Sunday, February 17, 2013

The Next Lloyd Ralston Auction

Monday, February 18, 2013


The Next Lloyd Ralston Auction

   I had just revisited 4 of the auctioneers who have allowed me to use their fine photography with their selection of fine toys. One of these is  the Lloyd Ralston Gallery. If you've read the previous posts, I had not visited them for a while, and was very pleasantly surprised to find toys that either I had not seen before, or toys with parts that were a set.

  The bigger surprise with the Lloyd Ralston Gallery  was that they have presented their images much larger. Initially I thought that perhaps I had magnified my computer screen viewing, but when I checked,  the images were now much larger. Please don't forget, that you can always view these images magnified in Blogger.  When you magnify them, these toys are even nicer to look at.


(please click on the above address to be redirected to the Lloyd Ralston Gallery Website)


I never heard of the Ito company, but this PT boat is great.
I'm even more amazed at the size - 30 1/2" or .775m.

 For a toy this age, it's in quite good shape.
What's even more impressive is that the windup mechanism is still working!


2 very nice pieces!


 Here's another nice toy.
What I like is ts the fact that someone found replacement parts, and made the effort to either repair the toy or have a craftsman do the work!



Sometimes a simple toy is nicer that a sophisticated one.
It would be interesting to know what the missing driver looked like.

 In the 1950's, Louis Marx and his toy company appeared on the cover of TimeMagazine.
He was producing and selling 1 in 4 toys sold in the USA!
The airplane above also has the windup mechanism working. 
I'm sure the toy moves, but I'm wondering id the propellers rotate as well?


 Up to now, I never heard of the of the Neff-Moon toy company, but now I know.
 It's listed in the O'Brien's "Collecting Toys Book on page 729.
The company was created by William Moon and Charles Neff in 1923. What Interesting to read in Karen O'Brien's book is that the company was located above a grocery store. 
Sadly, the Great Depression placed  forced the company out of business.

I always liked the concept of changing parts of a toy, such as with the Tootsietoy Graham cars.
In this case, the Neff-Moon Company produced a fine set of interchangeable parts.

This is the first time that I think I've seen a double-decker bus made from Litho pressed steel.
It's certainly a great piece for its' age, and like the other toys above, the wind-up works.

My wife kept her toaster, and I had to sell mine at a garage sale. It's a GE toaster,and she even had it repaired here in Montreal. She didn't like the way the newer toasters toasted toast. As well,it's an oven for chicken fingers and heating up items.  We were just married about 2 years, and were cleaning the apartment to relocate to our newly purchased house.  I liked my own toaster, but wasn't going to create a fuss! Our toaster is still working 23 years alter, and I'm not sure how many years she had it before.  Eventually, GE got out of the toaster business to become larger,more successful, and of course profitable, making larger items they manufacture today. These include all kinds of things from MRI's to hydro-electric turbines to generate electricity.


Last but not least, is a fine Liberty Playthings Sportster Boat.
I learned about these boats, and even wrote a post about the company.

This particular toy is in great shape for 78 years "young". All it needs is a replacement wooden arm.

I was just thinking this: I wonder how many children of toy collectors take out their father or mother's antiques and play with them "by accident"?

Thanks for visiting, and have a great part of the day, 
wherever you may be.

Stacey

No comments: