A 1906 Hubley Catalogue

Sarurday, October 22, 2016
Cloud with Rain
13 Celsius 56 Fahrenheit

A 1906 Hubley Catalogue

Our Dog Buddy

I just received a 1906 Hubley catalogue from a seller on ebay.It's 19 pages and the pages measure 6 6 3/4 x 5 1/4"   160 mm x  133 mm (W x H). The catalogue photos are in black and white, and the images in the catalogue were sketched. There are several interesting things to this catalogue. The first thing is that there are no cars in the catalogue. While this American company did not yet produce cars, some of the more popular toy companies were in making toy cars. IN 1912 both Bing and Carette were making  coloured and lithographed tin plate toys.Perhaps, when I find a 1912 Hubley catalogue, I will see cast iron cars having been made back then. Another interesting factor is the  amount of toys that would be ordered at one time. As an example, on page 1. Item # 181 measured 20 1/2 " ( 521 mm) long and was packaged 1 in a box,and 20 to a case.The case subsequently weighted 160 pounds or 72.7 kg. At the time, the cost of shipping by rail for long distances was very inexpensive. The US government had  handsomely given the railroad companies huge expanses of land inn return for a transcontinental railroad. ALso, there were no other means of  reliable transpiration but for the train. There were local deliveries by horse and wagon, but for longer distances, there were simply not good roads,especially in winter.

What is also very interesting is the number of toys that were similar in the type of toy. For example, fire wagons were very popular. As such, on pages 2-7, there were 38 different fire wagons and horse(s) to pull them . 

On the page below, there were different sizes of the same toy. As to why, for example, toy # 115 came in 13 1/3" and 14 1/2" (345mm and 365 mm), that is beyond my understanding. Why even bother to have the same toy made, but with one being 1" (25.4 mm) longer? To me, that would to be very redundant). Of course, in later years, these wagons were manufacture red less and less, and motorized trucks came into existence in the "real world", and horse-drawn wagons would become less popular.

Below is a nice  variety of different toys. 

In fact, I did not know that Hubley manufactured mechanical cast iron banks!

  Below is another type of toy that was very popular- the cart. Of course, way back in 1906 ,the horse and cart were very popular,and these toys were made in different types just like the fire wagons. In fact, 47 different horse and wagons combinations were made.Back then there were other names for different wagons or carts, depending on the luxuriousness of the item. Terminology such as cart,dray, Phaeton,surrey, Landau,and gig  were just a few examples.  Imagine having to know the names of all these different vehicles?

By the time the automobile and truck were introduced about 10-15 years  later, most of the 1912 catalogue toys had been retired from manufacture. You can still find these interesting items on the market, but identifying them as to manufacture, and authenticating them as to their being original and authentic is very difficult.There are also many modern-era "reproductions" that can easily dupe the amateur into purchasing a "fake" at a high price. The expression "buyer beware" is most appropriate here!

Thanks for dropping by,

and as always,

Have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be.

Stacey Bindman

toysearcher@gmail.com