Bertoia Auctions First 2018 Auction

Monday, December 25, 2015
Overcast with snow
-8 C  17.8 F

Bertoia Auctions 

First 2018 Auction

Please click here to visit this fine American toy Auctioneer

Please click here to visit this fine American Auction Management Company

I hope everybody  is having a great Christmas Day and is enjoying a fine Christmas 

meal, and resting for tomorrow (Boxing day). Auction houses plan their auctions months in advance. The time is needed to organize the toys, photography them, and to catalogue them into an order. As well, the toys are being authenticated as to what manufacturer, when they were made, what characteristics they have, and any damage if any.

I've focussed  Bertoia Auctions cast iron  and pressed steel toys. However there are many fine toys that are available for those who might like to see other toys.

Many of the cast iron banks are from America. I've seen the odd bank from another country, but these banks were mostly made in the USA. They were made in the 1880's-1930's. They are called mechanical banks because they usually had a spring-activated way of cocking the spring. A coin would be placed somewhere on the toy, and when a trigger released the spring, the coin would drop into the inside of the bank. When the bank was full, a screwdriver would unscrew a screw that held a trap in place, so that the coins would not fall out from the bank. Some of the mechanical banks are quite valuable and garner 4-5 digit prices at auction!

Below is an early cast iron and steel Kingsbury Fire Pumper.It was made most likely in the 1910's-early 1920's. This is what fire trucks looked like a few years after the horse-drawn wagons started to become obsolete. 

Structo was an American company that made moveable toys such as the one that appears here.

THe one here is a wind-up toy, that even has a large vertical brake handle on its' right side.

It's made of pressed steel, and  either die-cast or cast iron wheels.

 Walt Disney's most famous characters are Micky and Minny Mouse. In the 1920's, when these 2 comic characters were very, very popular, there was a huge demand for toys of Minny and Mickey.

As such, many American companies asked for licenses to produce toys based on these 2 characters. Lionel , a famous American model railroad company, even got involved and produced this fine toy.

The Chein company produced lots of toys in the 1920's-1930's and later on. They were usually made from pressed metal sheets that were cut into smaller pieces that were assembled by assembly lines of people. The "Dan-Dee Dump Truck" has a wind-up mechanism with a hand break. When the brake is released, the toy moves forward.

 Have a look either at Bertoia Auctions website or liveauctioneers website with Bertoia Auctions.

There are lots of toys in this auction, and many are quite interesting to see.  Already,

people have bid on some of the toys in the auction!

Thanks for dropping by,

and have a great day or evening,

wherever you may be. 

Stacey Bindman

Toysearcher@gmail.com

Some Newfound Toys from a New Contributor

Saturday, November 5, 2016
Cloudy
9 Celsius  / 48 Fahrenheit

Some Newfound Toys

from a New Contributor

Please click here to visit this fine ebay seller

Barclay was an American toy manufacturer specializing in die cast small-sized toys.  They competed with the likes of Tootsietoys (American) and Dinky Toys (Great Britain).

If you've read my blog, Tootsietoys are one of my favourite small-sized toys.

Like Barclay and Dinky Toys, the company made only small-sized die cast toys.

Tippco's trucks  are slightly rarer that their automobiles. The company was founded in 1912 and named  afar one of its early directors of the company - Miss Tipp. The company was owned by Mr. Phillip Ulmann. In 1933, Mr. Ulmann had to flee Germany due to his being Jewish, and moved to Great Britain. There he founded the Mettoy toy company, before returning after WWII to Germany to recover his company there.

Like most of the toy companies of the early 1900's and later, the A.C.Williams Company started out as a manufacturer of household hardware. Like Hubley, Kenton, and the Arcade Company,  they expanded into the cast iron toy business, and were highly successful into the Mid-1930's. 

Hubley was another household hardware manufacture who expanded into cast iron toys.

They were one of the most productive toy companies of the time,and manufactured toy horse-drawn wagons, and eventually automobiles and trucks. They also manufactured cast-iron mechanical banks which were very popular at the time.

Once again, the Arcade toy company started out manufacturing non-toy items such as cork extractors, coffee grinders,and screen-door hinges. These items were manufactured in 1868 and later. However, the company today is known best for its' cast iron toys.These started to be manufactured in the early 1900's and included doll houses and furniture, horse-drawn carriages and fire wagons. IN the later 1900's, more "modern" toys such as automobiles, buses,airplanes, and farm machinery such as tractors were made. 

There actually was a company called Pickwick that bussed people in California in the 1900 teens.

The company was known for carrying passengers overnight to and from several west-coast cities.

The toy above is was modelled after the Pickwick coach, and is about 4"-5" (102-128 mm) in length.

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

A Restored Vintage Schieble Dayton Turner Hillside Roadster Comes to Market

Monday, October  24, 2018
Partly Sunny and Cold
7 Celsius  43 Fahrenheit

A Restored Vintage Schieble Dayton Turner

Hillside Roadster Comes to Market

Mr.Ron Michaud

Please click here to visit Ron Michaud's ebay store

I've been reviewing my previous post lately., and as of today, I have 1178 posts. I decided to return to Mr.Ron Michaud's previous posts, and remembered that he always had nice toys for sale. I even asked him where he always found such nice merchandise. When I went to visit Ron on ebay, he didn't disappoint me. He had nice toys for sale,and those that he had sold recently. I selected a nice toy that was sold recently - a Schieble Dayton Turner Hillside Roadster.

The reasons for having 3 names for the toy description is that the identity of the manufacturer is not identified. In the 1920's, Schieble, Dayton, and Turner all manufacture red similar toys. So without a 100% identity to this nice toy, the 3 manufacturers are used for the description.

Ron takes many photos, and does a fine job with the photography. There was one thing that I wanted to do to place the emphasis on the toy, and diminish the background.  That was, to remove the colour in the background. In this way, the colour of the toy and the toy itself would be more prominent than the grey-toned background. To do this, I "captured the toy", then revered the capture so that the background was not captured.From there, it was a simple matter of desaturating the background to remove the colour.

Description:

Schieble, Dayton, Turner Hillclimber Roadster

Beautiful restoration showing minor wear. Rear flywheel is working,sending the roadster roaring along the floor. Front headlights have been custom attached as seen in the pictures. Graceful lines from the long engine hood to the short rear deck mounted with a stylish spare tire.

From the days when a sporty car was huge.

Circa: 1920's

Length:  18"  454 mm

Below are the before and after photos.

The unaltered photo

 The photo with the background colour removed

The toy restoration is well-done. However, not everyone likes restorations of old toys, but prefer the toys "as found". Other people like their toys restored. THat's it with collectors - different tastes for different people.

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

A Great Canadian Story

Wednesday,December 10, 2014
Overcast, snowing and cool

A Great Canadian Story

  Today's post started out with Mr. Alvin Shier, a Canadian writer in several Canadian publications. Alvin introduced himself  by saying that he writes a toy column titled "Pollution Free Motoring" in the Canadian Publication "Old Autos".  He wanted to know if I knew if I knew of any information about the Lil' Beaver Toy Company besides what one finds on the Internet.  When he first mentioned Lil' Beaver, What came immediately to mind was the famous Canadian Wrestler by that name.Lil' Beaver used to be on TV in the 1950's with all of the other famous American and Canadian Wrestlers at that time. Television at that time was in black and one and there were 4 channels - 3 American and 1 Canadian CBC.

  That sounded like a post idea, so I wrote Alvin back and said that I'd search. I did find some "bits and pieces', here and there, but no story - yet!  

  My next idea was to go to ebay and Liveauctioneers. Most sellers on ebay and Liveauctioneers will usually include a brief history of the company, but again I couldn't find anything - not even a toy! Of course, if I keep searching on ebay , one will eventually appear!

  And then an idea came into my head, nd I said to myself (Just like those old V-8 vegetable juice drink commercials), "Now why didn't I think of this before?". "Look for Canadian toys on Kijiji".
For those who don't know, Kijiji is a Canadian company that provides free advertising for people wanting to sell all kinds of items. It's of course "buyer beware, and you're advised to meet in public areas, and note at your home. Personally, I've had very good experiences both in buying and selling, and have met people at Tim Horton's , the iconic Canadian coffee shop, established in 1967.

  I couldn't find and Lil' Beaver toys in Montreal, so I got another idea - search west, staring with Ontario, and going westerly. Eventually, I found a nice toy in Winnipeg,Manitoba.

  I have to interject here, and provide you with a mini-story that I used to not believe until it happened to me. Most people in the world (no disrespect intended) don't know much about Canada. Even I don't! Canadian history, when I was a kid was boring, and even today it still is. The great part is that we have been a peaceful country for our short history, and I can't argue with that.

  So here's the mini-story that actually happened to me. I met someone a few years ago,and the conversation turns to Canada,and the person says "Do you know such and such person in Vancouver,British Columbia?". I didn't, and had to tell the person that Vancouver is  3,052 miles or 4,912 Kilometres. The next time you meet a Canadian, eh, ask then if they ever hear this story or if it happened to them.

   Back to the toys…


I wrote to a Kijiji seller in Winnipeg, Manitoba  (1135 miles or 1826 Kilometres), and he answers with exuberation. Mr. David  Gledhill wrote to say that he'd be very happy to be a guest on my blog. He's a contractor,but also happens to sell toys and comic books. What I liked about David is that he takes fine photographs. Not everyone on Kijiji takes the time to photography their merchandise, and provide more than one image. However, David took 8 fine photographs and large-sized as well. So below is the first Lil' Beaver toy that I found.

I did my usual minor whitening effect to present the toy,but David deserves all the kudos for the quality of the images. If you look at the photos in Google Blogger's slide format,you'll see the Lil' Beaver decal. As for the toy, it was probably made in the 1960's (an educated guess) and is not so old ( I had to say that, as I am 66 and don't feel old!). However, I think it's in better shape than I am. I keep saying that I have to start exercising!

The toy is in great shape and works well (please read the description).

I hope you didn't mind my long-winded story today or mentioning  Canada 15 times in this post.

Canadians are supposedly described as being very reserved and quite about our country, unlike our Southern neighbour - USA. 

You'd think that after all this time, we would have got out of our shyness, being so close to America!

I promise that for tomorrow, the post will be about toys with minimal diversions or stories!

Thanks for dropping by, and as always,

have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be,

Stacey

toysearcher@gmail.com

LLoyd Ralston's Upcoming June 21 (2014) Auction - Part I

Wednesday, June 18, 2014
       Variable sun and cloud, cooler

Lloyd Ralston's Upcoming Auction for June 21, 2014

Part I 

   I always like to venture over to the Lloyd Ralston Gallery. They have all kings of toys, and you're able to see 100 items at a time on your screen. Being a blogger, this allows me to find what I'm looking for in a much shorter time. What I saw that was new this time around, was the fact that they have presented their images in a way that you can now see them much larger when magnified. This also is great, because it's easier to work with larger images when I present them against white (which I do in a photo-editing software).

   I decoded to present the upcoming auction in several parts, with today's part being exclusively USA toys. Tomorrow, I'll present a wonderful collection of smaller sized international  (USA and European) toys.

Please click here to visit this nice website

This is a fantastic hand-made custom toy that was made from an Erector kit.

It's superbly made and is in working condition.

I always liked the Tootsietoys, and purchase sand resold many on ebay.

I never could afford the complete vintage sets, and when I see a set, I especially like them.

It's the vintage graphic design and older font set that attracts me to these marvellous toys.

One of these days, I am going to have to speak with the owners of T Reproductions again.  I spoke to them ,then sent a follow-up to ask for their permission, but never heard from them.

The company - T Reproductions, reproduces Buddy L toys  today, as they would have appeared 

70-80 years ago. They are well-crrafted, and have now made their way into the resale market.

A nice pair of Tootsietoy airplanes. 

I recently wrote about the Autogyro airplane from another toy manufacturer. 

The original story of the Autogyro is quite interesting!

Another vintage example of superb toys with classic vintage graphics and font style.

This is quite an eclectic (mixture) of Tootsietoy toys.

THey;re in great shape, and I especially like the small tractors.

 The Barclay toy company made what are called "slush" toys. A slurry of molten metal would be poured into a mould and allowed to harden.  Besides small toy vehicles, the company manufactured figures, and made many soldiers and accessory items during  the War Years.What I also forgot to mention is the nice way that the Ralston Gallery presidents their photos (against a lighter tone). That makes my work so much easier when I present the toys against white.

I'll be working on Part II of this upcoming auction tomorrow, so please take a look, or better still, venture over to the actual website.

Thanks for dropping by,

and as always,

have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be.

Stacey

toysearcher@gmail.com

Sturditoy Pressed Steel Toys

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Sturditoy Pressed Steel Toys

   I've been looking through my last 488 posts to see what I wrote, and to see what I will be able to write and not duplicate. And so, I came up with today's post on the Sturditoy toy company. THe company was created in Pawtucket, Rhode Island (USA) in 1926 and called the Pressed Steel Company. The company initially started making toy trucks and a steam shovel. Like other companies of the time, the toys were modelled after the real trucks seen on the roads at the time. 

   The original trucks came with disc wheels, Firestone tires, and heavy-gauge metal fron bumpers.

   Some of their first "batch" of toy trucks were the fire vehicles, while became very popular at the time.  What's interesting about the fire truck was that it had an actual water thank that was filled with water, as well as a pump. A child could actually pump and water would stream out of the nozzle to a distance of 25 feet. By 1925, there was a total production line of 25 trucks. Sadly, with the coming of the Great Depression, the company was forced to close forever in 1933.*

* www.pressedsteelmetaltoys.com

   I studied professional photography at a small school by the name of the Rhode Island School of Photography in Providence, Rhode Island. It was a small 3 story old school that was used by RISP at the time.  Rhode Island is the smallest state in the USA, but it's a great place to see. There's Newport (the once summer abode of the ultra rich of the early last century), there's lots of nice beaches, and the people of course are very nice. There was a famous restaurant called Custy's that closed, but reopened later on. At the time in 1972-1973, it was a buffet-style restaurant with an all you could eat menu. It had lobsters, so if you liked these crustaceans, it was fabulous. The food was excellent, but what I remember most about the place was a sign that read something like this"

"Ladies, please do not make us embarrass you, by having to ask you to open up your purse". Apparently, ladies would pack their larger purses with lobsters to "take home", ergo the "notice".

Please click on this sentence to be redirected to Bertoia Auctions fine website

What's interesting to note for toys of this  pressed steel era (early 1920's-1930's) in that many of the different toy manufacturers who made pressed steel toys, made similar toys. As I wrote earlier, many trucks and other toys of the time were in fact modelled after famous "real" brands such as Mack, White, or La France (fire trucks). Naturally, with the toys modelled after the real item,the toys of one company would appear similar to other company brand toys.

The fact that these toys have lasted for so long, with many in their original condition attests to their fine design and quality of workmanship. To bad the company couldn't get through the Great Depression at the time.

Thanks for dropping by,

and as always, have a great part of the day,

wherever you may be.

(Mr.) Stacey Bindman

(toysearcher@gmail.com)