Sunday, June 30, 2013
A Fine Rubber Truck Toy from
A Fine E-Bay Seller
I wrote this post earlier in the week as I would have been toy busy on Sunday to write. Therefore you are not confused if you are reading this post on Friday or Saturday (june 28, 2013).
I like to go to E-Bay to see what toys there are for sale. Another good feature on E-Bay is that you can view about a month's worth or previous toy sales from the past if you do a search for finished auctions or bidding. With both live auctions and finished auctions, there certainly are a lot of toys to be found that I can write about.
I was doing a search on E-Bay,when I came across today's new seller - Mr. Jim Hartman. He has some very nice toys for sale currently. However, I wanted to see his other toys that had been sold, and lo and behold, I came across a fine rubber toy that I had not seen before. I'll return to the toy later, but first an an introduction about Mr, Jim Hartman.
Jim's store name on E-Bay is Tootoy. He's been selling on E-Bay since 1998 and has sold 4650 toys as of today's writing. He also has an excellent reputation when you check what people have to say about him on the feedback page.
* Courtesy of Mr. Jim Hartman
I liked Jim'e e-mail to me, and asked if I might use it for this post. When I was buying and selling toys on E-Bay, the thought of having "safe toys" for children never really occurred to me. However, a memory that I completely forgot came back to me. My youngest late brother Jay, was about 2 years old when he decided to crayon a very old coffee table in our living room. The coffee table never moved with us when we moved in 1963, so I guess he did some great "artwork" on it.
What Jim wrote about his mother buying rubber toys was a real "treat" for me. I never thought about rubber toys in that way. I have often though about cast iron toys of the 1920's and 1930's and how some children must have has very sore toes after dropping these toys. I also have seen some pressed steel toys with sharp edges (heavens forbid in the 21st century!). But those times were certainly different then. Children could play outdoors, people left their doors open, and most parents didn't think about whether or no a toy met the US Government's safety list - there weren't even safety departments then!
Tootoy
What I always like in an auctioneer or seller is their presentation of an item. Not only does Jim write a thorough description of a toy, but he knows his toys. He also takes lots of photos even for this toy, that as far as price goes is within easy reach for most toy collectors. For myself, that says something about a seller - taking the time even for a less-costly toy!
What I also liked and wrote to Jim, is that I said that he seems to have an excellent "eye" from camera angle and composition. He also knows lighting as in some cases you can tell that he either used 2 lights or 1 light and a reflector. Doing this adds extra detail into the shadow areas, as we;ll as adding some shinier areas on the toy which are called "highlights" in photographic terms.
Casting in Rubber has the nice quality and ability to create fine detail. The front view of this toy, as well as Jim's lighting on the toy, certainly illustrates that point well.
Great Camera Angle!
Another example of the fine detail that rubber can reproduce from a mould.
A great trio of images!
That logo from Arcor says it all - "Arcor Safe Play Toys"!
I forgot to include the description and information about the toy, so here it is:
Arcor* 1937 GMC Cabover (c.o.e or cab over engine) Truck
Coloured rubber with metal axles and rubber tires.
(Auburn Rubber Company (USA)
Circa mid-1940's (After WWII)
Length: 10 1/2" .266M)
* The Auburn Rubber Company manufactured toys under several different labels or names.
Arcor was one of them.
I usually don't present so many photos for 1 item, but I'm glad I did for this toy.With Jim's talent for taking photos, and the toy itself, that GMC truck and cab were certainly presented very well!
Thanks for dropping by,
and have a restful part of the day,
wherever you may be.
Stacey
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