The Metalcraft 1930's Trucks

Sunday, October 25, 2015
Overcast and raining, seasonally cold

The 1930's Metalcraft Trucks

   Bertoia Auctions is having a nice auction on November 14, 2015. There's a diversified collection of toys, but what caught my attention was a small grouping of Metalcraft toys, and specifically, the 1930's line of trucks. The lengths of the trucks range from 11 1'2 - 14 1/2"  (  290 mm - 368 mm). 

  What most interesting is that the styling of the trucks is "Art Deco" with oversized and rounded fenders and wheel wells.  Also,  the trucks are almost similar in design and can easily be recognized. Some however are more sophisticated and have battery-operated front headlights.

Please click here to visit the fine American auctioneer - Bertoia Auctions

IN the truck above and the one below, you can see the beautifully contoured wheel wells and side fenders. The  Meadow Gold Butter truck has battery-operated lighting. Also notice the small vertical stop or "lip" in the back of the open back of the truck. This is a small deviation from the other trucks, and wass most probably designed to hold "cases" of cargo. The lip would prevent the cargo from spilling out.

The truck below is similar in design and construction to the ones above. 

The difference is in the flatbed portion in the back of the truck. BOth trucks have battery-operated lighting, but the second one below is missing its' headlights.

The oil carrier toy truck below must have been quite popular in the 1930's. I base my statement on the fact that this truck was reproduced by 2 different people in modern times. It certainly had lots of features and additions to make it attractive to children in the 1930's.

 What you notice below is how the Bertoia  Auctions company is quite knowledgeable about toys. 

Now I know that  Mr. Al Korte was the chief Metalcraft designer in the 1930's. As well, this particular toy will most probably be bidder up highly, since this was a prototype, and was never manufactured. I like how the rounded lines are well integrated into the front and back portions of the 2 parts of the truck. Even the dumpster has a nicely-rounded lip. This was done for both aesthetic and for safety reason for young children.  It's to bad the toy never went into production, because it would have been lots of fun to play in the sandbox with this sleek toy.

So that's it for a dull and rainy day up here in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It's not winter yet, but the leaves are falling and it's windy as well. So writing a post today is fine, since I don't have to go out.

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 

Still More Lumber Trucks

Friday, October 10, 2014
           Partly cloudy and colder

Still More Lumber Trucks

   I was able to find more lumber (timber) toys and decided to add another post. For those who haven't seen the previous post or been to my blog before, there are some interesting notes to read today.

Please click here to visit this exceptional American toy auction company

  The Strauss toy below is interesting for the fact that the lumber is not the original load, and the chains to hold the load securely on the truck are missing. 

What's also interesting to note is the fact that the trailer is made from wood.

The lumber on this truck is the correct shape, but there should have been 4 pieces that came with the original toy. Also, there is only 1 chain, whereas on the original there are 2. 

The important piece of information for the Buddy 'L' toy below is the approximate date that this toy was made. Being in the 1990,s (before 1945), American-made toys had to be made mostly from wood. This was due to the entry of the USA into WWII, and the tremendous effort that the USA extended to win the war. I was watching a PBS (Public Broadcast System Television) show, and at one point the narrator said that  something exceptionally interesting.

In 1 factory, the company was making a B-24 larger bomber every 60 minutes, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week!  There were approximately 1,500,000 parts to the airplane! 

The item below is more of a collector,s item than a toy. Collectors buy these because they are so realistic,and people in this profession can relate quite well to these trucks. The original Smith-Miller was sold , but the new owners have kept the tradition of producing these very fine collectibles. 

I'm sure some parents let their children play with their collectibles under close supervision of course!

THe parents wouldn;t want anything to happen to their toys, I mean collectibles!

Thanks for dropping by to visit,

and as always,

 have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be

Stacey

Please feel free to comment on any post,

or to write me at my email address:

toysearcher@gmail.com

Some Early and Original Smith Miller Toys

Monday, June 2, 2014
           Sunny and very hot

Some Early and Original Smith Miller Toys

  The current Smith-Miller toy company was created in 1979 when Mr. Fred Thompson purchased the assets of the defunct original  Smith Miller company. The original company had also manufactured toys under the names of  Smitty Toys, and M.I.C. The company today is quite successful, and produces a fine range of realistic toys based on "real" trucks of today. 

 Yesterday, I had added a post of a rarer Erie toy that Mr. Nathan Foreman had sold.  I mentioned that I had not visited Nathan's ebay site in a while, and when I looked at his male sales, I know I would have t revisit him and his fine ebay store.  Nathan is a successful ebay seller. What I like about Nathan is that he takes plenty of quality photographs to present his items.

Please click here to visit Nathan Foreman's ebay store

 You can see that the basic truck frame (with the cab) is similar to all 3 toy trucks. What's interesting is that the second 2 truck beds are partly made  of woo, yet after all this time, the toys are still playable and are in great shape. I like the design of the Coca-Cola truck with its small crate wagon and of course, the lithographed crates.

  What's interesting to this story is that the new owner was a collector of these toys, and needed parts. So in the end, he saw the value in actually buying the company, and continuing the tradition of making fine toys for everyone.  However, his toys of today are more like collectible models. As such, I doubt of the adults who mostly buy them would ever allow their children to "play" with them.

Thamnks for visiting, 

and as always

have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be.

Stacey

toysearcher@gmail.com

Those Unmistakeable 1940's Wyandotte Trucks

Friday, October 25, 2013

Those Unmistakeable 1940's Wyandotte Trucks

   I've had the pleasure of seeing up close the Wyandotte toys, and one or two trucks form the 1940's. There is no mistaking that they are  Wyandotte trucks from then. First of all, Wyandotte used pressed steel for many of their toys t that time. Also, after they pre-cut the size of the steel for pressing, they would add a few cuts to the steel sheet. I assume that these allowed for the metal to form nicely under the heavy presses, but not to tear apart or get stressed. This is one of the few American brands of toy where I've noticed this. The second characteristic is the design of the trucks themselves. Their cabs are roundish and comic-like (in a positive way).  There's no mistaking these toys for any other brand. Also, the Wyandotte trucks are not the rarest, and so you don't often see very lengthy descriptions of the toys or their dates.

Please click here to visit the fine Website of the Lloyd Ralston Gallery

I included the image above as a reference to the size of the wagons below.

Also,you can in fact notice the "roundness" of the small and larger cars. The truck is a much earlier Wyandotte, and like the earlier times (1920's-1930's), you would have some trouble differentiating between one manufacturer and the other.

Those fenders appear very exaggerated and disproportionate to the cab body. Notice the similarity to the larger convertible car in the  first image.

I didn't have time to check on the wheel or tires in the above two images.  As I mentioned before, there is usually not much description for those usually lowered-priced toys. However, having been made in the 1940's during WWII, when metal was rationed, I have come across some models that in fact did come with wooden tires (wheels).

Thanks for dropping by,

and have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be.

Stacey

toysearcher@gmail.com

Cast Iron Wrecker (Tow) Truck Toys

Friday, August 2, 2013

Cast Iron Wrecker Toys

(Tow Trucks)

    This is my 500th post. Writing a blog post each day keeps you busy,so I hadn't prepared for this milestone. As of today, I average between 180-380 page views per day, and will be approaching the total 100,000 mark probably in November. As of this point in time, the "pageview" number is 85,557.  A "pageview" is a count of the numbers of pages read. One person might read 20 pages, or 20 people might read 1 page each . However, Google does not present such detailed statistics.

    The tow truck was invented in 1916 by Ernest Holmes, Sr., of Chattanooga, Tennessee (USA). His invention, as usual follows the old expression "necessity is the mother of invention". Mr. Holmes, Sr. was a garage mechanic who had been called upon to pull a car out of a creek (a very small river). He had to use blocks, ropes, and six men, so he decided to work on a better way. That led to him to manufacture wreckers or tow trucks.*

*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tow_truck

 Of course, the main part of any tow truck or wrecker is the boom, and the 2 main manufacturers were the Weaver and the Manley brands. Thanks to Gdawg - the name of an E-Bay store,I was able to use one of their numerous old catalogue photos.

In the upper left hand corner of the page above are the 2 actual photos of 1925 cranes made by Weaver and Manley.

Photo courtesy of:

GDawg

Please click here to visit Gdawg's very interesting ebay store

  So with the information and history of the wrecker or tow truck, and the boom, it's certainly easier to date a cast iron toy. Oc course, cast iron toys (Mostly USA) were made between 1900-late 1940's. WWII and the entry of the USA into it created constraints and limitations of metal manufacture of toys then. Also, the cost of transporting cast iron, the newer replacement of pressed steel, and faster processing of the newer material changed the nature of toys forever.

Please click here to visit Bertoia Auctions fine website

When you read the description for this toy, you'll see that someone went through a big effort to restore the box and flaps.  THis item must have had fond memories to someone who placed so much effort and cost to pair up an original box with an original toy!

I got a bit "fancy" using Photoshop, and added some bright areas called "highlights" with a process called "dodging". Dodging is a photography term used in the darkroom to hold back light when you are making prints.

For sure, this trio of wreckers came in one of those interchangeable sets of toys. This is the only pair of photos for the listing, but you can see how the upper body and lower chassis of each toy are separate. Bertoia did have a few other listings of sold toys, and some were kits. I'll check to see if these toys in fact are interchangeable body parts, and update later.

I also did some dodging on this Hubley wrecker. I'll try and find out the dates that I don't have on some of these photos. This particular toy is one of my favourites because of its grill. It's made from nickel-plated iron, and is beautiful. I also like the light sky blue/tan colour combination, and of course those rubber tires on red wood rims! And of course that simpler tow boom with the "hook" compared with the other toys that are much more complicated and sophisticated!

Of course, if you've been reading my blog, you'll by now know that I couldn't let a special event such as a 500th post be so simple,even though I did not prepare for it. So tomorrow's post will be a continuation of the toy wrecker or tow truck. That post will continue through to the pressed steel toys. Being a person who likes to do things well (My wife of course would disagree), this "ad-libbing" for tomorrow's post is  my "make-up" for not truly being prepared for today's milestone.

Bad boy, Stacey!

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

Please feel free to e-mail me with requests, corrections, or even wanting me to write about you and your toys.

I'm always looking for new topics and sources of inspiration.