Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Japanese Toys
(Part I)
Sometimes, I wonder where my head is! I've been sending E-Mails to E-Bay stores selling Japanese toys, and not getting any answers. Personally, I find that "rude" for someone not to reply to an E-Mail, but I also get the same "cold shoulder" from toy manufacturers as well!
Anyway, today, I say to myself, why don;t you check out your regular great resources? So I go to Liveauctioneers, check out "Japanese Toys" and "presto", Dan Morphy Auctions has Japanese Toys! So I redirected myself to the Morphy Auctions site, and there were those outstanding toys.
I'm not sure what is taught today in history classes in high school. However, when I was in high school, we never learned about WWII history. For those who don't know, America stayed in Japan until 1952, and General Douglas MacArthur was appointed the chief in charge of the restructuring and rebuilding of Japan from 1945-1951. General George Marshall, was a brilliant US military leader under President Franklin Roosevelt. He was one of the generals who led the Allies to Victory in Europe in WWII. He was Secretary of State to Harry S.Truman, and foresaw the rebuilding of both Europe and Japan, and I'm sure some of the other Asian countries. The plan became known as the "Marshall Plan", and for his efforts, General George Marshall was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1953.
WWII caused tremendous destruction and loss of lives all over the world. When the US helped to restructure and rebuild Japan, the country's economy and infrastructure grew at an astronomical rate. The toy industry was no exception, and Japanese manufacturers sold lots and lots of toys. Some of the toys were made for American Toy Companies (LineMAR). I remember as a child that the term "Made in Japan" was for some people synonymous with poor quality, but what did I know at 6-10 years of age, and toys were toys wherever they came from. However, by the end of America's stay in Japan, and later, we all know how successful Japan and Germany both became.
The most popular and famous of Japanese toys happened to be at the time (and still are) - space toys, futuristic cars, and of course Robots! I'm just going to present 10 "choice picks" from Dan Morphy's fine listings, but for sure, you should go to his company's site to see all of the fine toys that have sold. If I had known that toys would sell so high at auction, I would have invested in toys rather than the stock market!
(Please click on the address above to be redirected to the Morphy Auctions website)
The quality and condition of these toys are spectacular. I often wonder if anyone actually played with these toys? I remember in the near past where people would buy toys and baseball cards for investments, and never open up the packaging. I do know that the "Beanie Baby" mania crashed, and I'm not sure how those kids in the 1990's fared by buying up cases and cases of baseball cards. I wonder if the gum is still good from those old unopened baseball card packages?
Have a great morning, afternoon, or evening
wherever you may be,
and as always, thanks for dropping by.
Stacey
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