An Ives Blakeslee & Williams Company Catalogue Arrives

Thursday, October 16, 2014
                Partly cloudy and cold

An Ives Blakeslee & Williams Company 

Catalogue Arrives

   I was about to go for a coffee when I checked my e-mail and i received a notification that my Ives Catalogue had arrived. I went to my mailbox, and sure enough there it was. I'm not happy with ebay lately, as are many other people.  First of all, ebay has increased their fees. That's business and I can live with that. But requiring sellers and buyers to use registered mail for everything has become very, very costly. Today's item cost  was almost matched by the cost of mail, and the collection of taxes by ebay  for Canada Revenue. Our Canadian government figured it was losing"trillions"of dollars from all those  Canadian sellers and buyers who bought items on ebay, and didn't pay taxes. So the Canadian Government "gently pressured" ebay  to collect taxes. I don't know what "or else" pressure was, but ebay  acquiesced. 

  However, on the bright side was the fact that I now have a reproduction catalogue of an: 

Ives,Blakeslee & Williams Co., Manufacturers

Iron Toys, Wood Toys, Tin Toys

Games and Novelties

circa 1893

Thanks to

Mr. L.C.Hagerty

Collector of Iron Toys

& Mechanical Banks

Coalport, Pennsylvania, USA

  Mr. Hagerty in 1965 loaned his original copy of the catalogue to the Mechanical  Bank Collectors of America ( I believe), or another American association. The association periodically reproduces old catalogues and sells them as part of their convention that they hold from time to time. What's great about this is the fact that the reproductions get to circulate among collectors, old and new. This in turn allows collectors to know the toys that they are trying to collect.

That's my logo that I use on my photos to try and 

keep them from being used without my permission.

I've added it to the catalogue photos below.

I've made today's images larger than normal so that you'll be able 
to read what the type (writing) says.

I never heard of such a toy before receiving the Ives, Blakeslee & Williams Co. catalogue today.
I have seen those miniature Japanese items that rise in the air like hot air balloons.

What surprise me is that these items were made from "heavy cardboard" as it's written

on the top left corner of the page below.

Of course, the other interesting thing is that a gross of these items (1000) 

sold for $18.00 wholesale in 1893!

There certainly is a great selection to choose from, and I'm sure these items

were excellent sellers considering the novelty and price of them.

I did a fast search o  ebay and on Liveauctioneers, 

but didn't find anything.

If anyone of you comes across any information on these "Hot Air Toys", would you 

please send me some photos or a link to the website.

It's always great to discover something that I never knew about, 

and it's also fun to share with everyone as well.

Thanks for dropping by to visit

and as always,

have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be.

Stacey

Please feel to e-mail me anytime at:

toysearcher@gmail.com