Sell It Baltimore - A Fine Maryland Seller

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Sell It Baltimore

A Fine Maryland (USA)Seller

  At the end of last week,I came across a group of listings of Tootsietoy ships on E-Bay. I wrote the seller, Mr. Mike  Bendler, and he replied and asked me to phone him.  I did, and we had a very nice conversation, at the end of which I was given the permission to use his photos. I'm going to add the Tootsietoy ships today, and will return later in the week to write about Mike and his company. 

   Notice that I've also included Mike's company Sell It Baltimore's Facebook link below.  Mike asked me to check out his Facebook page, and I was very impressed. I write him back to say say,and that it has given me inspiration and motivation to work on my Facebook page. In this day and age, one needs all kinds of links on the Net to publicize and promote  - Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Twitter, and so forth.

  As I mentioned, I was attracted to the set of Tootsietoy ships. What impressed me was the well-done close up photos of these small-sized die cast toys. They're at the most 6" ( 152mm), and Mike has done an excellent job at photographing them. I simple did my whitening effect, and these toys just sprung to life on the page. I once received a few of these toys by a seller who added them to what I had purchased. However, I didn't have the time to look carefully at them. With Mike's close-ups, I found a nice appreciation for them.  They're not the rarest and most expensive of toys, but they make wonderful collectables. 

I always ask the person or company about whom I'm writing about to write something. Mike replied below with a short but very well-written narrative.


  Sell It Baltimore is a Baltimore based company that buys and sells estates and has roots in the business starting back in the late 80’s.  Specializing in antiques and collectibles they utilize online sales via ETSY and ebay stores.  As an ebay Power Seller with an anchor store they sell tons of vintage and collectible toys, knives, and lighters, along with dozens of other categories.  As of 10/2013 their ebay store has over 6300 items listed.  ebay: sellitbaltimore1  Facebook: Please click here Web: Please click here

Please click here to visit Sell It Baltimore's exciting Facebook page

Please click here to visit Sell It Baltimore's fine website

Please Click here to visit Sell It Baltimore's ebay page

As you can see, Mike did an excellent job at photographing these nice Tootsietoy ships. I've added a photo of some die cast or lead vintage horses and jockeys that I thing was from a game. One of the horses tails is broken, but you can see what I did with these toys. They're beautiful items shat showcase well on anyone's wall. 

If I was interested in the Tootsietoy ships, not only would I save them, but I'd make a picture frame and shadowbox for them.  They would definitely show well!

I like to fish, although I haven't gone much lately.However, I also made a shadowbox of small fishing lures to remind me. They make nice showcases when you have people over and  look at your wall hangings. They're always good for conversations.

Thanks for droppinbg by,

and have a great part of the day or night

wherever you may be,

Stacey

email me anytimne at:

toysearcher@gmail.com

The Marklin Ships

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

The Marklin Ships

   The other day, I wrote about Bing ships. I already had in mind to write about other companies, and Marklin ships would follow. Both companies produced exceptional tin floating toys in the early decades of the 20th century,. However, the Marklin ships are the most prized of all. Today's post is just an introduction to these fine toys. The highest-paid and highest bid ships will eventually follow.

These toys were most probably made for people who were exceptionally wealthy, as you can see form the amount of work that would have gone into the production of these toys. There are lots of detail to the ships, and the most-prized Marklin ships even came with their own (I'm guessing) dollies on wheels and pull string.

Please click here to visit Bertoia Auctions exceptional website

The ships presented today are the "small" ones. When I post the most-expensive ships bid up at auction, you will understand why I called today's ships "small".

Thanks for dropping by,

and have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be.

Stacey

write to me anytime at:

toysearcher@gmail.com

Bing Early 1910's Navy Ships

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Bing's Early 1910's Navy Ships

   About a week ago, I received a  reproduced copy of "The 1912 Bing Toy Catalogue". The publisher is New Cavendish Books of London, England. The date  of the copyright is 2001, so I assume that they aren't printing these lately. You can find them on the Net, and if you like old toys, the book is great, especially the "scientific toys" found at the end of the book. These toys are related to such things as motors and wireless telegraphy.  

   I'll be writing several posts about the German toy boats, and decided to start off with the Bing ships. They're no as high-priced on the auction scene as the Marklin ships, but nevertheless,they are highly priced and do fetch great prices. As far as the 1912 catalogue goes, the boat section is 13 pages, including parts and motors.  For today's post, I decided to include page scans of the  New Cavendish Books book. However, some of the actual toys, do not quite match up with the scans of the catalogue. One reason could be that the toys were made earlier or later than the 1912 catalogue, Another reason is that  I used the toy images from Bertoia Auctions, an internationally renowned American auctioneer of antique toys. Some of the toys were sold in the US, through Bing's USA offices and showrooms, and were made differently for the American market.

Please click here to visit New Cavendish Books interesting website

Please click here to visit Bertoia Auctions fine website

It took a bit of time to match up the photos with the catalogue scans. I guess I wouldn't have made a good spotter in the navy on the open seas. The ships look very similar to me, and I would have had trouble spotting a destroyer from a cruiser at 2 miles (3.21 Kilometres). Of course, at that distance, I would be so scared, I would probably be more accurate in my sightings!

Thanks for dropping by,

and as always,have a great part of the day,

wherever you may be.

Stacey

write to me anytime at:

toysearcher@gmail.com

Gunthermann - Let the Music Play

Sunday, October 27,2013
              Wet, Cold and Cloudy

Gunthermann- Let the Music Play

   IN the 1900's and some decades later, Gunthermann , an extraordinary toy manufacturer produced many wonderful and lasting toys. Of course, their period cars are the most valued to collectors, so I decided to look at items that were not bid up in the thousands of dollars, and came up with a group of musicians. Their common characteristics are that they are mechanically wound, and make "music" from their instruments. Also, all were hand-painted.

Please click here to visit Bertoia Auctions fine website

Thanks for visiting,

and have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be,

Stacey

please write to me anytime at:

toysearcher@gmail.com

Hubley's Circus

Saturday, October 26, 2013

Hubley's Circus

     I'm sure every kid who now is 60 plus years young has been to the circus. My mother took us - the twins (Brenda and Michael)  to the old Montreal Forum to see the circus. My other brother Jay was not born yet or was too young. If you have been fortunate to have lived to be 90 plus years young, and are American, you probably might have been fortunate enough to have seen the circus in a big field outside of your city. A long time ago,circuses (early 1900's) would travel by  wagons from town to town. Later, the trains moved them across America, and Canada. Of course, back then Canada was and still is "small" in population compared with America, so the circus came here once a year. The span of Canada is 3000 plus miles with perhaps 6 big cities at the time of the 1950's and much earlier. In the USA, a circus could gravel within a radius of 500 miles, and visit 40 largers-sized American cities!  I can't remember when the last time the circus came to town here in Montreal. Of course times have changed, there are many former circus animals on the endangered species list, and  animal advocated see the circus as a form of cruelty to animals.

Please click here to visit the fine website of Morphy Auctions

    Hubley's circus was based on a caged van or wagon (depending on the toy description for the listing). It was made of cast iron and pressed steel (or tin) , again depending on the written description. There were 3 variations of the gate (entrance) to the cage. There is the rear, the rarer side, and the rear and side entrances together. Some of the rarer vans of course yield larger final winning bids, but a nice example of these 1920 toys can be had for 500.00 US (as of the dates that I downloaded the photographs.

   Personally, the colours of toys from that era and later always fascinates me. They're bold and primary, and certainly catch your attention. Moreover, parts of the toys were hand painted  and these would include the gold trim, and of course the animals, and driver.  Another thing to notice is that these toys are large and heavy.

Of course, the other cast iron companies of the time (circa 1920's) also made similar toys, and what would my blog be, if I didn't investigate those other toys further!

It's raining here in Montreal, and if the circus was in town, I'm sure many kids would be asking their parents to go, if of course, they know what a circus was. For sure, their grandparents would have known!

Thanks for visiting,

and have a great part of the day or night,

wherever yo umay be,

Stacey

write to me anytime at:

 toysearcher@gmail.com