfield Auctions,LLC to write about is their excellent quality photography and the larger-sized images that they present to readers and potential bidders for the auction.

I purchased a similar Hubley racer like the one below. In the "era of cast iron American toys", Hubley was one of the largest and most successful of the time.  The cast iron toys are one of my favourites. The wheels are nickel-plated, and the hood opens up on both sides to allow you to see the engine.

The Wilkins Toy Company was purchased by the Kingsbury Company (Keene, New Hampshire) a long time ago. Both companies are long since gone.  THe key attribute to both many of the Wilkins toys, and the Kingsbury toys are their wind-up mechanisms.

I'm still learning about the many different carts and wagons there are.  Below is a dray - and you'll have to look for what a dray is in a dictionary. It's truly amazing how many horse-drawn people-carriers and merchandise carriers there were with so many different names to identitify each one!

Below is another Wilkins toy,but it's not mechanized. This toy is called a "pull toy",

and would be pulled by a cord by a young child along the road. Being a late 1800's or early 1900's toy,there were not many paced roads in the USA at the time.

I don;t know if the large cord-bound bales of "straw" are original, but their colour contrast brilliantly with the deep blue colour of the wagon (not a dray!).

With the large-sized and quality photograph, I naturally saw the metal rack around the roof edges.

Was that for additional bales of hay or for workers to move the bales into the wagon from the outside?

My wife always says that I ask too many questions!

Toys always are modelled after real life items and people of the time. This is another pull toy, and the rider would have had a set or reins to guide the horses. I can imagine one of thes "real"  pumpers literally "tearing down the street" with spoke bellowing from the larger boiler. The boiler would be used to pump water on to a fire. Imagine the horses panting as they pulled this massive boiler,  and the wagon creaking down the road!

The eagle is a familiar motif to many of these toys of the time.

This is a beautiful set of toys - a fire pumper and it's station.  I think this  might be a "transitional" toy based on the real transitional fire pumper of the time. A "transitional" pumper was a motorized pumper that replaced the horses, but still retained the older pump system and of course, there is a round-shaped disk under the driver. I'm thinking that  I like how the fireman is made from what is probably tin, because he's so thin (the rhyme was accidental).  Notice the small but interesting detail to the right side of the station building. I think it would have been a bulletin board.

I purchased an old unknown name one of these toys when I first started to write about toys. Sadly it arrived broken. It must have weighted 20 pounds  or 9.07 KG. This Kenton truck is 31 inches or .787 meters - a huge toy for the time.  It's another pull toys, and the detail is astounding. I can even imagine all the noise that this toy would make being pulled along the road or wooden sidewalk!

This toy is a bank, but a specie bank called a "mechanical bank".  This type of bank differs from the "still bank" type in that it does "trick" with a spring-activated mechanism.  The excellent photography with a nice number of photographs helps to illustrate what this J & E Stevens mechanical bank does.

At the time (1880's 1940's) most of the cast iron companies of the time produced these banks.They were so popular and still are. Today, there is an association (club) in the USA dedicated solely to mechanical banks. The name escapes me, but I will find it later today,and add the name to the post.

 This is a superb  close-up photo of the clown.  These banks were all made by hand and then hand-painted.  This photo truly gives you a great appreciation  of the casting ability of the craftsmen of the time to make these toys.

Another great pair of fine photographs.

What caught my attention to this toy was how well the paint on the toy was. I then read the description that said that the handlebars are reproductions and the driver was "professionally" recast. You can easily understand how the collector and other people  are so enamoured with collecting toys that they even restore the toy completely to this condition.

If you search for Hubley motorcycles" on my blog, you will see some of the finest  cast iron toy motorcycles ever made in the USA or for that matter around the world. Of course, I've only ever come across cast iron toys in Sweden, besides the USA, but that does not diminish in any way the exceptional quality and craftsmanship of these Hubley Motorycles. By the way, this one is modelled after the famous American real Indian Motorcycle Company. You can tell this is an Indian motorcycle by the engine, even if the label were missing.

I've only presented a "sampling" of merchandise form this fine auctioneer. If you venture over to Liveauctioneers and search for Fairfield Auction, LLC, you scan see the entire collection of items for sale.  However, set your alarm for 2 hours, otherwise you might forget the time and your wife, girlfriend or children will be wondering where you are! 

I know- my wife is always calling me to dinner or to do some work around the house!

Thanks for dropping by and as always,

have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be,

Stacey

toysearcher@gmail.com

I Looked for Toys and Found a Museum-Part I

Wednesday, January 7, 2015
Blowing snow, very cold, even colder overnight

I Looked for Toys 

and Found a Museum

Part I

   I'm always searching for toys that I have never seen before. My "usual" haunts (places where I regularly visit) are Liveauctioneers, ebay, and the Net. I was visiting Liveauctioneers a few days ago,when I came across some very nice items that I had not seen before. I wrote to Fairfield Auction, LLC, and received a reply today giving me permission to write about them and their fine toys. Their upcoming  auction is on January 18, 2015. 

  As I was looking through their auction, which has all kinds of interesting non-toys items, I looked and looked until I found the toys at the end. I had spent so much time looking at the non-toy items, I just had to write about them all. Moreover, they had most of the items that I like or are close to me. A fine set of brass dog andirons (for holding wood near fireplaces), photography and art, a cod fish weathervane, and a fine corrugated cardboard chair by the famous American designer Frank Gehry.  I have a dog Buddy (my page photo is of him, I taught pro photography and still do photography, I like art, and anything interesting (the Gehry chair from 1970). 

   I decided to include this, then realized there was just too much to "compact" into one post. I would do 2 posts. Then I realized, 2 posts wouldn't be enough, so now I will add 3 posts. The non-toys, toys I have not seen before, and fine toys I have seen but well-photographed, and large-sized.

Please click here to visit this fine American auction company

   Fairfield Auction, LLC is located in Monroe, Connecticut (USA).The state was one of the original  states and joined in 1788. When you realize that  the first immigrant settlers came to the USA in  1620 on an aging ship called The Mayflower, you realize just how many antiques and old toys there could be in 400 years, plus!  The company is owned by  Jack and Rosie DeStories, who have lots of experience and years in the business.

That's  Buddy from a few years ago.  He had just come from his haircut appointment, and Heidi (my wife) says to me, "Let's take his picture". I forgot to reset the camera, and so the pictures that you see were heavily corrected with photo-editing software.Nevertheless, they came out great!

Great for any fireplace!

Frank Ghery is a Canadian-American (Canada got him first) architect. He's multi-talented in many 

and has designed furniture, jewellery, and even computer software. I remember when I first saw his corrugated cardboard furniture in the NYTimes a while back.  It was so cool!

Who would think to create furniture out of corrugated cardboard?

 For those who don't know, Paul Strand was a famous early-American photographer. For those who don't know, Paul Strand was a famous early-American  photographer, belonging to what became known as a group called "modernists". When photography first was introduced by French inventor Nicéphore Niépce in 1822. In the beginning, photography was more of an art form and wasn't accept that readily into the art world.  The art world  snubbed their noses at the new media, and it took almost 100 years before it came into it's own, meaning that people recognized as a new art form. 

Please Note:

I used photo-editing software to improve the images. However,  it's important to see the actual colours that were taken by the photographers at Fairfield Auctions, LLC. 

So if anyone is interested in any of the artwork, please go either to the Fairfield Auctions, LLC website or Liveauctioneers. Even on Liveauctioneers, the colours may be off, but this is an "official" website to view the items coming to auction.

The piece of art below is from the collection of the  Paul Strand Archive.  I think that Paul Strand would collect work for his archive in order to help new young and upcoming artists and photographer.

I canlt remember if I've seen this particular pice of art or a smiler style. However, I like this a lot. The depth, the style of brush or pencil strokes, the composition and the shadow all make this exceptional.

Of course, most Americans and international art "buffs" (aficionados)  would know the name  Grant Wood from the iconic portrait below titled "American Gothic".

Please click here to read about Grant Wood on the Wikipedia website

I never heard of Martin Lewis, but but etching caught my eye. Just like the  attributes of the Grand Wood  "Approaching Storm" lithograph, you can see lighting and shadow, texture, composition, and of course - "Old". The derricks below are  old,and overall the image is just great!

What's noteworthy in the image below is how the  frame board is hung on to the backing.

The hinge (yellowish colour) and the white tape are specially made to have a neutral (acid free) content.  If this is not done, then acids in the tape, hinge, or even the matt board will leech into the art over time, and damage it!

I had never seen such a chair before, but now that I think about it, they certainly existed. 

What's interesting is that it was made for right-handed people. It would be good for myself, who is left-handed.

It's a beautiful chair, and what I like about it are several things. It's made of solid one-piece pieces of wood,not laminates. Also dovetails and mitres are used to  to have different parts attach together (with of course glue).

This trio of photographs certainly makes you appreciate the design of the chair, and how it was assembled so many years ago.

Last is this beautiful weathervane cod fish. The detail is superb both with the textures and the details. But if you've read my post regularly, you'll know that I like to fish. My father was a fisherman (I don't like to use neutral-gender words if I don't have to) or in the modern lexicon of language - fisher.

My wife Heidi kept wondering all the years that we were married about my fishing. I actually only went twice while we've been married, and both times with my bother Michael.

I've asked if she would be be interested in going ice-fishing, and she said yes. I didn't tell her about the cracks in the ice when the weather gets very cold. It's nothing to worry about at the end of January or early February when the ice up here around Montreal is 18" - 24" "  (.46 - .62 M_ thick. I will tell her though, because she gets nauseous when waves on a lake or ocean are higher than a foot! 

I hope that you enjoyed this post.  If my toy blog was more successful in terms of visitors, I'd try Google adsense, and try to make a few cents. However, it's not in the top 1,000,000,000 blogs out there. I would also write about antiques and art. However, I still enjoy writing about toys, and "it keeps me out of trouble for 1-2 hours, almost every 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