Tuesday, August 19 2014
Sunny and unseasonably cooler
Sunny and unseasonably cooler
A 1920's Buddy 'L' Fliver
in Exceptional Condition
One of the things that I like to do is revisit people or companies to see what latest items they have sold or are about to sell. I had introduced myself to Mr. Shawn Hartman and his father Mr. Mark L. Hartman at the end of July of this year. Shawn had some beautiful wood toys up for auction on ebay, so I write to ask for permission to write about him and his fine toys. Ad it turned out, Shawn was selling his father's toys. He contacted his father Mark,and I got the permission from both.
Both Shawn and Mark are established sellers on ebay and have excellent feedback from buyers. But what attracted me to them is the number of photos that they present when placing their items up for auction. ebay changed both the number of free photos sellers could place on ebay's site from 1 to 12, and also increased the size from small to large. I know this is for the USA and Canada, but I don't know about European countries.
It's a great opportunity for sellers to present their merchandise well, so there are fewer (if any) complaints later on. I always look at the feedback rating, and when it's high, I will purchase an item based on the feedback first. Also, buyers should always ask any questions about an item. But what makes Shawn and Mark stand out is that they take the time and make the effort to provide lots and lots of photos to viewers (buyers). Not all ebay sellers do this, and it's too bad.
Today's toy was made by the Buddy 'L' company in Moline, Illinois in 1925. It's a ford Model T flivver. The name "flivver" is an American slang word for early cars (automobiles) that was small,old, and gave a very rough ride. As time progressed, flivver went out of style, and was replaced by there term "tin Lizzy", and even later (1940's) by the term jalopy. I'm not sure what cars are called today, although the term "junker", or "lemon" might aptly apply today. However, "lemon" applies more to a car that is badly made or designed, and had lots of faults to it.
What makes today's toy so special is the fact that is is ion such fine shape. Just like the millions of Ford Model T's that were made, as well as the Buddy 'L' For Model 'T' toy cars, there just aren;t too many around, some 90 years later!
As you can see, this toy is in stupendous condition. Please excuse the stippled (small dots) colouring in the black areas of the photos. The original photos were underexposed, so I improved them in a photo-editing software. However, the resulting "stippling" ensured.
If you read the description, you'll see that this toy is 11" ( 279 mm) long, which is a great "hands on" toy to play with. Many of the Buddy 'L' toys were in fact made large, and if I were a kid today (in age, not in mind!), I would surely like the larger sized toys to play with!
Thanks for dropping by to visit,
and as always,
have a great part of the day or night,
wherever you happen to be,
Stacey.
toysearcher@gmail.com
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