Saturday, May 11, 2013
The fire station is interesting for several reasons. First, the engine had a wind-up mechanism that when released, would ring and have the front doors open and close. Second is the box! When I was looking for Kingsbury toy examples, I came across several examples of toys with wooden boxes. Imagine packaging something in wood today! The final point of interest for me is the fact, that back then (1800's-1940's), one could simply write the company's name and town on a box, and everyone knew where it was. That reminded me of how the US Post Office always seems to get Children's mail delivered to "Santa Claus North Pole!
I Stopped at 18 Toys for Today's Post!
(The Kingsbury Toy Company)
Yesterday, I was checking my posts with a search for "Kingsbury". When the results came up on my blog, I realized that I had never dedicated a whole post to Kingsbury, and so that's what today's post is all about. The company was founded in 1886 as the Wilkens Toy Company. Some Time later purchased by Harry T. Kingsbury,but he didn't decide to change the name until after WWI,whereupon it became known as the Kingsbury Toy Company.
The company produced heavier gauge pressed steel cars,trucks, and some other types of toys. Fortunately, due to some smart decision making, the company survived the Great Depression- they had chosen to manufacturer toys based on the land-speed cars of that era. The company continued to manufacturer toys, but ceased production in 1942. Interestingly-enough, the company is still in product and manufacturers success products in the assembly and test system field.
The Lincoln Zephyr was produced in 1940, and by 1942 the company stopped producing cars. I'm sure, they probably changed to war production when America entered WWII. I had the pleasure and enjoyment of repainting a similar model such ads the one above.You can find it in this blog. My "beat-up' toy cost me about $ 250.00 US, and I hardly made any profit on the re-sell. However since that amount was about as much as I could ever afford for a toy (for resale on E-Bay), I Was very impressed with the toy.
As far as the final winning bids went on the Bertoia website, these toys presented today earned some very good yields for their owners. That to me says much about the desirability of these fine toys that soon will be reaching a true "antique" status of 100 years old!
I assume that the "Panama" truck above was named after a truck that was used in the building of the Panama Canal. Initially France started to build the canal but had to stop due to engineering problems, and the high mortality rate due to accidents,but more so to malaria. The United States took over the project,and finished the job in 1914. Currently, the canal is being widened to accommodate those super-0sized ships, as well as the giant military ships of the USA and other powers.
I decided to finish the post with this very "cute"truck, circa 1918. It's amazing that actual "real"truck were made this way in terms of the cab. There is no windshield, and absolutely no protection for the driver. However, I'm sure these vehicles did not speed by like those we have today on our superhighways.
You might have noticed that I included only 18 toys for today's post. The Kingsbury toys are on my list of my most favourite toys. Firslty I like larger toys and heavy toys (cast iron), and the Kingsburys "fit the bill". Secondly, I like colourful toys. Third, these are hands on , and in some cases there's plenty to touch and move. The fire truck with the many ladders, and the 4-propeller dirigible (airship or blimp) readily come to mind.
Thanks for visiting,
and as always,
have a restful and happy weekend,
Stacey
No comments:
Post a Comment