The Smith-Miller Toy Line

Saturday, October 29, 2011

The Smith-Miller Company Toy Line

     If you've been following this blog, then you'll know that I was running out of my own photos to use. With the current recession seeming to never end (my personal opinion) for the majority of us, I decided to consolidate my assets by reducing my inventory. It's been difficult to sell my toys lately, except for a huge success of 11 of 14 of my Tootsietoy Grahams. Even those I had to reduce in price, and sell them individually. So now, I still have about 100 toys to sell.

       I decided to again make a Request from the E-Bay community for the use of their photos. I got a great and positive response from almost 95% of the people with whom I sent the request. I decided to write a blog installment (Instalment Canadian Spelling)  on the Smith-Miller toys.  These toys are out of my price range in the 10 months that I've been selling toys. However, they interested me because they usually have a lot of bidders, and they're in the higher-price range for toys. Also, they're very attractive as toys!

      Due to the huge success of my "plea" to the toy world people for photos, this blog will be more-lengthy than usual to give everyone's images a chance to be seen. It will be on-going for several days after today. Also, I have the blog instalment previous to this ((Bill Krejci- Master Toy Restorer), and my other blog installment on ProPhotoLearning. 

     History of the Smith-Miller Company 

    Smith-Miller Toys began business in 1945 and stayed in business for 10 years. They were located in Santa Monica, California. Years later, thanks to Mr. Fred Thompson and his son Tim Thompson, the company came back to life. From what I read on LiveAuctionTalk by Rosemary McKittrick, Mr. Thompson as a young boy had played with these fine toys, and as an adult still had the toys, and was looking for parts for them. And as they say, the rest is history. Mr Thompson contacted the owner of the company, and the discussions led to Mr. Thompson purchasing the company in 1979.  According to Rosemary McKittrick, There are currently 48 different trucks that are being made by the Smith-Miller, Inc. company. Also, each truck comes with a serial number, and the production is limited in the total number produced. What's also interesting as well, is that you can purchase replacement parts from the company.

      Rosemary McKittrick tells the story and so if your interested to read a great article, please go to:    

http://www.liveauctiontalk.com/free_article_detail.php?article_id=434 

      So lets' have a look at all of the fine images and toys that everyone so graciously allowed me to use for this article. 


     I've used the E-Bay ID's of everyone to credit their photos. If you go to E-Bay, and do an advanced search, you can then enter the ID in order to find merchandise for sale by seller.

                     Also, please respect the owners' rights of

                 their photos by not copying them!

     I've listed them by alphabetical order of the people who allowed me to use their photos. Right now, I'm only showing you the photos. However, when I have more time, I will gladly go to the original e-Bay site to look for the descriptions and add them if I didn't include them now.

Also, in most cases, I've identified the owners from their e-Bay ID's. In a few cases the contributors didn't need to be identified.

 United States Army Cargo Mack Truck

20" (L) x 7 1/2" (H)

 United States Army Cargo Mack Truck

20" (L) x 7 1/2" (H)

 Vintage 1950's Smith & Miller "Miller Ironson Corp. of California Tow Truck

17" (L) x 6" (W) x 11" (H)

Vintage 1950's Smith & Miller "Miller Ironson Corp. of California Tow Truck

17" (L) x 6" (W) x 11" (H)

Vintage Smith & Miller Mack Truck

It's 19" long and manufactured of cast aluminum and pressed steel.

Vintage Smith-Miller Pacific International Express  Trailer.

18" (L) x 6" (W) x 6" (H)

A Rare Smith-Miller Eldon Miller Tanker

Photo Courtesy of Little Marz

    This truck isn't a Smith-Miller.

While asking for photos, I guess I mistook this nice toy as a Smith-Miller.

So since I asked the person for permission to use his/her photos, I thought I present it anyway.

It's an All-American Toy Company Truck

All Photo Credits are given from the respective owners E-Bay ID names.

This is the article for now. I may add more history.

I was waiting for the Thompsons (Owners of the Smith-Miller Company) to see if they might allow me to use some of their narration from their site. If not I'll look on the Net for info.

I might have a few more contributors to add in the next few days.

If anyone finds any error or typos, or wants me to add anything, please feel free to e-mail at my e-bay address.

I would like to personally thank each and every one of you for answering my call for help. You've all helped to make this instalment a very nice addition to my blog.

If anyone reading this would like to add  different photos to items that I have not shown, please feel free to contact me.

Sincerely,

(Mr.) Stacey Bindman

P.S.

If ever anyone who helped me out needs some assistance to improves some of their photos. please feel free to send me an 

e-mail.

Have a look at my other blog at:

http://prophotographylearning.blogspot.com/

I'll be glad to be of assistance.