Monday, October 13,2014
Canadian Thanksgiving
Mixture of sun and cloudy, seasonally colder
Canadian Thanksgiving
Mixture of sun and cloudy, seasonally colder
The 1893 Ives, Blakeslee & Williams Catalogue-
Early Trains
I recently purchased an 1893 reproduction of an 1893 Ives, Blakeslee, and Williams Co. catalogue that was reproduced by the Mechanical Bank Collectors of America, courtesy of one of its members- Mr. L.C.Hagarty. The Mechanical Bank Collectors of America isa long-established group that is dedicated to the fine antique collectible of vintage and antique mechanical banks. When they get together in a large group such as at a convention, one of their great ideas is to reproduce long-defunct toy catalogues.
The Ives, Blakeslee & Williams Company was once the premier and foremost toy train company in the United States. They had produced many other toys besides trains, but over the years until the early 1930's were the #1 train company. Eventually, they were overtaken by the Lionel Company,, and eventually closed down.
That's the logo that I use for my photos or scans
It's a trio of pairs of maple leaf seedlings
Pages from the 1893 Ives, Blakeslee, and Williams Company
Catalogue Reproduction - Train
There are several interesting things that you might want to know about the trains and the time period that they were produced:
1. The train locomotives are all wound by key.
2. The reasons for this is that electricity was not yet invented and was no yet available.
Electricity would become available in the USA in about 25 years, and would be available across America in about 50 years.
3. There were "rare" sets of battery-operated trains, but that was impractical.
4. What surprised me is the final prices at auction of these toys.
They do yield good prices, but not exceptional prices.
If you go to the Liveauctioneers website,
you will be able to find the final prices of these toys.
