Gunthermann Mechanical Characters

Sunday, January 21, 2018
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Gunthermann Mechanical Characters

Please click here to visit this exceptional American toy auctioneer

When you visit  liveauctioneers, you are able not only to go to the latest auction, but you are

capable of visiting their past auctions. I'm writing about Bertoia Auctions' June 3, 2017 auction today. There, I found many Gunthermann tin wind-up toys , with some being able to produce music.  I was surprised, because I don't ever think that I wrote about these toys. So I looked through this auction, and decided to write about them for today. All of today's toys are either hand-painted or lithographed on tin.  They also have mechanical wind-up movements that allow them to move the characters, and in some cases to even play music.  Most of these toys were in high demand  at this auction, and all were in fact sold in the 4-digit prices! 

Gunthermann Clown See-Saw Toy (Germany)

Hand-painted clockwork tin toy featuring the centre toy being able to 

roll back and forth on his small cart, with music emitted from the box

on the platform base.

L x W:  14" x 4"   (365mm x 102 mm)

Gunthermann Whimsical Animals Swing Toy

Very charming German tin toy, hand painted and clockwork driven, features a dressed standing dog who appears to rock his friend the dressed frog in a swing, all the while a performing poodle spins on a disc table, a very unusual tin toy. 10" (254 mm) width

Gunthermann Jiggs Bumper Car

Extremely rare example, c. 1926, 

lithographed tin amusement style toy ride, 

seated Jiggs character, clockwork driven, 5" (127 mm) width

Gunthermann Dog Trainer

Wonderful early hand painted toy of dog trainer and dog, plink-plank mechanism, when activated dog trainer raises his arms which hold a training stick and the dog with spring tail jumps up, nice form and movement. 8" ( 202 mm) height

Gunthermann Mutt and Jeff Clockwork Toy

Litho tin wind up toy, working, c. 1925, made in Germany, great form. 

At one time considered almost rare but a few have surfaced in the last 20 years and now considered hard to find. 6" (152 mm) length.

Musical Gunthermann Clown Toy

Hand painted whimsical toy features large seated clown at center holding leash for the pig, as the clockwork motor is activated, the large wheel rolls causing the small clown riding a pig to run and the entire toy revolves on the floor and plays a tune. 8 1/2" (216 mm) height .

Gunthermann Dancer and Flutist

Germany, early hand painted example, bright colors, clockwork activates twirling motions of dancer as plink-plink sounds emit from shared base, dancer depicted in classic ballerina cloth tutu, clown musician seated on bass drum. 9" ( 228 mm) height

Gunthermann Musician Toy - Violin & Banjo

Germany, hand painted tin toy, clockwork allows plink-plink music, 

depicts two minstrels seated in chairs 

with instruments in hand, a rare and desirable piece. 9" (228 mm) width.

Gunthermann Cat Violinist

Hand painted tin in impressive original conditon, clever plink-plank toy, 

depicts cat playing violin while his tail moves in rhythm, red base has some flaking primarily to one side, otherwise in uncommonly strong condition and bright colors. 7 1/2" (191 mm) height.

That's it for another post.

Thanks for dropping by,

and have a great day or night.

Stacey Bindman

toysearcher@gmail.com

The Lindstrom Corp. Toy Company

   Wednesday, July 23, 2014
Thunderstorms, then partly cloudy and humid

The Lindstrom Corp. Toy Company

Lindstrom Tool & Toy Co.

Bridgeport, Connecticut, 1913-early 1940s (resumed production after WWII).

Produced (mechanical) toys, games and phonographs made of pressed-steel and tin. Also produced an amusement-park type model: the "Doodle Bug" bumper 

* Description Courtesy of Mr. Harmjan Heeling

Please click here to read about the many toy companies that Harmjan has written about

Please click here to visit this fine American Auctioneer

This "Skeeter Bug" toy is modelled after the bumper cars that one used to see at carnivals and amusement parks. You would ride on a large platform with many other people, and occasionally would "bump" into them. The "bumps" were mild so there was never any danger. I remember riding on them as an adolescent here in Montreal. They were at a part called "belmont Park" on the north side of Montreal Island.

The Lindstrom Corp. made a nice variety of lithographed wind-up toys 

with lots of colourful designs to them.  They were made quite well, as you can see, and many of the mechanical wind-up mechanisms still work.

Thanks for dropping by, 

and as always,

have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be,

Stacey.

toysearcher@gmail.com

Homestead Auctions of Norton,Ohio, USA

Wednesday, June 26, 2014
          Clouds and high humidity

Homestead Auctions of 

Norton, Ohio, USA

Please click here to visit the Homestead Auctions interesting website

   I'd seen the toys and logo of Homestead Auctions many times on Liveauctioneers. However, with my current selection of many people, collectors, sellers, auctioneers, and museums, I don't always think of broadening my scope of contacts. I was looking a few days ago for Courtland Toys on Liveauctioneers, and saw that Homestead Auctions had sold a fair amount of these toys.  So that was my initiative to try and make a new contact.

   I wrote to the company, and received an answer from  Mr. Jeffrey P. Prinz. The message was short and I had Mr. Prinz's permission to write about Homestead and use their photos. Homestead Auctions has been in the business for 25 years, and is located in Norton, Ohio (USA). They have a busy schedule this summer, and their auctions contain all kinds of merchandise ranging from of course toys to antique furniture to fine Asian figures.

Homestead was originally on Liveauctioneers, but is now with Proxibid.

Please click here to visit Homestead  Auctions sold toys on Liveauctioneer

Please click here to visit Homestead Auctions home page on Proxibid

   For those who may not know, Liveauctioneers and Proxibid are internet websites that allow people to bid online for items that are up for auction. This process has of course evolved with the Internet and the computer. Even the Internationally-renowned auction companies also auction their merchandise in this manner. Of course, people can still visit the particular auction in person, but the Internet has made bidding and auctions an international business and broaden the audience (bidders) to many more than in times past. These companies have strong security, safeguards, and scrutiny to ensure that all bidding is fair and honest, and and everything is perfectly legal and legitimate.

   I was going to present a range of Courtland toys, but I kept seeing the same truck and car body many times but with different design and lithography on the outside. Form this, I decided that for the introductory presentation of Homestead Auctions, I would do a post on all of the the same truck bodies, but with different outside lithography.  This particular is about 7"  (178 mm) and had lithography over what I assumed is tin. There are black rubber tires that are moved by a wind-up and friction mechanism.

    There are 2 things that caught my attention when I was screen-capturing and looking at these particular toys. 

The first is the address on the boxes.

Courtland Manufacturing Co., Inc., 

Camden, N.J.

A simple address like this always reminds me young children who write to 

Santa Claus, The North Pole. Of course, a country like Canada will take the letter and send a reply during the happy season of Christmas. But at one time, you could in fact send a letter or a return item to a company, and just with such simple information the toy would find its way there.

The second interesting thing was a warrant on the wind-up mechanism. If the mechanism failed to work, you could simply mail it to the company, and they would either repair the mechanism or replace it.

Try to find a guarantee like that today!

"Founded 1944, Camden, New Jersey / USA by Walter Reach. Walter started out producing die-cut cardboard toys and turned to tin after the war. In 1947 its sales exceeded 1.5 million dollars, had 600 workers and had moved production to Philadelphia. Production ceased in 1954."*

*Brief history courtesy of 

http://www.fabtintoys.com/courtland/

What I like about the toy is the graphics and late 1940's-early 1950's style of drawing. The typography and the characters are so "retro"!

I like how the driver and passenger appear both in the front through the windshield, as well as on the sides of the car.

It's  not unusual for a company to manufacture different designs using the same frame. If you look at the posts of Tootsietoy Grahams, or Hubley Airflows, you will see that they to have used a similar production technique. I'm sure this offered the children a better selection of a similarly-designed toy, while at the same time, kept production costs down.

Thanks for dropping by,

and have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be.

Stacey

toysearcher@gmail.com