Friday, November 22, 2013
D Stands for Dent and "Details"
I like to return periodically to old posts and see what I can add for future posts. today's post is about Dent Cast Iron toys. You don't see cast iron toys (1880's-1940's) very much outside of America. It seems to have been mostly an American "phenom" (American abbreviation for phenomenon) . I have found some cast iron toys made in Sweden though, but not on the scale or timespan as in the USA.
Dent was one of about 5 American companies who got in at the beginning of the cast iron toy market. Like the other such as Hubley, the company had manufactured hardware cast iron items such as door hinges and handles. Many of the employees of these early companies were Europeans who brought their skills and craft to America. As such, when you look at the toys in detail, there is much to see. I always have wondered how molten iron could be cast to show such detail. It's not like die cast where much smaller and finer detail can be shown.
Like all toys, many of the early Dent toys were reproduced after real things and people of interest of the time. The early firemen, their horses, wagons, and pumpers were much in demand, and it's amazing how many different models were made by the many different companies of the time.
Most of these toys are called "pull toys", as a string or cord would be attached to the front of the toy, and pulled along the ground. Of course, if you lived in a city, you might be "lucky" to pull the toy on a wooden sidewalk.
I'm always amazed when I read "nickel-plated". Nickel was expensive and to use that as a metal is quire interesting to me. Our 5-cent piece is still called a "nickel" because that's what is was made from. Sadly, its now made from some much less expensive metal. The first large nickel mine was discovered in Sudbury, Ontario.
If you've never read my blog, you absolutely and positively have to do a search for the Chrysler Airflow. This was a beautifully-desined car that only was produced for about 3 years due to lagging sales. Of course, the years that it was made were at the time during the Great Depression. There are perhaps 1000 times more toy cars of the Chrysler airflow that were made compared with the original cars that were produced at the time, and that's my conservative estimate!
Colour was an important factor for toys, and if you look at all the toys on the page, you'll see how many different colours were used. Once again, the wheels are nickel-plated with the centres painted red.
My favourite cast iron or any toy for that matter is one that you can get your hands on to play with!
Those tipping bind are terrific!
When I first saw the street sweeper, I initially though it was another steam roller. However, it tunred out to be a sweeper with a bristle-type of roller that actually moves. I've never seen one of these early toys before.
The fact that all of the pieces (except the steering wheel) is amazing. The posts certainly look wobbly and I wonder if they can come out easily, or were hammered at their bottoms to have them stay intact in their square "holes".
Thanks for dropping by,
and have a very nice part of the day or night,
wherever you may be,
Stacey
toysearcher@gmail.com
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