A Newly Found Tom Selhoff Toy Comes to Market

Friday, November 10, 2017
Sunny with some clouds
-5 C    23 F

A Newly Found Tom Selfhoff  Toy

Comes to Market

Please click here to visit Tom Woodburn's site on ebay

    It was bound to happen sooner or later, so today was the first day that it snowed. We've had an  exceptional fall season, with abnormally high temperatures, and lots of sunshine, so I can't complain. Now getting back to the topic of toys, I happened to find a very fine toy that is modern-made (1990's and later), by an excellent toy-maker who makes cast-iron toys. That man's name is Mr. Tom Selhoff.  

     The sight where I found this fine toy is on ebay, and the seller is Mr. Bob Woodburn. I communicated with Bob, as I wanted to know how one could contact Mr. Selhoff, as I had a reader write to me, asking what happened to Tom.  There was good news and bad news from Bob, so here's what he wrote:

 "Dear Stacey,

     Thanks for your message. I have never met Tom but talked with him several times before I bought a couple of his toys from him. I almost hate to call them toys because no children ever get to play with them. They are more like works of art. 

     The last I knew, he lived in Talent Oregon which is a fitting name for a town for anyhone as talented as he is. Unfortunately, he gave up on building toys and was dealing in parts for collectible Chrysler cars the last I talked with him. 

     I know of some toy collectors with fantastic collections if you ever want to contact them. 

Thanks again, 

Bob Woodburn in Bozeman Montana. "

      I wrote back again to ask Bob, if I could use his excellent photos, and some of his description. He replied right away and said alright. As you can see, this fine toy is in the style of old cast iron toys, such as the Hubley toy company from the 1930's and later on.

When selling an item, it always helps to take fine photos of your item, and Bob has taken exceptional photos, and lots of them THe large quantity helps to show all the different angles of the toy, so that the customer knows exactly what he iis bidding on, as well as the condition.

I like the small driver that Tom Selhoff cast to go with the fine car.

Description:

"This listing is for a fabulous and very scarce cast iron toy of the very sought after full size 1936 Ford 3 window coupe. This gem was built by Tom Sehloff in Oregon in 1997. It is #24 out of a total production of 200 pieces built by Tom. Tom also built some mid 30's Chrysler convertibles, a few early 1930's Packards, a house trailer, some 1930's gas tanker trucks and perhaps other fine toys I am not familiar with. Every piece he ever built was a hit and sold out in a short time. 

     This toy measures almost 11" long, about 4" wide and about 4-1/4" high. These dimensions make this toy about 1/16.9 or 1/17 scale in size. This size will fit right in with a collection of 1/16 scale farm toys or a collection of 1/18 scale die-cast models. This gem weighs a bit over 5 pounds which is a lot for any cast iron toy car. If this toy were scaled up to full size in all 3 dimensions, it would weigh over 24,000 pounds ! ! !

     Tom painted this toy a very attractive green color and I have seen them painted tan as well. I suspect he may also have painted some a dark blue, maroon or black color but that is strictly speculation on my part. Please tell me more about this very fine piece if you possibly can. 

     The main body on this toy is cast in two separate pieces just like the early toys were. The body halves are mounted on a fender unit like some of the better original toys from the 20's and 30's. This toy consists of 25 parts not counting fasteners including the following (all parts are cast from gray or ductile cast iron unless noted otherwise).

I absolutely love Tom Sehloff's work. There are two reasons I even considered selling this gem. One is the fact that I am not a big fan of the 1936 Ford styling and the the other is the fact that this toy is considerably larger in scale than my 2 Packard's Tom made before he built this toy. Those two Packards go well with a replica of the Hubley Packard sedan that I have in my collection. I am not in a panic to sell this gorgeous toy so if nobody likes it as well as I do, it can stay right here in my display case where it has been for many years already.

     I have several more detailed photos of this piece of art that I can email to your direct email address if you contact me. Please do not ask or expect me to email them to you here through the eBay email system. I can only attach 5 photos at a time and the system drastically reduces the size and therefore the quality of the photos.   

     This is a rare opportunity to acquire one of Tom Sehloff's more interesting pieces of work. If you really like 1936 Fords, especially the scarce and very sought after 3 window coupe, you would do well to give some very serious consideration to adding this gem to your model, toy or car collection. I may add more information soon. Thanks a lot, Bob Woodburn in Bozeman Montana USA " 

So that's it for today. I hope that you enjoy viewing this fine toy, 

as well as the well-written description that accompanies this toy.

 Thanks for dropping by,

And as always,

Have a great time of the day  or night,

Wherever you may be.

Stacey Bindman

toysearcher@gmail.com

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