That is the Question

Thursday, September 4, 2014
                       Sunny and hot

That is the Question

   I titled yesterday's post "To Restore or not to Restore", and followed up with today's title "that is the Question". Of course, anyone who took English in the 1960's & 1970's had to read Shakespeare Will's (Shakespeare's given  name was William). I changed his original question of course - "To be , or not to be, that is the question", which can be found in his famous play - Hamlet.

   In yesterday's post, I presented beautifully and professionally restored old toys from the 1920's, hence my follow up with today's post - the same toys, as originally sold at auction, without any restoration or replacement parts. If you research the final gavel prices of these 2 sets of toys, the final prices is different but not as much as you'd expect. However, an untouched old or antique toy will 99.9% of the time receive more that a restored toy.

Please click here to visit this most exceptional American auction company

I didn't want to place restored and unrestored items side-by-side, as Google Blogger's page layout is limiting, and cannot be changed for a single post. If I change the width of this post,  my entire 772 posts to date will be changed also - poor pre-planning on Google's part!

What you can do is open up another browser window, then open up yesterday's post.

That's what I did. The screen-capture below illustrates that point. Please note that the screen-capture was of the 2 posts in the "edit mode" of Blogger,and not the view mode.

I could;n't find an untouched Sturditoy milk truck, so I substituted it for an oil truck. Of course,the final gavel price will be different for the 2 items, as they are totally different truck types.

What you'll notice inn this untouched Sturditoys is their condition. Even after 90 years, they are in very good condition (my  opinion). They certainly have lived up to their name after even 90 years! What I found amazing is the condition of the original  tires!

The left front wheel and tire on the driver's side is bent and was described like that in the description ( I forgot to add that). I like the way the Bertoia Photographer left the wheel that way, instead of placing it perfectly perpendicular to the tabletop.

So as I end this post, we are still left with the same question. Would you buy a professionally-restored very old toy or would you buy the same toy but in the "as found" condition?

I'm not a toy collector but if you asked me personally, I'd buy either, 

since I'd be playing with them!

Of course on a serious note, One of the reasons that I would but the restored one is just to marvel at how a true professional cn bring back a toy to its' original condition. If I ever went back to buying and reselling toys, I'd use one of Marv Silverstein's toys as the standard to which I would want to do my restorations!

Below is a Hubley die cast 1960's bulldozer that I restored.

At the sale on ebay, it had some interest from buyers, 

and  the final winner was very happy with my restoration.

Hubley Bulldozer

Restored die cast with rubber treads and original wooden wheels.

Circa 1960's

Length: about 12"  305 mm

Thanks for dropping by,

and as always,

have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be,

Stacey

toysearcher@gmail.com