Thursday, September 12, 2013
Fabtintoys.com
A Great Information Resource
When you write about a particular subject, you need to have plenty of resources to learn about, authenticate, or find information. I've purchased catalogues, went to excellent sellers to read their descriptions of toys, and have on occasion found several authoritative websites. The latter, are able to provide me with information about the companies that have long since gone out of business.
I had been to ebay many times, and had on occasion found ebay on ebay and on occasion off ebay. I saved the website address as a bookmark for future reference, and then earlier in the week decided to write about the person and the site. Why keep this great resource to myself, when my blog is all about writing, and of course, sharing. I contacted Fabtintoys.com via e-mail and received a positive reply to my inquiry. I could write about the site, and Mr. Harmjan Heeling.
Of course, I had more questions, and he wrote back right away. As it turns out, his website is in a partnership with ebay. Harmjan's website is a great informative resource for those looking to find information about toys. Not only old and antique toys, but models, and modern toy companies. You could spend hours on this site, and read and read and read about all of the different companies out there. When you do a search for a particular toy company, the history will come up. As well, there will be many small photos with prices. These are all connected to ebay and you will be redirected to the particular image that you click on.
For today's post, I only have one photo from the seller who allowed me to use it. I've photo-edited out all of the other photos, as it would be too much work to contact everyone on the page. So below will be a step-by-step set of instructions as to how Harmjan's website Fabtintoys.com works. As with all websites, you're not obligated to go there, however, I also find that ebay is also a great place to learn about toys and the condition of toys as they relate to pricing.
Fabtintoys.com
That's a nice portrait of Mr. Harmjan Heeling
The above is the opening page to Harmjan's website.
When you come to Harmjan's opening webpage, the top of the page will look like the screen-capture above. The red and black arrow is pointing to tin toys, but the other key titles are there. When I did a search for cast iron toys, nothing came up. However, later you will see how I found out where to look. What I did was add the words cast iron in a blank space geared to specific word searches.
The page above illustrates an example of the information that Harmjan has provided for Hubley.
In the white space to the right would be many small photos of toys related to the company. When you click on the photos, you are redirected to ebay.
Here's a screen-capture of a fraction of the many companies that can be found on Harmjan's website. Notice that in the left column, toys are arranged by dates. Also you can see that modern toys such as Dale Earnhardt Jr. (The famous American car racer) is there.
What I like about the search design of Fabtintoys.com is that it presents you with many different ways to search out toys. In the above image, you can search via any of the above terms. In the background, you can redirect yourself to ebay's many international websites. What's interesting about venturing to other countries is that you will find toys that rarely come to North America, or if you live in Europe, the same holds for American toys being found there.
The screen-capture above shows you most of the old tin toy companies. I've never heard of ASC or ATC, or Arklon, so I've have to remember to search for them.
I decided to see what Harmjan wrote about Buddy L, and I wasn't disappointed. I added the full page to show you where people write in and ask questions. I'm disappointed that more people don't write, because Harmjan writes back fast and will try to provide answers or redirect you elsewhere.
This screen-capture is for modern models. Models are a different "collectible" in that people collect them because they like them, but they're not toys. I've had the pleasure to write about several model- making companies and the models that they make are unbelievable. These models are usually die-cast and have many parts - both moving and not moving. Not only that, but some of these models will cost you thousands of dollars,and they're immense in size! THe models can range anywhere from modern and antique sport cars to giant modern-era earth-moving machines, pipe trench diggers, and huge bucket machines that fill huge trucks with several tons at one time!
I've written about model steam engine toys, and wanted to see what would show up in a search.
Not only was I satisfied, but I already see 2-3 names that I have never heard of before!
When I clicked on Bing, a video appeared. If you've never seen these antique and even modern machines in action, check it out. These machines are truly amazing. If you ever want to see how a toy works, go to Youtube and do a search.
Broang
I received permission from "Broang" to use his photo of the Buddy L Greyhound bus, and to write a post about him. He preferred that I not write too much about him, so I won't. I'll be writing a post in the future about him. What had caught my attention to this particular photo was that he was able to take a great photo with minimal effort.
Below is a different photo illustrating the view from the back to the front of the toy bus.
I did my "usual" presentation of the toy against white , but Mr. Broang gets all the credit for the photo. When you see how well he photographs his busses that are for sale on Ebay, you will see why I zoomed in on the original Greyhound Buddy L Bus. It's not easy to take a nice photo with minimal factors (foundation, background, props, lighting), yet his photos are simply excellent!
Thanks for dropping by,
and have a great part of the day,
wherever you may be.
Stacey
toysearcher@gmail.com
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