Old Antique Toys

This blog discusses old toys from the early 1920's to the end of the 1950's. All kinds of topics are discussed. The time span was the greatest period for "hands-on" toys, where a young child could actually go outside and play for hours at a time. You can see the elegance but simple design of these toys. It was a time when huge machines, and people made and finished toys by hand. The era has long passed, but many of the toys are still around, and that is what I would like to share.

Sunday, December 30, 2012

A Great Coincidence (The Gas-Powered Racer Continued))

Sunday, December 30, 2012
(#2 post of the day)

A Great Coincidence

(The Gas-Powered Racer Continued)

I just finished writing briefly today about the gas-powered toy racer,when I decided to look around. My "surfing" eventually took me to OpAmerica,where I was surprisingly elated to see a fine 1939 Dooling Brothers 1939 Prototype gas-powered racer.

Please redirect to their store so you can see the written description of this great toy. It's certainly an outstanding find considering the toy is almost 74 years old!

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 click on the above address to be redirected to OpAmerica's fine E-Bay Store)

What's great about having permission to use Opamerica's photos is that they are taken superbly and professionally. Except for 1 photo, I didn't have to do anything to the rest of the photos. This was great, as I mentioned before in my last post, that I just came through a 5-day bout with a cold or flu! That helps me a lot, but more so, the credit does go the Opamerica. The owners have an excellent rating on E-Bay, and it's because of their honest descriptions, fine photography, and excellent service. What more could you ask for?

Thanks again for dropping by,

and have a great part of the morning, afternoon, or evening,

wherever you may be.

Stacey

Gas-Powered Toy Racers

Sunday, December 30, 2012

Gas-Powered Toy Racers

I've only ever seen a gas-powered toy racer once in my lifetime. It's not that I was looking for them, but where I lived, nobody could afford such a toy. Also, you needed lots of space to let one of these racers run "flat out" (as fast as it can), and in the 1950's-early 1960's, Montreal (Quebec, Canada) was still slow to change. The Town of Mount Royal shopping centre was developed in the late 1950's, and that was the first one in Canada. If you passed by it today, you wouldn't even take notice - it's so small! Highways and side roads were also about to develop in Montreal, so that would also take time.

Coming back to my only ever seen 1 of these toys in my lifetime - I would say that you don't see these toys first, you hear them! They are very noisy and loud, and once you hear one, you will never forget what it is. Of course, they don't always work 100%, so they need to be pampered. But once they are up and running, they "fly". They are fast!

When I was buying and selling toys, I would sometimes go to a local hobby store to buy paints and sandpaper, and small files. I had played senior (Old age guys) baseball with the 2 owner-brothers, so I could chat with them. They must have carried these toys, but all I ever saw when I came into the store were these 3-5 foot (1 - 1.7m) gas-powered airplanes and helicopters. Now those are toys I 'd like to play with, even at 64 years "young".

I only am presenting 3 fine toys today, as I'm still not feeling so good, and for some reason one of the symptoms is not being able to sit still and focus.

As always, thanks to Bertoia ,I was able to find 3 nice examples of this type of toy. They are not the oldest of toys, but occasionally, you can see old gas-powered toy cars from the 1940's. I have no idea how old these 3 toys are either.

These are definitely toys that need to be supervised by adults, or have older children who have been carefully instructed as to how to carefully play with these toys. I did read in passing that some of theses toy can hit 90 MPH (145 KPH). So you can see, where you need lots of space to get these toys to perform to their max and to have the length of an empty shopping centre mall or abandoned runway to be able to play with these toys. However, I'm 110% sure, that whomever does have these toys certainly had gotten lots of satisfaction from having played with these fine toys!

Thanks as always for dropping by,

and have a great part of the day wherever you may be.

Stacey

Saturday, December 29, 2012

Australian Toys

Saturday, December 29, 2012

Australian Toys

Hello everyone. sorry for not writing, but I've had the flu this week,and was not feeling well! I had aches all over, fever, couldn't sleep for 2 days (that is the worst!), and lacked an attention span! I was out of the house this morning to meet the gang at Dunkin Donuts near me. The store is closing today after 31 years,and the owner is moving on. We all said out goodbyes, and who knows where we will ever meet.The place was great because the owner let us stay there for hours chatting away about whatever what in the news or whatever was on our mind. Just like out toys, this place has had its place in time. I'll probably go to Tim Horton's (A Canadian Institution) , but there's no "hanging around" for 2 hpours there. In and out, and about in 10 minutes!

This past week, I wrote about the Triang toy company which was in Great Britain,and who also had a company named Thistle in Montreal, (Quebec, Canada). AS I was researching the company, I came across someone who had a connection to the site:

http://www.pedalmania.jigsy.com/the-sixties

(Please press on the address above to be redirected there)

I wrote to Dave Bates, a first time to ask him for permission to use his images, and of course he said you. I then embarrassingly had to wrote him a second time, because I didn't write down his site address. Fortunately, Dave diplomatically overlooked my "error", and fortunately for me, writing doesn't show the other person how many shades of Red I Was turning because of my "faux'-as"!

It turns out, that Australia had a toy industry in the 1920's, and probably still has one. The country figured it was better to make toys there than to important them, and the concept also provided jobs. Of course, with today's "global economy", that concept seems so "alien". I think dave is the overseer of the site.

The site provided interesting anecdotes about the Australian toy industry, and also short stories about people who worked in the industry back then. THe site also talks about ol toys and even the Triangs, and the battery-operated 1950's Japanese toys that had something like 85-95% of the world market share in those specific type of toys.

Please do not copy without the written permission of the above)

The site has lots of nice reproductions of old ads from the times when the toys were produced.

Copyright 2012 http://www.pedalmania.jigsy.com (Mr. Dave Bates)
Please do not copy without the written permission of the above)

When you read the description of the red cars above, you realize why the front grill and headlights didn't rust. They were nickel-plated

Copyright 2012 http://www.pedalmania.jigsy.com (Mr. Dave Bates)
Please do not copy without the written permission of the above)

Now that I've looked at the above image, I realize that I did have a tricycle. I got mine when I was older, so I didn't need blocks of wood that went on either side of the pedals, to allow them to be in contact with your feet. At that time (early 1950's)the tricycle came in 1 size only. So if you were a younger "kid", your feet would not reach the pedals from the seat. My brother and sister (3 years younger than me) would have has those blocks to give them those extra 2 inches to reach the pedals.

That's it for today.

Have a great day, wherever you may be.

Stacey

Monday, December 24, 2012

The Simpler Things in Life

Monday, December 24,2012
(The day before Christmas)

The Day Before Christmas

I couldn't seem to figure out what I'd post for the last couple of days. However, I couldn't let this day go by without writing something. I was up early as usual, and went to Live Auctioneers - always a reliable resource for ideas and of course photos. I've looked at today's item, but never really though to post it. However, today, I got "mushy", and said, todays' content is just the right thing for today,and of course tomorrow! I'm Jewish, but the content relates to me as well.

Among all of the toys that I received as a child and a kid (a slightly older child), were marbles. All of my street friends I think had them as well. However, the simplest of toys were not often played with. We'd play baseball, tree tag, stando*, hide-and-seek,5-10, and so forth, but marbles were so simple", they were played with very rarely. (* I'll explain all of these games after the holidays).

What's ironic about marbles, is that we all had marbles, yet who ever looked at them? A Meccano set, my 6-shooter, my derringer, the Lionel train set, my Minibricks. all were there and were much larger and substantial that marbles.

Yet when I think back, they were always there in the house somewhere,in a nice Crown Royal dark navy blue bag to play with whenever the rare occasion arose.

Even when I was downloading the photos, I took a second to look at the descriptions, and Dan Morphy and Company certainly knew their marbles! I never realized how much variance and detail were needed for the simplest of play things. And even all these years (64 years +) , I never associated glass marbles with "marble marbles"- the original source.

So that's it for the narrative. The marbles certainly seem to be apropro (subtable) for today. They're simple, but complex, were inexpensive yet beautiful, and were always there when needed. And presented on the post, without any description, they certainly are decorative the the Christmas Season.

So this year will be the last year where you could write the dates as 01-01-01,02-02-02,

03-03-03, up to 12-12-12. The decade + the 2 years flew by, and now we're going to be seeing 2013.

So to everyone out there I wish you a very merry season in whatever way you celebrate, and may you all have a healthy and Happy New Year, both for yourself, and your families.

Sincerely,

Stacey

hoever I chose to play with them.

Thursday, December 20, 2012

The Kansas Toy and Novelty Company - Revisited

Thursday, December 20, 2012

The Kansas Toy and Novelty Company

(Revisited)

When I started to buy old toys on E-Bay, the "slush" toys caught my attention. The reason that these toys are called "slush" is the way that they were made. A mould or casting was made that was hollow and had 2 holes (usually oval) at the bottom. Molten (melted) alloys of metal would be poured into the casting, and "swished" around to adhere to the inner surface, and the rest of the alloy would be poured off. The word "swish" or synonymous with "slush. Once the casting and alloy cooled and hardened, the mould would be opened (usually 2 halves) and the toy removed. Later, the toy would be painted.

What I liked about these small toys, usually 3"- 6" in length or 78mm - 152mm) was that they were "crude". If you can find larger-sized images, you'll notice that the workers did not file down the roughened window or other parts. So windows to cars are not always smooth, but may have a rough-edged surface. Also, these toys break easily, especially if the original alloy had impurities in it.

I know because I had one arrive partly broken to my house, and I decided to see just how brittle the metal was. It broke off easier than a piece of chocolate. I wrote about that toy,way back!

I also like them because there were several companies that manufactured these toys,and relatively-speaking they're not as expensive as the larger and more popular toys. Of course, they were painted with lead paint, and they are brittle, and some of the alloys might contain lead!

I often go to Live Auctioneers to screen-capture toy photos because sometimes the companies that allow me to use their fine photos don't keep archives form older auctions. Also, it's easier to do a fast search with the words "Live Auctioneers Slush" on Google. That seems to get me what I want much faster!

I was fortunate to have found a good variety of nice slush toys form the Kansas Toy and Novelty Company through Lloyd ralston Gallery, however many nice other toys were in groups and the photo sizes were too small for nice viewing. However, by all means go to Live Auctioneers to have a view.

http://www.liveauctioneers.com

(Please click on the address above to be redirected to their great site)

http://www.lloydralstontoys.com

(Please click on the address above to be redirected to their great site)

Thanks for dropping by,

and as always,

have a great part of the day or noght,

wherever you may be.

Stacey

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

The Website for Old Toy Advertisements!

Wednesday, December 19, 2012
(Blog # 2 of the day)

The Website for Old Toy Advertisements!

I like old ads.Whether they're on old billboards on old highways, on buildings downtown, or in magazines, I like them. I imagine that in 50 years from now someone my age is going to say, I like those old ads from the 1950's.Of course, when you're living through history, you don't pay as much attention, as later on when you're older.

There is so much information out there on the Net, but it takes lots of hard searching to find what you want. And plenty of times, I find interesting toys and information, when I'm not looking! This is the case with Timothy McPherson's fine website - vintageadvertisements.com

I found this great site a few days ago, and wrote to Timothy for his permission to use his fine photos of these old advertisements. He wrote back with lots of interesting stories, and talked about a great collection of ads that he has. Most of the advertisements were from when buyers would go to trade shows to purchase toys for their stores. Most of his advertisements were not from magazines, so these are very unique posters. I once asked about what happens to movie posters after the movie is no longer in the theatre, and the usher answered that the posters are returned to the distributor and then I guess to the studios!

For a while, I was trying to match up old catalogue photos of toys with toys that I had purchased or that people who gave me their permission to use their photos. Today, this is a real "treat" to be able to match up some of my own photos with with some of Timothy's fine advertisements.

The outdoor ad above was a photo that I took 2 years ago. There had been a fire, and the building was destroyed. I passed the site many times, and then one day decided to photograph it.

Last year, a developer built a condo on that empty lot and the one adjacent to it, and the old hand painted advertisement is no longer.

http://vintagetoyadvertisements.com
(Please click on the address above to be redirected to Timpthy McPherson's fine site)

I wrote a post about the Hubley Circus toys.

I couldnl;t believe how many different animals Hubley produced along with the wagons, horses, and cages. I assumed that since 3 of the 4 items were already made, that adding different animals to the cages was not so difficult or expensive.

The last toy at the bottom is a LaSalle.

It's one of the rarer Tootsietoys, so everyone is always bidding on them on E-Bay, and the price of the Lasalles is about 2x-3x the cost of most of the other Tootsietoys. This also includes the Tootsietoy Grahams, which are similar in design and concept (they're take-apart).

The Tootsietoy LaSaslle

circa 1930's

I'd written about the China Clipper in a previous post.

The Wyandotte toy was modelled after the Pan Am airplane, and naturally was licensed to Wyandotte inorder to produce the toy. The original Pan Am airplane flew from San Francisco to Hawaii, and some U.S. "Territories" to deliver mail,and perhaps had a few passengers also. I'd seen the amphibious in old 1930's-1940's movies, and was thrilled when I purchased my first Wyandotte China Clipper!

The Tri-Ang Toy Company

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

The Tri-Ang Toy Company

Yesterday, I wrote about Minic Toys which was a sub-division of the Tri-Ang Toy Company in Great Britain. The company had been formed by 3 brothers before WWII, by the surname of Lines. As I was searching out information, I was fortunate to discover the wonderful site developed by Mr. Joop Ventrik from the Netherlands.

Please click here to visit this fine website

Joop's site is an encyclopaedia fill of great photos and information about the Tri-Ang company.

He encourages collectors to send information and photos to broaden his wonderful website. I've screen-captured both the writing and the photos. As for more information, I'd rather everyone go directly to Joop's site.

As for the Tri-Anf toys,they certainly were well made and nicely designed. In the beginning the company (Lines) had made carriages and baby items mostly of wood. As the lines company evolved, they made larger-sized toys or mini-cars that children could fit into.c

Joop's collection of both toys and old ads are certainly great. I like the old ads as much as the toys. They're just so "period", meaning that they are unique to a certain time in history! I also liked Joop's graphic design of his website, making the toys stand out nicely, and reading easy to follow through the site. Of course, except for doing some Photoshop on some images, I also saved some time.

The time certainly is moving fast and approaching Christmas and the New Year. I can't believe this year is almost over. It's been a wonderful year for writing my blog, especially with the help that I've been getting from around the world through auctioneers, E-Bay sellers, and collectors.

Although I'm a bit early, I'd to wish everyone and their families a Merry Christmas and a healthy and happy New Year. Of course, I'll make sure on December 24 to do the same and wish everyone again a merry season.

Added December 20, 2012

I always try to write a thank you note to contributors and people who allow me to use their photos. I also ask the contributors to proofread and make suggestions, or inform me of corrections. I wrote to Joop yesterday, after I posted this post, and he wrote back. I had erred on when the Tri-Ang company had started.It was before WWII and not after as I had written. However, what was more interesting was the Canadian connection of the Tri-Ang company to Canada. The Canadian company was called Thistle.

I turned out that after WWII companies were eager to expand and continue with what they made before the war. AS a result, the Tri-Ang company took a foothold right here in Montreal, Quebec, and in Sutton, Quebec (in a forested area of the province). Because of trade barriers and taxes (tariffs), it was better for foreign companies to create their own satellite offices and plants in the respective country of operation.

I'll going to let you look at some of the photos that I added from Joop's Canadain portion of his website, but please visit the site itself.

A Brief History Lesson

The top left photo is the Thistle factory near the Lachine Canal. That canal was around up to thde late 1950's and served downtown Montreal, and all of the factories along the canal. Montreal has a lot of rapids around the city, so to allow ships to come to the city, the Lachine Canal was built. Lachine was called Lachine, an actual city, because the explorer Jacques Cartier though he was in China when he first came here in the early 1500's. The actual canal is about 25-30 km, but it no longer functions. It was replaced by the St. Lawrence seaway in the 1955 0r 1956 by a joint American-Canadian venture.

The canal had locks that raised the ships from each part of the canal to higher levels approaching the downtown areas of the city. Ships would come from the west and approach the city to the east.

Today, I don't recognize that part of the canal at all, in the upper left corner. Today, the canal is used by recreational boaters only,and there are great bicycle pathways along the entire canal and Montreal in general. I cycle in the summer 3 times a week for about 20 miles (32 km), and when the spring arrives, I'll try and check out where the factory was located.

Material taken with his permission from his site (www.triang.nl)

Please do not copy without his written permission

Material taken with his permission from his site (www.triang.nl)

Please do not copy without his written permission

Copyright 2012 Mr. Joop Vendrik
Material taken with his permission from his site (www.triang.nl)
Please do not copy without his written permission

Sutton, Quebec is located in the forested area of Quebec, about 1an hour's drive SE of Montreal. What's interesting is that a factory at the time could survive and exist in the 1950's. Sadly, we all know now that almost everything is made out-of-canada (e.g. China). Sutton is a wonderful summertime area, and very nice in the autumn (fall) to look at the chainging of the maple leaves and their brilliant colours. Also, there are nice apple orchards when the farmers allow you to pick your own apples.

Material taken with his permission from his site (www.triang.nl)

Please do not copy without his written permission

What would a great country like Canada be without its politics. In the late 1960's and 1970's , French Canadians (Quebec) decided to start a cultural revolution. They were "fed up" with the their idea that Quebec was monopolized by the English or Anglos as they, the French-Canadians call us. If you look at the Thistle labels you will see they only say "Made in Canada" and not "Fait au Canada in French.

The French-speaking Quebecers did have some justification to complain, and many changes have been made over the last 40 years that went far and above the rights of English speaking and non-Englisj speaking (allophone) people. Sadly however, there have been several secessionist political parties who have created draconian policies and laws, and would have Quebec separate from Canada altogether.

As a consequence of a Separatiste party ( Parti Quebecois) coming to power in the mid 1970's there was a huge exodus of English-speaking people moving to Toronto. They had feared problems of language rights, and monetary disaster as a result of the part coming into power. Once again, we now have this party back in power, in a minority capacity. Sadly however, the parti is encroaching on our English basic rights of language and where we can send out children to English schools. Montreal, which once was the shining jewel of Canada up until the mid 1960's and the centre of finance of Canada, has long ago lost its' glory. It still is a fine place, but currently, corruption both in the city, and in the province has plagued her!

Copyright 2012 Mr. Joop Vendrik
Material taken with his permission from his site (www.triang.nl)
Please do not copy without his written permission

Thanks for dropping by,

and have a great part of the day,

wherever you may be.

Stacey

ld fit into .