Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Morphy Auctions

Thursday, November 22, 2012


Morphy Auctions


(Please press on the above address to be redirected to the Morphy Auction website)

Background

   I got a long-distance telephone call last night. My wife Heidi picked up the phone, and then called to me in the den to say "You have a call from Dan Morphy". Faster than a speeding bullet (Excuse me Superman and Clark Kent), I placed the TC remote on mute, moved my dog Buddy away from me, and picked up the phone. This was the equivalent of getting a call from the White House, the Nobel Prize Team in Oslo,or  the Pulitzer Prize Committee (Ok, so I exaggerated a "little").).

  I had been e-mailing and phoning Mr. Morphy for 3 weeks, and I know that he was busy. Then, for a few moments, I figured I wasn't going to hear from him. So last night's call was certainly a great surprise. I could have used his photos from an internet site, but because of the high-quality, I decided that I should respect the rights of the company and the photographers and ask first, from the company directly.

  I got the permission!

   I had once e-mailed the company, about a year ago, to ask for a question about a toy that I was selling on E-Bay. I got an answer from Dr. J. Morphy. I even asked a second question (I like to ask a lot of questions), and I got another answer. At the time, I didn't know how well-respected and successful the company was, nor did I know that Dr. J Morphy was the father of Dan Morphy the owner.  Now that's service, and commitment!

   Dan Morphy, it turned out purchased the company from his father who started it up. His father, Dr. John. Morphy had started the company, and now works there with his son. He's now retired form the medical profession. Dan's sister also works there,  and coincidentally she's also a doctor, and  practises medicine also.

   Dan's bio page, as well as the company's is quite interesting, and can be found at: 


   It's great to have another source of high-quality photos to write about on my blog. And it's also great to see that high-quality photography is still around in the DE (digital era). For a while, photography quality had suffered as companies thought that their salesman or son or daughter could do the same job as a professional photographer. Huge companies still used the pros, but medium to smaller-sized companies figured anyone could take a photo and use Photoshop - wrong!
Quality photography is now on a comeback. Even smaller companies who are using their salesman or son or daughter, have to adapt,and some have to elevate the quality of their photos, and it's starting to happen more and more!


A Brief History of the Wyandotte Company

     Wyandotte toys were some of the first toys that I started to buy and sell on E-Bay. I was attracted to that "retro" look from the 1930's and 1940's.  Wyandotte was located in Wyandotte, Michigan.  I can't tell you how many times I entered a search for Wyandotte, without adding the word "toy", and got 100,000 "hits" on the famous Wyandotte chicken. The Wyandotte chicken is a handsome bird, and you might want to check the species out! 

    The toy company started in 1921 with an emphasis on toy guns. The company was called the All Metals Products Company, but being in the city of Wyandotte, Michigan, the toys were knwon as Wyandotte. It started out with the it's motto or slogan was " Wyandotte Toys are Good and Safe". As with all other toy companies, Wyandotte expanded their production line to include their fine pressed steel cars, trucks, and airplanes. The company was quite successful,but when America entered WWII, all production of metal products across America stopped, and companies had to retool for the war effort. WYandotte produced magazines for bullets for the M1 rifle. 

    After the war, the nature of toys changed to die-cast and early plastic toys. Foreign competition also entered into play, and the famous "dime stores" expanded with such names as Woolworth's being one of the more famous ones. The company moved to Piqua, Ohio to try and save on costs. At the time, many of the the famous American steel mills were located there. Sadly, that effort wasn't enough, and in 1965, the company closed.

   Fortunately, metal toys last, and they last a lot longer than plastic toys. So today, there are still many fine Wyandotte toys that are out there, and will still be around for the next century, for sure!

The Photos

    As I mentioned, I waited before I got the permission from  Morphy Auctions before I would use their photos. If I hadn't receive the OK, I would not have used them. Morphy Auctions, as well as the other fine auction houses or auctioneers attract fine-quality antiques, and buyers and collectors willing to pay higher amounts to purchase these same items.  The photos presented below are from the September 13-15, 2012 auction. I'm only presenting some of the Wyandotte cars and trucks today. As you can see, the quality and condition of the set of toys are very nice.








This is one of my favourite Wyandottes. If I find a photo in the future for the underneath, I'll add that to illustrate the simplicity of the electrical current from a size D battery.

What also intrigues me about the Wyandottes is the engineering of the toys. Most of the earlier models had "cuts" that have been predetermined through engineering and design. I  would then assume, that when a cut-out piece of sheet metal was placed in a 10 ton press, the toy folded into ints shape along the cut lines, and formed 1 complete shape. Clever!








A real beautiful truck with a hand cart to finish off this post. Notice also that this truck was also battery-operated. When I bought a Girard toy about 4 months ago, it also used a size D battery. That size is getting harder to find!


So thanks again for dropping by,
and as always, have a great part of the day, 
wherever you may be.

Stacey





No comments:

Post a Comment