An Upcoming Excellent Marz Auction Coming Soon

Saturday, February, 2025

Clear Skies and Cold

-16° C / 3.2° F

An Upcoming Excellent

Marz Auctions Coming Soon

Please click on this sentence to redirect to the Marz Auctions on the LiveAuctioneers website 

I haven't been blogging lately as I was in Mexico over the holidays. 

My brother and sister, together with their spouses met my wife and 

I in Cancun, Mexico. My brother and sister moved from Quebec long ago, and

relocated to Alberta and Ontario respectively. We see each other every so often, 

sometimes each year,  and sometimes longer.

The weather was fine, the company was excellent, 

as was the food. Best of all, the Mexican People were nice and helpful. The hotel staff

was wonderful, and always worked hard to help us with whatever we asked.

Wherever we went, we were always greeted with smiles and a motivation to help us

with any needs that we might have.

I hadn't written a Marz Auction Post in a while, and so I wanted to write a post for them today. Their next upcoming auction is coming soon. 

It will be starting on February 22, 2025 on LiveAuctioneers.

What I've noticed over the years that I've blogged (14 years and counting) is the

excellent photography that Marz Auctions presents for their merchandise. 

Diffused lighting from electronic flash lighting heads creates a nice soft lighting, 

and reduced contrast. The photographer doesn't have to worry about losing detail 

(what you see) in the shadows, and the bright areas (called highlights) are not too

bright, so as to lose detail from over-exposure.

Description:

"Large  Dayton Toys Number 530 top-up touring car. Toy at 13.7 inches (34.798 cm)

in length with working friction driver at rear. The toy was made circa 1911.

Good used original condition with darkening and added varnish.

Description:

"Circa 1909 Dayton Toys Touring Car with red body and gold hand-painted

accents. The toy comes with replacement riders and an unusual wood shift knob.

Original paint with flaking and play wear.

11" long (27.94 cm)

So that's it for today, and thanks for dropping by to read this post.If you go to Marz Auctions' LiveAuctioneers website, you will see a wonderful collection of old toys going top auction. Better still, you will learn a lot about each and every toy. Marz Auctions' writers for the toy descriptions are experienced and knowledgeable about the toys going to auction. You can learn a lot about toys from them, and that's part and parcel of collecting toys and learning.

So that's it for today.

 It's amazing to return home, here in Montreal,Quebec,Canada 

to a temperature of

-16° C / 3.2° F, when yesterday, it was 28° C / 82.4° F.

At least it's the beginning of February, the days are getting longer in the

amount of daylight, and in a month, the weather will be even warmer.

Thanks for dropping by to visit my blog,

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

wherever you may be.

My name is Mr. Stacey Bindman,

and I an always be reached at toysearher@gmail.com

It's Always a Nice Feeling to Visit Z & k Antiques

Saturday, January 4, 2024

-11° C / 12° F

Overcast and Cold

It's Always a Nice Feeling 

to 

Visit Z & k Antiques

I always enjoy revisiting people and their website. Visiting the

Z & k antiques website is great. They always have interesting toys 

or sale,  their photography is excellent, and there are always lots

of photo to see. Their descriptions are also well-researched.

Please click on this sentence to visit this exceptional toy

Bob Zordani and Heidi Kellner are the owners of this 

superb antiques store (gallery). They always have high-quality toys

as well as many other categories of antiques tor purchase. If I had more time, 

I would be writing about antiques as well!

Below:

A Screen-capture shows you all of the different merchandise

that Bob & Heidi have at their gallery.

I selected this nice toy because it still works after so many years.

It's truly something"special" to see, and I wonder how many owners there 

were, over time, in 150++ years!

Below:

This is the description of the 

Ives Clockwork Circus Rider (Clown Dancer Variation)

When you visit Bob & Heidi's website, there is a video that shows you how the

rider dances on top of the horse. It's quite interesting to see, considering that this toy was for sale in the 1870's, which is 155 years ago!

           

          

I hope you enjoyed this post. 

Don't forget to visit their website to see the circus clown

dancing on top of the horse. Imagine, the toy still is in 

working condition after all those years.

Thanks for dropping by to visit, 

and have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be.

My name is (Mr.) Stacey Bindman,

and I can always be reached at

toysearcher@gmail.com

The Hopewell Valley History Project - Part II

Thursday, January 2, 2025

-2° C / 28° F

Overcast and Damp

The Hopewell Valley History Project

Part II

The Hopocro Toy Company was located in Hopewell, New Jersey,USA.

The company manufactured very few toys, but they were quite nice.

Sadly, the company did not stay in business for too long. The company was in business from 1923-1929 and manufactured only five toys. 

I was very fortunate to write to Mr. Douglas Dixon. I believe

he works with the area known as Hopewell Valley Borough of Hopewell (population 2035), the Borough of Pennington (2,696), and the unincorporated census-designated place Titusville:(which is within Hopeful Township).

Hopeful Valley is in the State of New Jersey,USA

and was incorporated on April 14, 1891.

Below:

The History of the Toy Company Hoproco

Below:

A nice composite photo of the few toys that

Hoproco company manufactured.

It's hard to comprehend how such a nice

toy cost only 59 cents. 

Below are links to different topics about these nice toys:

Please click on the sentence to redirect to each sentence

The main discussion of Hoproco, with photos and product sheets.

This is the best single link, with references to the others at the end:


Some more context on Hoproco, with photos and product sheets -- "This the best single best link to the history project"

The full "History Brief" research paper with more detail (PDF)

The Image Gallery, with 48 images of the Hoproco toys, boxes, and product sheets

The YouTube video of Mr. Doug Dixon discussing the Hoproco toy company

This post is the most-informative of all the posts that I have written. I want to especially thank Mr. Doug Dixon,  for his very helpful reply to my writing to the township of Hopewell Valley. This is the most information that I have ever found

on this fine toy company. 

I hope you enjoy this post, as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Thanks for dropping by to visit my blog.

As always have a great part of the day or night wherever you may be.

Finally, my name is Mr. Stacey Bindman 

and I can always be reached

at toysearcher@gmail.com

An Exceptional Bertoia Auction of European Dolls, Steiff Bears, and Wonderful Gottschalt Houses and more

Wednesday, January 1, 2025

Overcast 

1° C / 33° F

An Exceptional Bertoia Auction of European Dolls, 

Steiff Bears, Wonderful Gottschalt Houses and More

One of the first companies that gave me their permission to write about them 

and the wonderful auctions that they had was Bertoia Auctions. I was ecstatic,

because I would now be able to write about wonderful toys that I had not seen before.

The auction that I'm writing about today immediately caught my attention.

The auction will have a myriad of many different toys. However, it's the amazing doll houses that caught my eye. Each of the doll houses that will be presented at the auction has many photographs. Whomever took the photographs, as well as the Bertoia family working alongside, really outdid themselves with the excellent photography. 

For today's post, I decided to select just one dollhouse and let the photographs 

show the  very fine photography, both technically with lighting and focus, but 

mores o in the specific close-ups and details.

Please click on this sentence to redirect to the Bertoia Auction on Liveauctioneers

Please click on this sentence to redirect specifically to the Large Gottschalt House

Item Details

Description:
Auction Number: 148
LARGE GOTTSCHALK HOUSE l No. 3594/4  (referenced on page 64
Moritz Gottschalk 1892-1931? Verlag Marianne Cieslik. One of the largest models
offered by the infamous company. This impressive house has a front opening section to
the center hall with painted walls and closet under the staircase. The two sides open to two large rooms in each, one on the left with a closet in the upper room. The room retain original floor and wall papers with period silk and lace curtains.The exterior is covered with lithographed paper with faux brick, stone and lattice with painted wood detailing including wood window and door trim,porch columns and eaves and of course the trademark blue roof.  |  40" wide, 21.5" deep to base of bay wind  |   The exterior has had some meticulous conservation including some touch up papers, replaced painted arch top glass panels and the addition of some metal flourishes to the front and gilt metal weather vanes to roof as well as a feline | $5,000- $10,000

My favourite photo was the one above of the cat. Whomever

had decided to place a cat on the banister must have been an excellent 

designer of  these fine toy houses. The cat added that "extra" that made 

the house all the more real and enjoyable, even after all those years.

So that's it for today,

Thanks. for visiting my blog.

As always have a great part of the morning, afternoon, or evening,

wherever you may be.

My name is (Mr.) Stacey Bindman, and I an always be reached

at 

toysearcher@gmail.com

A Return Visit to the Antique Toy Collectors of America Inc. Website

Wednesday, December 25, 2024

Clear skies 

-13° C / 8° F

A Return Visit to the

Antique Toy Collectors of America, Inc.

First of all, I'd like to wish everyone a 

Merry Christmas and a Healthy and Happy New Year to come. 

To others who celebrate other holidays, I also wish you Health and Happiness, 

and a Happy New Year.

Please click on this sentence to redirect to the ATCA website

Over time, I've bought and sold old toy catalogues. Up here in Canada, there are 

not lots of toys or old brands of toys like in the USA. In earlier times with regard to old toys, we had Meccano from Great Britain. I had a set, but that was in the late 1950's. I base my comment on the fact, that when I started to blog, I searched high and low all over the Montreal, Province of Quebec (Canada)  and the surrounding area, and I never saw any American toys from pre-1940 and earlier.

I remember years ago, when I was doing my "usual" search, either

someone wrote to me, or I happened to "discover" the

Antique Toy Collectors of America  and their exceptional website.

I wrote to them for permission and 

they were kind enough to allow me to use their photos. 

The Antique Toy Collectors of America, Inc. was established in 1965, and has expanded not just to have American members, but also had invited toy collectors from around the world to join and become members.

What's fantastic about ATCA inc. is that they have lots and lots of old toy catalogues available on their website. 

As you can see, this is but one catalogue that ATCA, Inc. has at their location in Washington, D.C.(USA),  United States of America

The Antique Toy Collectors are always looking for new members.

The Group offers members access to their toy catalogues, members receive 2 magazines during the year titled Toy Chest Magazine , 

and they offer other features as well.

Of course there are some requirements.

Please click here to see what the requirements are to join ATCA

So that's it for today.

To everyone, I'd like to wish you all a Merry Christmas

and a Healthy and Happy New Year. 

And for everyone who celebrates another holiday, 

best wishes to all, and also

a Healthy and Happy New Year.