A Revisit to American Antique Auctions Brings a Wonderful Surprise

Friday, January 10,2024

-8° C / 17° F

Clear Skies and Damp

A Revisit to American Antique Auctions

Brings a Wonderful Surprise

Please click on this sentence to redirect to this very interesting auction

I like to revisit people and company sites or auction sites to see how 
they're doing and of course, to have a look at their toys. I hadn't written a blog 

post for American Antique Auctions in a long time, so I decided to visit Liveauctioneers. where their auctions are, past and present. I looked at the American Antique Auction's past auctions, and I saw something that immediately caught my attention. It was a doll, but not just any doll!

The title of the auction was:

Antique Toys, Cap Guns, Signs & Machines

The title was too much for one post, so I decided to 

look at the Schoenhut dolls. And then I saw a most-unique doll.

It was Teddy Roosevelt, the USA President from 1901-1909

He had a nickname "Rough Rider" which he was given when he was

 promoted to become commander of the 2nd Cavalry Brigade, who rode horses.*

Please click on this sentence to read about Teddy Roosevelt on Wikipedia

I was like a fish seeing a worm! I had to go see this auction, and see what I'd find.

The array of toys was so eclectic and varied, but so appealing. I didn't know 

where to start.  But then I saw the a figure, and I knew this would be 

the theme of today's post. Moreover, there were other figures manufactured by 

Schoenhut.

The Schoenhut Piano Company , which still continues was established in

1872 by Mr. Albert Schoenhut, who emigrated from Germany and founded his company A.Schoenhut Company. Albert Schoenhut was a craftsman who began making toys as a young boy, having been attracted to this hobby from his father and grandfather, both of whom were toy and doll makers*

Please click on this link to redirect to Wikipedia

Another reason for writing this blog post was the fact that I never wrote 

 a post about Schoenhut or their nice toys. Interestingly, the company still 

exists to this day.

Description*(below)

"Schoenhut Humpty Dumpty Circus Animals

 Kangaroo spotted leopard & cat. The leopard and kangaroo have glass eyes.

All appear repainted, Hard to find group"

Courtesy of American Antique Auctions*

Description

Four Schoenhut Humpty Dumpty Circus Clowns

Description

 Schoenhut Humpty Dumpty Circus Animals

Camel with 2 humps and laughing Jack ass

Description

 Schoenhut Humpty Dumpty Circus Lady Acrobat

with ladder. Excellent wooden jointed figure,

7 1/2" (19.05 cm) tall

Description

 Schoenhut Humpty Dumpty Circus Animals. Kangaroo, spotted leopard

& cat. Leopard and Kangaroo have glass eyes. All appear repainte.

Description

 Schoenhut Circus lion with carved mane and painted eyes.

7" (17.78cm) tall

Description

 Schoenhut Humpty Dumpty Circus Monkey & Buffalo.

Buffalo is 8" (20.32 cm) long with painted eyes.

Monkey is 8" (20.32 cm) tall

Description

 Schoenhut 

 Teddy Roosevelt Safari Figure.

Very Rare figure from the safari set.

 Wooden jointed figure,with safari outfit and original belt holding 

dagger and camera, 2 helmets included. 8 1/2" (21.59 cm)

Seldom turns up.

Morphy Auctions Latest Auction

Wednesday, October 19, 2016
Overcast (Cloudy)
13 Celsius / 55 Fahrenheit

Morphy Auctions Latest Auction

Toy & Doll

September 23-24, 2015

   I've been privileged to be able to use Mr. Dan Morphy's website for several years now. Mr. Morphy was one my first commercial websites that I had permission to write about and use his fine photos.  Dan has been very successful in the auction business, and has expanded his business to include many divisions. Some of the numerous divisions include Automobiles, Automobilia &  Petroliana,Coins & Currency, and of course toys. The toys are divided into Dolls & Bears, Mechanical & Still Banks, and Toys & Pop Culture. Dan has been able to expand his business by buying other auction companies. He purchased the toy division of James D. Julia,several years ago.

Please click here to visit Morphy Auctions very interesting website

The cover photo of the auction book

Dolls are very popular and collectible. I only selected one page to present, but if you venture over to the Morphy Auctions website,  you will see many, many pages of very beautiful and very old dolls.

Steiff stuffed "characters", especially the bears (which they are most famous for)

have always been a favourite of those people interested in stuffed animals.

The Steiff company has been around for more than 100 years, and is world-renowned.

Cast iron toys are also very popular. For those who don't know, cast iron toys are most unique to the United States.There is on accompany  in Scandinavia, I believe in Sweden they also manufactured cast iron toys.  However, the true history of American toys always includes the cast iron toys.

Another mostly unique to the United States are the mechanical bank cast iron toys. 

All of these toys actually do something before the coin is deposited into a slot. 

When the wooden box that these toys used to come in, are included as part of the item's auction, the bid is usually higher than just with the toy itself.

THe cast iron toys above, are from the 1920's and 1930's, whereas the cast iron mechanical banks were from much earlier times (1890's-1920's). Farm cast iron toys acre especially popular, especially way back, when the USA had many farmers,and the USA was called "the breadbasket of the world". That term refers to the fact, that at one time , and perhaps still, the USA was the biggest producer of food in the world. 

Thanks for dropping by to visit,

and as always,

Have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be.

Stacey Bindman

toysearcher@gmail.com

The Buddy L Trencher

Friday, June 21, 2013
     (Official Start of Summer)

The Buddy L Trencher

  What better post to write than on the first "official" day of summer 2013. I was "venturing" through James D. Julia's fine website, when I came across the item that I'm writing about today. As you are aware if you read my blog, James D. Julia has always had excellent photography, and large-size files for myself to present. AS well, he's just initiated a 360 rotating software program for viewers to look at the item from a full-circle view. You'll have to go directly to the James D.Julia website  to see this feature, but what I've done is screen-capture many different angles from this great feature.

   The toy presented today is from the Buddy L company. It was manufactured in the 1920's and this one is truly exceptional for a toy form so long ago,and so large. It weight 28 pounds or 12.72 kilograms! It's size is 19" x 19" (Height x length) or .482M x .482M. There are 2 minor problems with it. The protective black cover that surrounds the small black buckets is a replacement and should be red in colour. The second minor problem that is inherent with all of these toys is wear from the gears. The gears were made form a soft metal, and over time wore away!

   The reason for presenting so many photos for 1 toy is that this toy deserves it - just kidding - a bit! This toy has so many movements that I needed to present this amount in order to try and explain the movements to you.

Please click here to be redirected to James D. Julia's fine website

A Few Facts:

1. There are 3 cranks to turn different operations of this toy.

1. The large black handle crank if for turning the small buckets. They "scoop" up dirt or sand and would deposit in a Buddy L truck (of course!).

2. The smaller all-yellow crank in front of the motor (I assume) changes the angle of the entire bucket assembly.

3. The black-handled crank at the front where the beige-coloured roller belt  adjusts the angle.  This is for a more acute or less acute bend to send the material to the truck that would be beside the trencher.

The front crank (black handle) for angling the belt.

A close-up view of the 2 rear cranks

1.  Beige material assembly belt

2. those small black buckets

3. The tracks for the trencher

Notice the angled red arm and round silver roller above the decal.

That was for keeping the track tight!

The Buddy L toy engineers certainly though of everything!

The belt assembly at a slight angle

A screen-capture photo of the left side of the trencher.

Look at all of those chains to make the buckets scoop and rotate. 

Another view of the trencher

Notice the  brass-coloured gets at the top left.

These are in excellent condition compared with some of the others on the toy. 

That rounded part at the back represents the motor for this toy.

One final image.

That small round circle under the toy is a motorized turntable. That rotates slowly and synchronizes with a camera to take exposures of the turning toy. Of course, the more expensive camera will be able to take more frames-per-second and you can then adjust the speed of the turntable.

This exceptional toy certainly deserved to be posted for the first day of summer

And of course, I have to thank Mr. James D. Julia for allowing me the use of his fine photos and descriptions of his many fine toys that have gone or will go to auction.

So to everyone,  

I wish you all a healthy and happy summer,

 and thanks for dropping by.

And as always have a great part of the day,

wherever you may be.

Stacey