To Restore or not to Restore…..

Wednesday, September 3, 2014
            Forecast: Sunny and warm

To Restore or not to Restore……

(With Special thanks to Mr. William Shakespeare)

   I decided for today's post to try and find the same models of one company's original toys. However the basic difference were that one set (today) would be totally restored, and the other set (tomorrow) would be untouched toys, as found in their original condition.

   There's always a debate about whether old and antique toys should be restored. Purist toy collectors, will argue that antiques and toys should not be touched, retouched, restored, or parts added. Others will take the position that old toys can in fact be altered.Some collectors want only untouched toys,while others don;t mind restored toys, especially restored professionally and by a professional person.

   Many of today's presentations were in fact done by New Era Restorations of whom I have written about. The quality is stupendous and accurate to the colour, removing all rust, and even adding new decals,and worn-out rubber tires. At this level or workmanship, who will know in 100 years unless of course mass spectrometer tests are done in the future. Of course, buy them there will be some simpler and faster method for paint analysis.

Please click here to visit this world-renowned and exceptional auction company

The toys that are presented here would look just like they were made almost 90 years ago.

They are pressed steel toys originally made by the Sturditoy Company. 

 They were restored by New Era Restoration, by the late Mr. Marv Silverstein.

The Sturditoy toys were large toys for the times. Also, their name was well-chosen as these toys have remained in great condition considering they were made almost a century ago. Even the toys that AI will present tomorrow have remained in "as is/untouched"  very good condition.

 More of the toys presened in this post were restored by the Mr. Marv Silverstein - a master artisan and craftsman.  His work is highly-prized and receives very good returns at auction.

When I first started writing about toys, I  bought and sold toys on ebay. I could not afford toys costing more than $ 250.00 U.S. at the time. I had retired at the time, ad decided to keep busy. You can read my story on my first post. 

Also, to keep busy for part of the day, I would occasionally "restore" old toys with missing parts, and repaint them.  If Marv Silverstein were alive today, I'm sure he would have been very diplomatic about my level or workmanship on my toys. 

However, in my heart, I would be begging him to be his apprentice.

Some people are born with talent, some people can learn, and most , like myself can "improve".

Marv was in the first level!

Thanks for dropping by to visit,

and as always,

have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be,

Stacey

toysearcher@gmail.com