Old Antique Toys: antique toy blogs

Monday, March 4, 2013

My Early Toys from E-Bay

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

My Early Toys from E-Bay

At the start of this blog, I was buying and selling old toys on E-Bay. I had initially thought of E-Bay just to keep busy. However, Later, since I liked to write and take photos, I started the blog. However, since I was on a limited budget, the most expensive old toy that I purchased was about
$ 250.00 U.S.

I have photos of my own photographs both on Flickr and Picasa. The "problem" with Picasa (AKA Google) is that they will take and post other peoples' photos that are not mine from my blog.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/53763761@N07/

(Please click on the above to go to my flickr photos)

https://picasaweb.google.com/111517723263057683985

(Please click on the above to go to my flickr photos)

The toys today are from the 1920's-1960's,and were all bought and resold on E-Bay. At times, being a photographer, I'd "get fancy" with my lighting . That was more for the blog, than for E-Bay. Photography is getting much better on E-Bay, but at the time, that wasn't the key factor for buyers to purchase your item. As of this writing, and from last summer (2012) E-Bay now provides 12 free photos for each listing, along with magnification. The quality has got better, since there is a lot of competition to sell similar items! For myself, I will look at the photos, and check the history or ratings of the seller, before I bid on an item.

I'll post more photos tomorrow, since as of today, I'm "caught up" with postings. I have my post for tomorrow,and I'm waiting and waiting, for people to reply allowing me the permission to use their photos.

So today, is just a small sample of my photos. Now you might better understand when I write, that I appreciate good-quality photography. I take nice photos because that's my profession, and I like to present the item properly. Most of the people from whom I use their photos, do it for good business and to present the item honestly. Either way, the viewer benefits.

Thanks for visiting,

and have a great day,wherever you may be.

Stacey

Thursday, December 20, 2012

The Kansas Toy and Novelty Company - Revisited

Thursday, December 20, 2012

The Kansas Toy and Novelty Company

(Revisited)

When I started to buy old toys on E-Bay, the "slush" toys caught my attention. The reason that these toys are called "slush" is the way that they were made. A mould or casting was made that was hollow and had 2 holes (usually oval) at the bottom. Molten (melted) alloys of metal would be poured into the casting, and "swished" around to adhere to the inner surface, and the rest of the alloy would be poured off. The word "swish" or synonymous with "slush. Once the casting and alloy cooled and hardened, the mould would be opened (usually 2 halves) and the toy removed. Later, the toy would be painted.

What I liked about these small toys, usually 3"- 6" in length or 78mm - 152mm) was that they were "crude". If you can find larger-sized images, you'll notice that the workers did not file down the roughened window or other parts. So windows to cars are not always smooth, but may have a rough-edged surface. Also, these toys break easily, especially if the original alloy had impurities in it.

I know because I had one arrive partly broken to my house, and I decided to see just how brittle the metal was. It broke off easier than a piece of chocolate. I wrote about that toy,way back!

I also like them because there were several companies that manufactured these toys,and relatively-speaking they're not as expensive as the larger and more popular toys. Of course, they were painted with lead paint, and they are brittle, and some of the alloys might contain lead!

I often go to Live Auctioneers to screen-capture toy photos because sometimes the companies that allow me to use their fine photos don't keep archives form older auctions. Also, it's easier to do a fast search with the words "Live Auctioneers Slush" on Google. That seems to get me what I want much faster!

I was fortunate to have found a good variety of nice slush toys form the Kansas Toy and Novelty Company through Lloyd ralston Gallery, however many nice other toys were in groups and the photo sizes were too small for nice viewing. However, by all means go to Live Auctioneers to have a view.