The Doepke Sand Movers

January 19,2011

Third Blog of the day

Some of my more favourite (favorite, for American spelling) toys are the Doepke Barber-Greene bucket loader and the  Doepke Barber-Greene track loader. These were made in the late 1940's and early 1950's, and you can find information on the Doepke toy company by doing a search with any search engine.

Photo 1

Photo 2

Photo 3

Photo 4

The 4 images above are of the Doepke Barber-Greene track loader.  This toy is about 14" (L) x 5" (W) x 12" (H) and weights about 3 pounds. It was a substantial toy for its' times and cost about $ 13.00, also a lot of money for  a toy ,for a period just after WWII.

The top 2 images illustrate the movements of the item. This toy was meant to play with in the sand. The crank on the side turns 2 augers (earth churners) that push dirt into the small buckets. These move again, from the turning motion, and then drop on to a conveyor belt. The conveyor belt also moves, and then "dumps" its' load into a dump truck (Not shown of course) that would be positioned under the end of the belt.

I'm not sure which of the 2 Barber-Greene toys came first or if they both were released at the same time, but the other toy can be seem below. It's also substantial, and very mechanical - a great hands-on toy to play with.

The Doepke Barber-Greene Track Loader came in 2 colours - green and orange. The last photo, immediately above, shows the 2 sand-churning augers at either side of the small bucket.

Photographic Lighting for Toys

January 19, 2011 
Blog # 2


I've never created a blog or blogged, so I might as well go all out and add a second article today. It will be all about photographic lighting, although in this blog related to toys.

I taught pro photography for close to 32 years, and the change from film to digital was humongous! I was a purist film person, but now, I would never dream of going back to film. Digital truly is a revolutionary invention that has remarkably changed mankind forever.

If you look closely at the above stagecoach image, you'll see 2 shadows, which are from 2 lights. I use a brand of light called LTM, but even the sun and a reflector will do.

There are usually at least  2 lights used in photography. The main light create the direction from where the light is coming from, and also create 3d (form) or shape (2-D or silhouette).

The fill light adds light into dark area of the photo that the main light does not hit. In doing so, detail is shown in these areas. Don't worry if you're not catching on yet. I  will add much more detail and explanations in the future, so that you will better understand this important topic.

The fill light is positioned high, and can be softened ( with diffusion material), so that its' shadows do not conflict with the shadows of the main light. The fill light is also weaker than the main, so that shadows still exist, but the detail is seem much better.

In the stagecoach image, I've labelled the 2 lights by their shadows, so that you will know that 2 lights were used.

You can see 2 shadows for this item  of a horse and a seated racer called a "sulky". What is important when using multiple lights is to make sure that the fill or any other light (non-main) does not present its' shadow too boldly. The reason for this is that we live on a planet with only 1 light source - the sun, hence, artificial lighting must also follow that course or "rule".

Here's another image below.

The lighting  in these 3 images all are the same. The reason for this is that I sell antique and vintage toys on E-Bay, so it's convenient for me to use the same lighting , which is set up in part of my house.The main light is positioned at about 11:00 o'clock, while the fill light is positioned at about 7:00 o'clock and very high. Positioning the fill light high allows its' shadow to fall behind the subjects and be hidden. This then allows the main light's shadow to be most prominent.

The Search Starts

January, 19,2011

Hello everyone

Welcome to a new blog on antiques. I just retired, and by a chance of luck came upon almost unused (2) sets of Meccano . For those who don't know, these are what are called "erector sets". The old antique sets were made of metal, and the nature of the toys was to construct. They were invented in Great Britain, and geared towards the young, although today, many "young-of-mind" collectors search out these items.  The sets came with various lengths and shapes of metal, various colors, nuts and bolts and small tools to have the pieces join.

You can imagine how elated I was when I came across these sets. Below is the other set.

These 2 sets were produced in the 40's and 50's. Their red and blue piece colours identify them from that era. Anyway, someone found these here in Montreal, I purchased them, and then e-mailed a few people from a Meccano club in England to check out the demand. 1 person eventually bought the item, and it now has come back to reside, actually in Ireland.