A New Auctioneer Helps Out

Saturday, October 17, 2015
             Raining and cold, 
        with some snow to boot!

A New Auctioneer Helps Out

  This week, I had a reader write to me about my April 30, 2011 post. Phew, that certainly seems so long ago. The reader commented that one of the toys that I was comparing was not what I said it was. Naturally, I thanked the reader and will have to do a search to corroborate (confirm) her keen observations. I did a cursory check, and she's correct.

   I had ventured over to Liveauctioneers because that website is great for viewing all toys from many different auctioneers. In doing so, I found some nice toys from Stanton Auctions. Their recognizable toy listings usually have an accompanying aluminum can of Coca-Cola, and I'm sure I've written as bout them before. However, I could not find their name on my computer, so I wrote to them. I got their permission, and hence this post today.

   What I liked about Stanton Auction's auction which is set for next Saturday, October 24, 2015 @ 07:00 A.M. EST (Eastern Standard Time) is that they have non-toy listings as well. If I had 8 more lives like a cat, I'd be writing 8 more blogs. Antiques are a marvellous realm into our history, and what we were 50, 100, 1000 years ago.  It tells us about ourselves, and sometimes, old is in fact better than new.  

 As an example, I  met a new acquaintance named Mike who is an early-morning riser (4-5 A.M.) at Tim Horton's that Canadian icon for fast food. One of his hobbies still (he's in his early 50's) is models.  Todays' kids want fancier toys - a.k.a. cell phones, tablets, computers, and for myself, the loss of chemistry kits, Radio Shack electronic parts (making a radio), or toy models is a big loss for today's generation. Having hand-eye coordination, skills in interpreting plans, and dexterity with painting are important in developing our next generation of people. I'm sure the counter argument would be that new technology or new toys (e.g. drones) do just as well.  I would agree up to a point, and as an example here's one. Several years ago, I read that children who grew up with game consoles were more adept and faster learners with  arthroscopic surgery than older doctors who did not grow up "playing games" on game consoles.

  The  first item that I selected for today's presentation is a Hornby Meccano speedboat. Meccano was the catalyst that led me to start to write this blog. If you go to my first post, you can read up on how I started. I had a Meccano set when I was young, as did most kids. It was great to assemble, but I would have needed more kits to create the mega projects such as a Ferris wheel! SInce I also had the Minibrix kit, a chemistry kit, the Lionel train set, and a few other toys, I wasn't going to get a second Meccano set. Also, with all the other toys, I didn't have the time. And, of course,being from parents (mostly my mother and grandmother) who liked the house to be tidy (there were 4 children in all) I didn't have the "luxury"of keeping my projects on the floor. THey had to be dismantled and reboxed!

Antique Mecanno Hornby speedboat "Viking" 

with original paint & decals 

Length x Height: 18"  x 5"  458 mm x 127

Carpenter is one of the classic American brands of cast iron companies who existed in the early 20th century America. THe only other country that ever made cast iron toys was Sweden,and perhaps even Canada.  Cast iron toys were inexpensive to make compared to the more advanced lithographed tin toys of Europe , especially Germany. Also transportation was very inexpensive at the time in America. The government wanted the vast areas of the country to be developed, and so the railroads had been given great "leeway" in building the railroad and charging lower fees to move people to the new states.  In  fact, some of the American states did not enter "the Union"until the early 20th century. Oklahoma (1907),  New Mexico (1912), Arizona (1912) are 3 examples.

  I had never heard of an "automaton" until I started to write about antique toys.  An automaton is a mechanized toy that goes through a series of movement. Built into the interior of the toy or figure are a series of chains or strings. When wound, the automation will move through the series of movements. Many of the European automatons are quite "real-looking" relative to people, and were carefully handcrafted. Some of them receive high bids at auctions. THese toys are a "special" category of antique toys unto themselves, and this one by Stanton Auctions is in excellent condition.

   The late Malcolm Forbes was a big collector of toys, especially mechanical models of ships.  THese toys were mostly made in Europe, and are exceptional in detail, size, and movement.  The toys were actually able to float and would be placed in park ponds and lakes to move. I haven;t heard of the name Faulk", so this listing from Stanton Auctions will give me impetus (incentive) to write a future blog on this name of mechanical ship toys.

  If you look at the written description, you will see the name of Mr. Dick Claus.  Mr. Claus was a collector of exceptional rare and antique toys. His toy collection was sold by the esteemed toy auctioneer Bertoia Auctions, and now some toys are being resold from collectors who purchased them years ago.  

   I wrote about the Bertoia Auction/Dick Claus auction several times. However, what is even more interesting are all of the different toys that were made from the real-life speed machines of the time. In the 1920's-1930's land, sea, and air speed records were being achieved every 6 months, and the British were quite avid sportspeople.  SIr Malcolm Campbell was one of Britain's great land and sea speedsters who achieved innumerable records racing cars and boats in the 1920's and 1930's. 

  There is no date attributed to this toy in the description. However, I would opine (guess) that this toy is from the early both century.  Both the style of toy, modelled after the real train, as well as using "live steam" to move the train helps me date the toy. I've always been amazed that steam toys would be around at the time. Steam is in fact safe when under a parent or parents' supervision,but it can be dangerous both from the fire source to create the stem, and well as the tremendous heat to propel the machine.

  I haven't written a post in a long time, so this was both enjoyable ( I like to write) and also helped me see if I still know how to use Blogger (a Google product) as well as to use my skills in Photoshop.

I was a bit "rusty", but both sets of skills came back very fast.

  I was also happy to have  has Roxanne from Stanton Auctions return my e-mail so fast. I'm sure I've written about Stanton Auctions before, since that "trademark" reference (the Coca-Cola aluminum can) is very hard not to remember. I'll have to have  do a better search on my computer or through Blogger and past postings.

Thanks fro dropping by to visit,

and as always,

have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be,

Stacey Bindman

toysearcher@gmail.com