The AntiqueToys.com Website

Monday, March 25, 2018
Sunny
+3 C  37.4 F

The Antiquetoys.com 

Website

Please click here to visit this fine website and resource

I'd seen this great website several years ago, and asked the owner if I might use his fine images and descriptions. Mr. Ed Sanford wrote back and gave me his permission. Not only are the photos and descriptions great, but as it turns out, Mr. Sanford is a world export on toys from around the world. Ed also is the founder of another interesting website titled RobotJapan.com, which as the title indicates, is dedicated to Japanese toys.

What makes Ed's website so great is that it's not only a site for selling toys, but also an excellent resource for finding about toys and their descriptions.  There is even a section for written articles about toys. 

On the site, the toys are sorted into different categories such as Maker (Manufacturer), Cast Iron, Tin Toys, Steel Toys, Plastic, and Wood, Paper, and other toys.

Sturditoy Pressed Steel Oil Tanker

This  pressed steel toy comes with a truck and a tanker. 

The working trailer can crank on and off, and there are

two spigots at the back.

Original Location: Providence, Rhode Island, USA

1929-1933

Cor-Cor Graham Steel Car from Dealership

Beautifully restored  pressed steel toy from the Donald Kaufmann Collection.

The finish is a shimmering pewter colour with silver pinstripes.

Corcoran Mfg. Company

Washington, Indiana, USA

1925-1941

Chein Tin Race Car #3 Windup

Lithographed tin windup toy.

Very good condition .

These toys were very popular in the 1930's-1940's

J. Chein & Co.

New York City, New York & Harrison, New Jersey (USA)

1903-1979

Two Frogs Bank by J & E Stevens

Circa 1890's

Length:  9"  23 cm

Very fine condition

By placing a coin on the flat stomach of the small frog

and pressing the lever, the small frog kicks the coin into

the mouth of the large frog.

J & E Stevens (aka JE Stevens)

Cromwell, Connecticut, USA

Cast iron toys were made from molten steel  that was poured into sand castingd. There were usually 2 symmetrical left and right sides made that were then riveted together. Early castings were brittle, but later the steel was more mild or elastic, allowing children to play with these toys without much breakage.

Hubley Harley Davidson Light Up Cast Iron Motorcycle

Cast iron toy with battery-operated front functioning headlight.

Circa 1930's

Hubley Manufacturing Company,

Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA

1895-present

An interesting part of the website is Ed's logo page. Logos are important to ensure that the toy is not a copy or reproduction, but is an authentic original!

 Copyright © 2018   Mr. Ed Sanford

Please do not copy without his written permission

The opening page has all of the different categories of toys

that Ed sells on his website.

Each of the categories is further subdivided into smaller categories

If you like my blog, then have a look at Ed  Sanford's website.

You will not be disappointed, and as well, 

you can always purchase toys from him.

Thanks for dropping by,

and have a great part

of the day or evening.

Stacey Bindman

toysearcher@gmail.com

A Google Search Discovers "Antique Toys"

Wednesday, January 27, 2016
Overcast and Seasonally Mild Temperatures

A Google Search Discovers

"Antique Toys"

   I was searching on Google for "Old Antique Toys", when I found another listing for "Antique Toys".  The reason for my search was to see how high in the "rankings" my own website would be. It came up third which isn't so bad and "Antique Toys" came up either first or second.

   Being a writer, and naturally being "inquisitive", I decided to visit this other antique toys site.This proved to be a resourceful and valuable asset for reference, and I had to write the owner and find out if I might add a post about him. His name is Ed, and I'll have to ask for his family name, bout for now, at least, I was able to get permission to write about him and his excellent website.

Please click here to visit the Antique Toys website

Ed's  website is multi-facetted. 

There's:

1.  a blog

2. A Resources portion

3. Merchandise for sale

Below is a screen-capture of the blog section.

There are many posts, so you can peruse the posts to select what you'd like to read.

 The posts are well-written and informative,and of course come with photos.

It's places like this that help collectors find resources to learn about toys.

 Cast iron A.C. Williams fire truck, 

circa 1920's

Length:  7.5 inches  190 mm

The company made several versions and different sizes for their fire trucks.

I like the way Ed takes lots of photos to illustrate his listing to customers.

Once again, we see a nice array of photos. Of interest is the photo presenting a short story on this particular airplane construction set. For those who are unaware, many American toys during wwII were made of wood due to the war effort. Metal was a priority for the building of arms, so wood resources were used instead.

Below is certainly the focal point of today's post, and certainly the listed price does father your attention. I only presented  4 photos, but as you can see, there are plenty to feature this magnificent toy.

Marklin is more famous for their train sets and boats, but this outstanding carriage with the accompanying horse certainly is very rare and a treat. Again, Ed takes lots of photos to present the listing and the features as best as possible to the reader.

l

This particular toy reminds me of the category of collectible called the "salesman's sample".

A salesman's sample was a scaled-down model of real household items that was used by salesman to

sell their merchandise across America (and I'm sure in other countries). The scaled-down model was accurate in all aspects and movements. Although not toys, these items are high in demand. One of the best sites that I have ever found is the:

 James D. Julia website.

Please click here to visit the James D. Julia Website

As a toy, the detail and reproduction quality is excellent, and certainly would have been a great toy for any youngster to have played with. It certainly wasn't a toy for everyone, and only the well-off parents would have been able to purchase such a toy for their children.

Thanks for dropping by,

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

wherever you may be,

Stacey

Toysearcher@gmail.com

Fabtintoys.com - A Great Information Resource

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Fabtintoys.com

A Great Information Resource

   When you write about a particular subject, you need to have plenty of resources to learn about, authenticate, or find information. I've purchased catalogues, went to excellent sellers to read their descriptions of toys, and have on occasion found several  authoritative websites. The latter, are able to provide me with information about the companies that have long since gone out of business.

   I had been to ebay many times, and had on occasion found ebay on  ebay  and on occasion off  ebay. I saved the  website address as a bookmark for future reference, and then earlier in the week decided to write about the person and the site. Why keep this great resource to myself, when my blog is all about writing, and of course, sharing. I contacted Fabtintoys.com  via e-mail and received a  positive reply to my inquiry. I could write about the site, and Mr. Harmjan Heeling.

  Of course, I had more questions, and he wrote back right away. As it turns out, his website is in a partnership with ebay. Harmjan's website is a great informative resource for those looking to find information about toys. Not only old and antique toys, but models, and modern toy companies. You could spend hours on this site, and read and read and read about all of the different companies out there. When you do a search for a particular toy company, the history will come up. As well, there will be  many small photos with prices. These are all connected to ebay and you will be redirected to the particular image that you click on.

  For today's post, I only have one photo from the seller who allowed me to use it. I've photo-edited out all of the other photos, as it would be too much work to contact everyone on the page. So below will be a step-by-step set of instructions as to how Harmjan's  website  Fabtintoys.com works.  As with all websites, you're not obligated to go there, however, I also find that ebay is also a great place to learn about toys and the condition of toys as they relate to pricing.

Fabtintoys.com

Please click here to visit the great resource Fabtintoys.com

That's a nice portrait of Mr. Harmjan Heeling

The above is the opening page to Harmjan's website.

When you come to Harmjan's  opening webpage, the top of the page will look like the screen-capture above. The red and black arrow is pointing to tin toys, but the other key titles are there. When I did a search for cast iron toys, nothing came up. However,  later you will see how I found out where to look. What I did was add the words cast iron in a blank space geared to specific word searches.

The page above illustrates an example of the information that Harmjan has provided for Hubley.

In the white space to the right would be many small photos of toys related to the company. When you click on the photos, you are redirected to  ebay.

Here's a screen-capture of a fraction of the many companies that can be found on  Harmjan's website. Notice that in the left column, toys are arranged by dates. Also you can see that modern toys such as Dale Earnhardt Jr. (The famous  American car racer) is there.

What I like about the  search design of  Fabtintoys.com is that it presents you with many different ways to search out toys. In the above image, you can search via any of the above terms. In the background, you can redirect yourself to ebay's many international websites. What's interesting about venturing  to other countries is that you will find toys that rarely come to North America, or if you live in Europe, the same holds for American toys being found there.

The screen-capture above shows you most of the old tin toy companies. I've never heard of ASC or ATC, or Arklon, so I've have to remember to search for them.

I decided to see what  Harmjan wrote about Buddy L, and I wasn't disappointed. I added the full page to show you where people write in and ask questions. I'm disappointed that more people don't write, because Harmjan writes back fast and will try to provide answers or redirect you elsewhere.

This screen-capture is for modern models. Models are a different "collectible" in that people collect them  because they like them, but they're not  toys. I've had the pleasure to write about several model- making companies and the models that they make are unbelievable. These models are usually die-cast and have many parts - both moving and not moving. Not only that, but  some of these models will cost you thousands of dollars,and they're immense in size! THe models can range anywhere from modern and antique sport cars to giant modern-era earth-moving machines, pipe trench diggers, and huge bucket machines that fill huge trucks with several tons at one time!

I've written about model steam engine toys, and wanted to see what would show up in a search.

Not only was I satisfied, but I already see 2-3 names that I have never heard of before!

When I clicked on Bing, a video appeared. If you've never seen these antique and even modern machines in action, check it out. These machines are truly amazing. If you ever want to see how a toy works, go to Youtube and do a search.

Broang

        Please click here to see Broang's great photos of several busses

I received permission from "Broang" to use his photo of the Buddy L Greyhound bus, and to write a post about him. He preferred that I not write too much about him, so I won't. I'll be writing a post in the future about him. What had caught my attention to this particular photo was that he was able to take a great photo with minimal effort.

Below is a different photo illustrating the view from the back to the front of the toy bus. 

I did my "usual" presentation of the toy against white , but Mr. Broang gets all the credit for the photo. When you see how well he photographs his busses that are for sale on Ebay, you will see why I zoomed in on the original Greyhound Buddy L Bus.  It's not easy to take a nice photo with minimal factors (foundation, background, props, lighting), yet his photos are simply excellent!

Thanks for dropping by,

and have a great part of the day,

wherever you may be.

Stacey

toysearcher@gmail.com