The Hubley Steamrollers - Some of Them

Friday, March 2, 2012

The Hubley Steamrollers

(Some of Them)

     Most of the toys of yesteryear are simple but elegant in their design. Today's toys need all of those "bells and whistles" to attract the young, and even then, that's not enough. The X-Box, the Ipod,,and, the Samsung, and of course the Blackberry (Canadian, eh!) are all in high demand. They come with Apps, so that one can sit down for 5 hours and do nothing but play a game or 10 on them!

    When I started out selling toys,  I didn't know much about toys,. I bought what I liked ,and what I could afford on a limited budget. Gradually, I purchased books, broadened my spectrum of toys, and  have starting selling more than the initial 4 brands. Those are Hubley, Wyandotte, Doepke, and Tootsietoy.

     I've always had my eyes on the cast iron toys. They're very simple in design (most of them), but being much older (1900's-1930's) they of course , cost more. I say today's Hubley Huber and decided to bid on it. It has a piece broken off in the left rear, so I was able to bid, and win the auction.  

    It measures 8" (L) x  3 1/4" (W) 5 3/8"( H) or in metric dimensions, 

204mm (L) x 83mm (W) x 137mm (H).

  I'll have to do research on this toy, as I don't know much about it, suffice to say, that it is modelled after the real Huber Brand of steamroller of that era.  It's a great toy to photograph as it has lots of curves and round circles that contrast with the linear (lines) design of the toy. SO today, I present to you the Hubley Huber. I've also found the newer Hubley steamrollers of the late 1940's and early 1950's that I started to purchase when I first started out. They too are great toys to photograph!

        Notice how my style of photography has changed.  Initially when I started out, I thought that good photography with flat lighting (not much shadow) would sell and be be honest in terms of presenting the item to the viewer.  However, as I said 2 days ago, I can't believe that E-Bay lets some photographs be shown for sale- underexposed, out-of-focus, and off-colour!

Below are photos of the Hubley Huber with my newer style of photography. I prefer the latter style. It's more enjoyable to view, and more challenging to take as a photograph.

  I Like how the rider is placed into the rear of the steamroller. Notice the projection above, where the hole is. The rider's feet are placed parallel with the hole, and then turned. I tried, but I couldn't remove the figure. I've learned not to force or apply too much pressure with old toys! I've broken some in my "toying around"!

  It's certainly a beautiful toy!

Thanks for dropping by for a visit.

As always, have a great morning, afternoon, or evening,

wherever you may be.