Some of the Toys Bought and Sold

June 12, 2011


Well, it's another rainy day here in Montreal(Quebec, Canada). When the humidity is high, you're not supposed to apply primer or paint to toys, so I figured that I'd present an eclectic (hodgepodge) of toys  and narration about what I've bought and sold.

Wyandotte China Clippers - 2 Versions

These airplanes are models of the famous Pan-Am US airline that crossed the Pacific from San Francisco in the 1930's and early 1940's. They're good sellers, but lately these 2 didn't sell. This was most likely due to the poor US economy, as well as the higher price that I was asking for 2 items.

2 Tootsietoy Cement Trucks

The above are 2 variations of Tootsietoy cement  mixers.The yellow-barreled one does not rotate,while the black-barreled one has an auger than turns the barrel.

I'm unsure if Tootsietoy simply made 2 versions, or due to increasing costs, they simply decided to cut out the auger, and go with the less-costly non-rotating one.

As the toy market seems to have hit a new low in non-sales, I've almost stopped buying, and I'm on hold on E-Bay for selling. I have a large amount of Tootsietoys, and I've decided to strip them of their old paint, and then repaint them. 

I know there are people who do collect old restored toys, as I have sold about a dozen so far.

I figure that I'll try a different approach, and see where it takes me.

A Tootsietoy Dump Truck

Mack L-Line Dump Truck, 6" long, based on a 1947 model

*The information above was garnered from a nice book:

Collector's Guide to Tootsietoys,  Second Edition,

By David E. Richter,

A division of Schroeder Publishing Co., Inc, Paduacah, Kentucky, 1996

When you collect anything, a good idea is to buy some books. The great thing about books on old toys, is that you can find old out-of-date books that have plenty of information about the toys. As well, they are inexpensive if you buy them used from Amazon.com or any of the other used book stores. The other great thing, is that the books are relatively not out-of-date, as the toys stopped being produced long ago!

Manoil Coupe

Manoil seems to have been a smaller-sized company, as they never seem to have a wide-range of toys for sale on E-Bay. I concentrate on the ones that sell well, and most seem to have been made in the 1930's-1940's. They're really beautifully-designed toys with lots of detail.

I restored this beauty above (no photos yet), but the repaired bumper fell off. I had used auto body filler, but it did not have the strength to stick. As I was handling the toy, I unfortunately broke the part off.

I just purchased a product called Milliput black, and as soon as I try this new product out, I'll get back to my readership.

Manoil Futuristic Car # 706

The above is a what I'm talking about in terms of beauty!

This one made its' way to Australia.

The funny thing about mailing an item to Australia is that the costs are not so expensive and you can purchase the air-mail service from Canada Post for about the same price as shipping to the US.

Go figure? Maybe, it's that Commonwealth thing!

As an aside, I once purchased a high-end Nikon model 8000 scanner from Alaska several years ago. The bidding was low in bidders, and I wondered why I was able to win it for a great price. It turned out at the time that Alaska was considered "contiguous" (attached) to the mainland USA for cost purposes.

It's certainly "weird" how the international postal system works sometime!

Lately, I've decided to create composite images (composites) of toys that I'm selling on E-Bay.

The 1st image if free on E-Bay, and so by combining images into composites like the tryptic above, I save money.  

Small Tootsietoy

Hubley # 4040

A.C. Williams 1930's

There are a lot of "forgeries" or "reproductions currently selling on E-Bay with reference to cast iron toys. 

The A.C. Williams truck above is the "real McCoy". 

I'm no expert, but from what I've been told and read:

1. The 2 sides are held together by a pin that is hammered with a peen hammer (round head).

Easily noticed "fakes" are held together by a screw!

2. The surface of the real item has weathered and is rough.

The fake is usually smooth.

3. The paint job on a fake may have a layer of yellow resin to try and present the toy as "old".

Arcade School Bus 1930's- Cast Iron

The Arcade school bus above is also the "real McCoy"

Well, that's it for today. As I said when I started, this post would be eclectic 

 I certainly have touched on a diverse number of topics that came to mind. 

I hope that you found this instalment as interesting as I when I first learned all the information that I wrote about.