A Friend Shares his Well-Deserved Success

 Friday, July 4, 2014
U.S. Independence Day Holiday
   Overcast, raining and cooler

A Friend Shares His

Well-Deserved Success

   I woke up early this morning and received a surprise e-mail from Mr. Clifford Olsen of Gotham City Toys on ebay . He's a friend whom I met when I asked him if I might use his fine photos. His a successful ebay seller, who has sold some very nice and rare toys, as well as less-rare toys. However, like all successful sellers with an excellent reputation, he takes pride in his work, and photographs and describes each and every toy as if it were the rarest of them all!.

   So when I looked at the item, and them the final winning bid, I knew this toy was rare! I initially didn't recognize the name of the toy - a  KiCo, but upon reading the written description and reading further, the names Gely, and then George Levy, I recognized the company. I'll know for future reference the name of KiCo.

   I took longer than usual in writing this post because Clifford takes great photos, but as you know, I like to present them against a white background. But I debated (with myself), and finally decided what I'd do. I would present a few versions of just one photo ,but let Clifford's excellent photos show as they did on ebay. All I would do is colour-balance the photo, and remove some of the dust on that nice foundation that Clifford uses for all of his photos.

Please click here to visit Clifford Olsen's fine ebay store

Please click here to visit the actual listing of this rare toy!

(Please note that  this listing will be available for only about 60 days on ebay)

Description

A Rare 1915 KiCo (Germant) 2-Cylinder Motorcycle

Lithographed tin with wind-up Clockwork mechanism.The mechanism does;t work,but it is not overwound. The small support wheels are missing, so the toy has to be propped up to stand.

Age:  1915
Length:    8 1/4"  210 mm   

Clifford's Photo on E-Bay

I did minor improvements on colour-balance and exposure.

The way to tell if the colour-balance is off to look at a white area called highlight in photography/.

If the white area is coloured, then the colour-balnce is off.

I removed the nice sky background, as well as the coloured-relfection in the black glass base.

Regardless of my small improvements, Clifford's original photos are excellent.

A nice close-up photograph of the detailed lithography.

I like how Clifford found that small-sized crate to hold the toy.

It's just the correct proportion for the motorcycle and rider.

 As you can see, Clifford likes to take plenty of photos to present his merchandise well.

A close-up of the actual KiCo logo on the motorcycle.

I was trying to think how I would end today's post, when I thought to myself what the oldest item is that I have. I've only had this fish is riverbed sandstone for about 15 years, but the sandstone and fish are about 135,000,000 years old.

Of course, the age of an item isn't what makes something valuable- 

it's the rarity, and of course, the amount of interest that people have and are willing to spend in their bidding! In the case of this very rare KiCo toy,there were 10 bidders interested with 16 bids having been placed - that's a lot of bidders for one item on ebay!

Thanks for dropping by,

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

wherever you may be.

Stacey

toysearcher@gmail.com