A Toy for the Toy Hall of Fame

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

A Toy for the Toy Hall of Fame

   A few days ago, I came across a normal-looking mid-20th century toy.When I checked further, I couldn't find many photos about the toy, but eventually I did find a person on ebay.co.uk who had sold one in June 2013. I forgot, as usual to ask for the person's family name,so for now I'll be using her first name of Karen. She normally sells many fine writing implements or fountain pens that fill up with ink- rare for this day and age.She also sells older wristwatches,which I like to also look at on ebay.  Anyway,Karen wrote back to me, and gave me her permission to use her photos.

Please click here to visit Karen's ebay seller information page

     Karen's photography is excellent as you can plainly see. What I altered this time in using Photoshop, was to leave the background in, but remove the colour. The depth of the photo is there, but the white background as usual detracts less from the toy.

   The toy was manufactured by Shackleton Toys in Sandbach-Chesire England  for only 4 years, and then, I assume the company closed down. The lorry (British term for truck) is in excellent size for a child's hands. It's a Foden FG6 Platform Lorry. Foden is a real brand of truck in Great Britain.  The toy is  13" (L) x 3 1/2" (W) x 3 3/4" (H) or 330mm x 89mm x 95mm, and weighs

 2.9 pounds or 1.316 kg. As you can see, it was extremely well built, and came with a set of tools, oil, and instructions for how to take car of the toy and maintain it. The lorry came pre-assembled with high-quality nuts and bolts, a strong clockwork-driven "motor", and a propshaft to a back axle that turns the rear wheels.That in certainly rarer for a toy.

 In 1948 , the cost of the toy was relatively expensive costing £ 2.19.6d (I'll have to find out what those numbers mean!).  There aren't very many of these fine toys listed on ebay. When they are they can cost in the hundreds of British Pounds!  Just like the fine pens and watches that Karen also sells, the Shackleton lorry is in high demand, and people like to keep them!

   So if  you happen to read this post, and have any Shackleton toys, or know of someone who collects them, I 'd be happy to write a post about them.When I was 13 years old, my parents got me a Sheaffer snorkel pen - a very expensive and rare fountain pen  at the time.About 5 years ago, I purchased one on ebay because the original one was stolen from me in my school desk. a kid!

 As for Karen's store, I'll be keeping an eye out for another Shackleton listing, or a fine pen.  That's the great thing about the Net and ebay stores - you can always find a memento that you were fond of as  a young child.

Thanks for visiting,

and as always,

have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be,

Stacey

toysearcher@gmail.com