A Return to the Beautiful American Mechanical Banks

 Saturday, August 30, 2014
      Partly sunny and colder with a 
                     chance of rain

A Return to the 

Beautiful American Mechanical Banks

  Yesterday, I added a post titled "The Old Centurions". I had misspelled the word centenarian (100 years old) and had written centurion - a term for a battle-experienced roman leader of a group of soldiers. I like "my mistake" and so kept the word as the title. I was writing about the true antiques (100 year old and older) mechanical steam engines. 

  With the words century, centenarian,  and centurion,  I decided to return to American National Banks, which also are true antiques. At the time in the last quarter of the 19th century, many of the hardware companies made toys and banks for children. Their main products were the cast iron an depleted hardware that you would find in a house. These included door handles, door hinges, the metal frames for strung windows with weights, locks, and even cast iron door stoppers.

  A mechanical bank differs from a  normal bank in that you need to crank or activate a spring or "trigger" on the bank. You then place a coin on a part of the bank, and when you release the trigger, the coin "shoots' into a slot of the bank and is then saved.  

Please click here to visit this exceptional American Auctioneer

* I am currently redirecting everyone to Bertoia Auctions past auctios. Like many companies on the Net, Bertoia is redoing their website, and it is "under construction" right now. When it is up and running, I will advise everyone. In the meantime, should you want to see their alters offerings and current or future actions, simply go to Liveauctioneers.

The word "hod" means a container for carrying bricks. It is the "V"-shaped  item on the shoulder of the man in the red shirt and green hat.  Mechanical banks are extremely popular in the United States, and there are even large internet sites that present lots of these banks and the history behind them.

Please click here to visit a fantastic site all about mechanical banks

The bank below has a more sophisticated movement and mechanism. The cupola ( the red-domed top of the building" would be in the closed position. When the doorbell lever is pushed (paint chipped and showing a brass-colorer metal), the  cupola rises through the movement of three rods.  The coin is placed on his hands, he then continues moving tilts his  hands down, and the coins drops into the small slot in the front of him.

I wrote the description as it is written by the auctioneers. Also the description would have been written this way when the item is sold. Of course, today, I would describe the bank as 

"A native American  with a brown bear".

A bank made in 1883 is 131 years old. However, what I always like to think about is what was happening in 1883. When you try and relate the year of the toy's manufacture to historical events, the toy becomes all the more interesting. 

Try that!

Of course, you're allowed to use Wikipedia to go back in time and check historical events!

With the bank below,there are more-complicated movements. Both the bear and the organ grinder move. Based on this, I would assume that this bank would be more softly than those that were simpler in their movements.

Of course, my assumption above only relates to the  cost of the banks at the time of their manufacturer and sales. As it turned out, this particular bank which had complicated movements, 

is not in the higher value when it comes to the antique market!

I'm sure a few are wondering how you get the money out of the bank when it full of coins. SOme of the banks allowed you to remove a part of the bank with a screwdriver, while others might have had a small plug at the bottom. 

A word of Caution:

  I've written about mechanical banks before, and one time I presented one of mine - a reproduction probably made in China or India in the 1990's or early 2000's. Like many other companies that are no longer in business and have not been bought by a newer company, their products can be freely reproduced.  Also, the toys can be reproduced if the intellectual properties or inventions have not been purchased. So you have to be sure that if you ever go to a flea market.garage sale, or antique store, that you  ask lots of questions. Otherwise you may be buying a reproduction . It's better than calling it a fake, and of course it's perfectly legal to remake these toys!

Thanks for dropping by to visit,

and as always,

have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be

Stacey

toysearcher@gmail.com

A Reader Shares His Toys and Stories

Monday, September 23, 2013

A Reader Shares His Toy and  Stories

  I'm always looking and asking people to write to me with their photos and stories. However,  for whatever reason,most people don't. So when Mr. John Amalfitano wrote to me, and asked if I might want to use his photos on my blog, I naturally said "YES"! I suggested what lighting to use to best record the toys,  to send files sizes of at least 4" x 6" @ 300 pixels/inch (dots per inch), and to write some material or anecdotes about the toys. He did both (thank you, John),and his file sizes were very large, but I didn't mind. He had started with a very nice Katz Zeppelin. I forgot to ask him to send the sizes of the toys, but that's alright.

Please visit here to find Mr. John Amalfitano's e-mail address

The toy below is a pull toy that was manufactured by Henry Katz.  For those who don't know, a "pull toy" is simply a toy that a child would pull behind with a string attached.

The company was only in business from about 1928-1931, when most-lilkely the great Depression took another toy company casualty. This toy is 21 1/2" ( .546M). John mentioned that it was missing a propeller and wheel.I suggested that he try Thomas Antique Toys or Classic Tin Toys for replacement parts.He had purchased this toy for a great price, and I sent him a link to e-bay to have him see what one of these sold for.

He also found this toy  below. It's an American-made to from the Unique Art Manufacturing Company.It's a tin lithographed wind-up toy that has the boy move in circles as his legs propel the tricycle.

John took the photos with his cell phone, and I was impressed with the large file size, and his photography. He had some mixed lighting (2 different fluorescent light sources) which you can see as pink and light blue shades. I think he might also have used the camera flash.  I liked the setting where he took the photos, and since John's a collector, I thought I 'd let the photos stay where they were photographed.

John had an elderly friend who gave him this wind-up German toy.  His friend had said that it belonged to his mother.When you wind it up, I think that the ears wiggle, and the legs move. John mentioned that he thought that the pig was missing a tail or part of it. I'll see if I can find out the name of the German manufacturer, and some more information. The toy is 3 1/2" ( 88.9mm in length. There were Japanese toy pigs that were similar to this,but the key certainly is more refined than the ones that came with the Japanese models.

Finally, here's a fantastic toy.  It's a 1938 George Washington Bridge. The toy was missing the bus, so John hand-crafted it based on photographs. of an original example.  John found a small wind-up bus from West Germany, and then transformed it into his Greyhound model. Also, the belt and plate to which the bus attached to the bridge,had to also be hand crafted. He also painted the bus. I'd have to see what the "real" bus looks like, but I liked the hand-painted style and fond type that John added to the bus.

You can also see the toy in action at the Youtube site below:

Please click here to see this toy in action on Youtube

I assume John used his cell phone to do the filming. I liked the footage of the toy, and his moving and panning through this short film.  He's quite talented in filming as well as taking toy still photos.

So this is a fine start for the beginning of a new week.If anyone else is interested in helping me with my blog by sending photos and stores, I'm always "open for business".

Thanks for  visiting,

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

wherever you may be.

Stacey

toysearcher@gmail.com

And one final note;

I would like to thank everyone who has helped me in writing my blog and contributing to it. I had projected that I'd hit the 100,000 milestone sometime in November. However, for some unknown reason, I've  been getting lots of page views each day, such that evert 3 - 3 1/2 days 1000 page views occur. I have no way of knowing how many people are visiting, so I could have on any day 10 people reading 200pages altogether or 1 person doing the same, but the 1000,000 mark was certainly appreciated by me nevertheless.

Celluloid Toy Charms

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Celluloid Toy Charms

    Charms have an  interesting history. Way, way back to the Neolithic era, people would pick up rocks and wood and wear them around their necks a talismans to keep evil away and protect them from harm.  Charm bracelets appeared during the early Egyptian times of the pharaohs. At that time, charms were used to prepare Egyptians for life after death and the these items would be somehow classify the people as to  where they would rank in the afterlife. At the beginning of Christianity, Christians would hide fish charms underneath their clothing to identify themselves as followers of Jesus. Later during the middle ages, charms returned to be used as a designation of class and status in society, although even poor people would wear them.

   By the mid 19th century, Queen Victoria chose to wear charms, and the significance of status, religious connection, or to ward off evil was replaced by the use as a fashion accessory.  In the early 1940's, celluloid  was an inexpensive and readily accessible natural material that could be used for charms. AS such, many manufacturers (mostly in the USA), chose to give them away to their customers as a "perk" to having purchased their products. The most famous of all were the Cracker Jack" brand of carmel popcorn. However, charms were also given through the purchases of such things as bread, milk, tobacco, and jelly.

* Reference Sources:

topics.info.com/Charm-Bracelets_3456

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Celluloid-Charm-Black-Kewpie-/121104666386?pt=Vintage_Costume_Jewelry&hash=item1c32668f12

    By the way,  celluloid is a natural occurring material made from plants.

Bathtubcharmer

Please click to be redirected to Bathtubcharmer's E-Bay Myworld site

Not all of the charms from the 1940's and later were made from cellulose. The above 3 groupings are made from copper or copper plated metal.

I think that charm came from a company that made hotdogs.

The company was called Swift's Premium.

This post was probably one of the hardest ones to do. The hard work was from having to isolate most of the images from  a granite - type of foundation.  For myself, Photoshop still has lots of areas in need or improvement. One of these is their selection. Even though there are probably 20 ways to isolate a subject form a background, in this case, none of them worked well. Consequently, I had to "slog it out" to eventually to bring out the "charm" of all these charms. The key issue was the fact the the grey-white granite is similar in tonality to many of the charms, even though they are different in colour. Consequently,  selecting the granite would inevitably select the charms or parts of them.

However, the effort was well worth the final result.  Presenting the charms against the clean background brings out  their pure and intrinsic value of what I'm sure millions of children of that era adored and cherished.

Although, charms might not quite be in the category of "toys", the fact that I'm sure children played,talked about, and traded these charms relegates them in my opinion to toys. And the fact that these items are so small but so fascinating certainly validates the old expression - "good things come in small packages".

  

Hess Toys (What's a Flywheel?)

Friday, May 3, 2013

Hess Toys

What's a Flywheel?

   If you read yesterday's post, I wrote about the German toy company - Distler.  Of course, if you also have been following this blog, you'd know that whenever I do researcher, I'm always going to find something else besides my search topic. So that's what I'll be writing about today - the German toy company by the name of Hess. I'm posting at 18:00 P.M. EST (North America) late today. I had things to do, and then I cycled . The next thing I knew, it was 5:00 P.M.

   The Hess toy company was founded very early in the 19th century - in 1826 to be exact. At that time, there weren't any cars yet or airplanes, so Mathias Hess chose trains (without tracks - don't ask me why?), to produce. When  cars or "automobiles" were invented and became more common, the company produced high quality lithographed tin toy with flywheels. Naturally, seeing the word "flywheel" perked my interest, and I had to check what a flywheel was. Of course, the search results had to be "difficult", and complicated. I think there should be search engines for different ages of people and levels-maybe I can be the next Facebook  discovery!

   I'll try to explain in easy terms what a flywheel is. It's a mechanical rotating device that can store energy and then release it later. As far as the Hess antique toy cars toys go, I think that the energy was not stored in a manner such as a clockwork wind-up with a release.  What I'm theorizing is that when you turned the crank at the front of these cars, the energy would be immediately release as the toy was placed on the ground. If you look at some of the photos of both cars and ships, you'll see a large lead wheel that  was in touch with the wheels or axles of the toy. So energy from the crank was transferred to the flywheel,which then transferred that energy to the wheels for movement. Some of the toys  might have needed the child to roll the car or boat wheels on a wood floor. The energy then transferred to the flywheel, and was gradually release to move the toy by itself.

Please Click on this sentence to be redirected to Bertoia's fine website

Please click this sentence for an even more specific search

The second connection above will give you specific search results when you type in what you might be looking for. U had tried to post this before, but Blogger had rejected the web address. Now it's working. So if you search for Hess when you enter that word, you'll come up with all of the Hess toys that Bertoia has actioned in the last 5-7 years. If you want to see more Bertoia toys  from before that timespan,you can go to Liveauctioneers.

The 2 photos of the ship above  show you the flywheel . It's the dark grey wheel, that has an extension attached directly to the yellow regular toy wheel.

With the car above, the flywheel is better hidden or integrated into the toy.

   What's interesting about these toys is that Mathias Hess kept the same original method of movement for his toys for a long period of time. Other toy manufacturers, and specifically the European toy makers were using clockwork windup mechanisms, and in some case also using a brake. You'd wind up the toy, lock the brake to keep the stores energy in sleep mode, then place the toy on the floor. Once the "brake" was released, the toy would move.

   I'm sort of similar to Mathias Hess when it comes to certain things. If I like a particular food such as  (e.g. Classico Spaghetti Sauce) I will not  change. And whenever I'm tempted by a rival company's sale, I',m tempted, but I don't bite. Too many times, I've tried the alternatives, and they just don't come close.  Also, although the  car dealer sometimes is more expensive than the local garage, I won;t go there. I once went to one of the 5 "big sisters" quick oil change places. Big Oil was called that way back in the 1920's and later. The garage didn't screw back the oil screw from the oil pan properly, and the oil was leaking out.  I went to the Chevrolet dealer (my car was a 1981 or 1982), and they replaced the  oil screw with a larger one. Of course, the big sister garage paid for the expenses, but I never went back to a local garage again.

Thanks for visiting  my blog today,

and as always, 

have a great weekend 

wherever you may be.

Stacey