The Ives Fire Station and Pumper

Monday, October 27, 2014
Mainly sunny and seasonally milder

The Ives Fire Station and Pumper

   It's the time of year when you have to prepare fir winter - at least for those of us who live in the Northern hemisphere, and especially Canada. Yesterday, I built a small shelter to cover our swimming pool hear pump and water filter, repaired a broken fence slat, and then replaced the central air filter and the batteries for the smoke alarms. I also had to replace 2 smoke alarm detectors.  

   SInce I just received an excellent Ives, Blakeslee, and Williams Company reprinted catalogue, I examined it again, and found a fine fire station and pumper. This particular toy is quite large. I had found tomorrow's post time earlier in the week, but was looking for an item to compliment that "piece de resistance" and to start this week. And so I found the Ives station, and tomorrow, you will see a really spectacular item - both part of the  exceptional Max Berry Collection to be auctioned via Bertoia Auctions.

Please click here to visit this fine American auction house

The fire engine house and the fibre engine (pumper) certainly were the "de riguer"  (very fashionable ).Ives and partners had used an entire catalogue page to present this pair of toys. What of  special interest is the fact that these two items were very expensive at $ 5.00 and $ 1.00 respectively for 1893.

It would be interesting to know if the value of an antique toy is directly related to its original price . In other words ,I would think that the more expensive the toy, the fewer that are sold, and the rarer they become in 100 years when antique you collectors vie for them at auction or buy them at antique toy stores.

 Have a look at the weight of the fire engine house itself  at the bottom left part of the above page.

It weighted 14 pounds or  6.36 kg

I now understand why the toy was made both of wood and cast iron. Had the entire toy been made of cast iron, it would have been both too expensive to sell, and would have weighed too much for the average child to move about. Even at 14 pounds or 6.36 kg, it's a super-heavyweight!

The toy must have been lots of fun for young children. The key wound up the clockwork mechanism. A release would fling open the from doors and the fire engine (pumper) with the horses would come out of the inside.

There are a few of these old fire stations left in Montreal, but they've been relegated to tourist attractions or use by the City of Montreal for tourism.

These particular toys are rare, and have received excellent final prices at auction, but not what I would have thought. However, tomorrow's fire-related item is even much rarer!

Thanks for dropping by,

and as always,

have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be,

Stacey

toysearcher@gmail.com