OpAmerica - A Fine E-Bay Store

Saturday, November 24, 2012
           Cold, Windy & Snow Flurries

OpAmerica - A Fine E-Bay Store

http://stores.ebay.com/OpAmerica-Toy-and-Bank-Museum/_i.html?rt=nc&_sid=704960&_sticky=1&_trksid=p4634.c0.m14&_sop=3&_sc=1

(please press on the above address to be redirected to OpAmerica's webpage on E-Bay)

   When you buy and sell  on E-Bay, or just whether you like to look at toys on E-Bay, sooner or later, you will notice that certain people and stores sell some very outstanding items.  One of these people & stores is OpAmerica. And so, with my journey to write about old antique toys, I naturally had to stop at OpAmerica, and write for permission to use their fine images. 

   I got a fast reply with permission, as long as I gave the proper copyright credit notices, and placed a link to the  E-Bay store. I always do that, so I immediately wrote back, and answered yes, and thank you.

  For my first post onOpAmerica, I'm going to keep the content to 1 image - a Hubley 1930's Cast Iron Fokker Airplane. If you go to OpAmerica's E-Bay page and search for the Hubley, you'll find a short video of the airplane and how its propellers rotate,and make a noise. The toy is cast iron, has rubber wheels, and a pair of spring "belts" that rotate the propellers. These belts are connected to the wheels. This certainly is a fine example of a more-complicated cast iron mechanical toy!

 When I figure out how to find specific patents at the U.S. Patent Office, I'll start to add those to some posts. The reason is that the patents and the drawings are so interesting. For today, I'm adding the original patent photos form the Fokker Company - the "real" plane's designer for the "real' plane.

The Patent Drawings for the "Real" Fokker Airplane

I was unsure if I could modify the image in Photoshop, so I left it like this.

  For those of you who may not know, this airplane was a seaplane. As such it could land on the water, and then coast to the shore and drive up on shore with the wheels and propulsion from the propellers.

This cast iron Hubley toy is certainly a rare item, and one that you seldom see on E-Bay.

It's always a pleasure to present a toy so rare and so nice to look at.

Thanks for dropping by, 

and have a restful Saturday, wherever you may be.

Stacey