Friday, February 6, 2015
Partly sunny, flurries, very, very cold!
Partly sunny, flurries, very, very cold!
Look!
Up in the Sky!
(Part II)
The days are speeding along and are getting longer. However winter is staying - groundhog or not!
For those who don;' know, there's a silly annual event in North America where people take a groundhog out from it's hibernation and wake him (her) up. If the animal sees its shadow, there's 6 more weeks of winter, it not, winter will end early. Up here in Montreal, shadow or no shadow, it's winter. And to me winter doesn't end on the Spring solstice, when the days (sunlight) start getting longer than the nights! Spring really starts here on June 21 or the 22, when the summer equinox starts. I really think that up here in Canada we really have 2 seasons - hot and cold.
Returning to toys (only 44 days until official spring), I had checked out Liveauctioneers and found a fantastic of airplane photos that are up for auction from the Lloyd Ralston Gallery. The toy airplanes are probably being sold in groups to save on time during the auction. When you have an auction of 400-500 lots, the auction can be a strain on some of the bidders, since you may have to wait for hours till the lot that you like comes to the bidding stage.
The airplanes not the most expensive of American toy airplanes, but they certainly are worth collecting. I'm sure some purchasers will buy them and sell off the "extras". What caught my attention was how nice the toys look in groups, and that's what made me decide to post them in 2 instalments.
I especial like this photo because of its photo composition. I call the term "disruption". IN the photo are 2 airplanes that are different from the rest, which makes the photo all the more interesting. It's a "milder" form of disruption to a composition. A more "shocking example would be a group of cats in a photo, and in the lower conner a mouse tail!
One of my favourite airplane toys - A Marx "Piggyback" Bi-Plane. When I first saw this photo, I wondered in NASA had borrowed the idea. NASA used to shuttle the "Space Shuttle" from California, when the real space shuttle had to land there- instead of Florida. Weather was the usual cause of the alternate landing area.
These airplanes were of course modelled after the American aircraft carrier versions that one saw in WWII - mostly in the Pacific. At the time America and its allies were fighting the Japanese on the Second Front.
I've never seen the Lincoln Swept Wing Plane (the white one).
For sure, I'll have to search for more of them!
I even like these 2 simpler airplanes - especially because of their simple design.
What's nice to see is are toys that come to auction jun a "well-used" condition. This affords everyone a change to purchase them. ANd as far as replacement parts go, there's are several places in the USA to find parts - I definitely have to write a post about Thomas Antique Toy Parts!
That's it for today. I wrote minimally so you could appreciate the toys without interruption of the narrative. I remember when the first Boeing 747 (Jumbo) passed over my house in Ville Saint Laurent .It was huge, but being about 2 miles from the runway, it had slowed down. I thought it would fall from the sky, but of course it never did. It was huge, but elegant!
I'm sure everyone at any time in aviation history always was in awe of airplanes. I know when I went to Washington years ago, Heidi and I went to the Smithsonian and the Aviation Museum
(they now have a newer museum). I could have spent a month just in that one museum. Almost every famous airplane in America's history was there, and every tourist in the gargantuan museum was in awe at whatever they were looking at. Amazingly, we stayed until the closing, and within 10 minutes the entire museum was cleared out and was silent. We stayed (more I than Heidi) stayed, and were almost the last ones to leave. One day, we'll have to return to Washington.
The Smithsonian Museum and it's exceptional grouping of museums
is definitely the best I've ever seen-period!
Thanks for visiting and as always
have a great part of the day or night
'wherever you may be,
Stacey Bindman
'toysearcher@gmail.com
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