A New-Found Auction Site and A New Auctioneer

Friday, January 30, 2015
Cloud with snow, and milder 

A New-Found Auction Site 

and a New Auctioneer

   There are lots and lots of toys in Europe, but it's hard for me to be able to communicate in different languages, even though there are now  web translation sites to use. Moreover, not everyone  writes back to you. However, when I found  some fine toys on Catawaki Auctions together with of course an auctioneer, I had to write. I completely forgot about my sending an e-mail , when Mr. Rob Boot, an auctioneer on Catawaki Auctions wrote back. He gave me permission to use his nice photos of toys and their descriptions, and he mentioned that I should use the web address of Catawaki Auctions when you want to communicate with him.

Please click here to vista Rob Boot's location on Catawaki Auctions

What's refreshing about connecting with a European auctioneer is that the language and words used may be different when it comes to the parts of a toy. I think Rob Hoot is Dutch, and I assume that they use similar terms to the British. So tires (North American spelling) is written tyres in Europe, and windshield is windscreen.

Of course, what I liked about Rob's listings is his nice photography, and plenty of photos!

Most of the toys presented today are from the 1950's- 1960's. However, I wanted to connect with Rob  and see if I could get his permission. Now that I have, I will trey and figure out how to access past auctions, to search for my "usual" (pre-1940 and true antique toys).

What I like about this listing is the artwork on the box. Of course, if I was a "kid" 

(an expression for a young child here in North America, and not a baby goat!),

 I'd certainly have fin with this toy. It not only moves, but it has a dumpster that tilts to unload!

There are a lot of Schuco toys for sale on ebay and they always  have lots of bidders. One time, I purchased a modern-era (2000's) Schuco to see just what "all the fuss" (attention) was about. Even today, these toys are made to last. They're heavy, strong, and the wind-up mechanism certainly gives these toys a very fast send-off when you let then run!

If you've ever seen a period French move circa 1950's or early 1960's you'll have seen this truck. The "real" Citroen truck must have been very popuar at the time, since every movie (especially the crime and police movies) always use these trucks for escapes.

Here's  a nice Russian motorcycle toy. I like how the driver is "masked", but the best of all is the excellent photography that Rob has taken of this toy. What's also interesting is the excellent condition that this toy is in.

I rarely venture into the 1950's, but  there are  nice toys from that time. The world was recovering from WWII, and the defeated countries (Germany and Japan) were helped by the victors to get them back on their feet. I like the yellow/red combination of this Tippco truck.

Below is the "piece-de-resistance" - a fine Tipp & Co. toy from the US-Western Zone (Germany) after WWII. At the time, the USA had a "protectorate" as did Russia. Tippco or in this case Tipp & Co. made excellent toys since the beginning of the 20th century, and here is still a fine toy circa the 1950's. This particular toy received the highest value at the end of bidding of all the toys presented today. What noteworthy is to still see that this toy had its original windscreens (windshields) both on the rider's motorcycle and the passenger's side.

 I already mentioned the fine photography of Rob, but here is an interesting and successful use of a plate or dish as a foundation (underneath an object). This framing of the dish created four rounded corners that literally frame the toy.  It's a compositional term in photography, and here the plate is a great idea. Not only that, but the  shadow on the plate and some reflections enhances the photo and the toy even more. I also like the high camera angle taken to illustrate a direct top view of the toy. You don't see this done much on ebay or elsewhere, but it's a great camera angle to show the features of the toy from a very different bangle and point-of-view.

Thanks for visiting and as always

have a great part of the day or nigh,t

wherever you may be, 

Stacey Bindman

toysearcher@gmail.com