The RSL Auction Company

Saturday February 18, 2023

Sunny and clear skies

-11° C  12. 2° F

    I've always wanted to write about the The RSL Auction Company over the years, but thought that I never got their permission to write. However, I somehow had a "hunch" that I did. So this past week, I looked at my old e-mails, and lo and behold, I had received their permission back in 2018. Breanne Day, one of RSL's Senior Auction Specialists had written a nice reply to me. 

    "Bre" has been in the antiques business since 2011, and she quickly learned the multiple intricate layers of the toy business. Not only that, but with Ray Haradin, Steven Weiss, Leon Weiss, Natasha Rios, Julian Abernathy, and Angela Weiss, this exceptional team has managed to create a great team managing many different toy companies. These include Toys of Yesteryear and Old Toy Soldier Auctions. Moreover, Bre and Ray "have a show on Facebook Live entitled Ray and Bre Live". 

Their web link is:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxX9gzbBydA68K7fceLkTZQ/videos

(please excuse the dark grey url. I couldn't figure out how to change the colour)

I selected this exceptional toy because it was so old, yet in such great condition.

As well, the photography was great, and there were plenty of photographs.

"Made by Ernst Plank Company. Nuremberg, Germany - 1908. (Possibly made by Mohr & Krauss) 20" Long with a 14 3/4" Wingspan. Without any doubt, this is one of the most important early toy airplanes to ever be sold at auction. It bears a very significant resemblance to the 1903 Wright Flyer. The front elevators, the rudder, fuselage, propellors, motor and wing tips are all virtually identical to those found in all early biplane design. This plane has been in a prominent collection for many years. The condition for an early hand-painted German toy is very exceptional. When wound, the toy worked very well."

     

Please click here to visit this exceptional auction on LiveAuctioneers

So that's it for today.

Thanks, as always, for visiting,

And have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be.

My name is Mr. Stacey Bindman

and I can always be reached at:

toysearcher@gmail.com

 

Bertoia Auctions Modernizes Their Excellent Photography

 Thursday, February  16, 2023

 Overcast

 4° C  39.2° F 

Bertoia Auctions Modernizes

Their Excellent Photography

Please click here to visit their excellent website

    Bertoia Auctions was one of the first toy auctioneers that I received permission to use their photos, and to write about their excellent auction company. They're located in Vineland, New Jersey, USA. It's a family-run business that started out. with the late Mr. Bill Bertoia. His brother was also part of the business, but sadly, passed on several years ago. Currently Bill's children and wife. manage to continue the excellence of this well-established company.

      I had not been writing for a while, and so when I visited their fine website, I was taken aback (surprised). Their most-recent  photography of their auction listings had changed. Toys  were now  placed on a white background and foundation, compared with before, when they were placed on grey. The toys stand out much better, and there is less work to light up the toys. Their photography has always been excellent, but now they have improved upon it even more. 

↑

Above: 

Cast Iron Comic Character Toy Lot

Cast Iron, Circa 1910-1920.

Lot includes two cast iron Kenton wagon toys with 

Alphonse and/or Gloomy Gus, along with a

Mutt & Jeff still coin bank.

Length: 10" 25.4 cm

↓

Below:

Girl Skipping Rope Mechanical Bank

Cast Iron J & E Stevens Company

One of the more popular mechanical banks ever produced.

Height: 8.5". 20.32 cm

       As you can see, both pairs of photos are excellent. However, for myself, I prefer the white background. The toy and its' details present themselves so much better than on a grey or black background. Also, taking the photograph and recording detail is so much easier. Dark toys with dark colours or grey.black tones are difficult, as the colours will merge with the background colour or tones.  On white, detail is very easily seen, although a white toy on a white background might present some difficulty.

    So that's it for today. 

Thanks for dropping by,

And as always,

Have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be.

and I can always be reached at:

toysearcher@gmail.com

(Mr.) Stacey Bindman

    

    

    

 Sunday February 12, 2023                                                                                                             Overcast   2° C  35.4° F                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

                                 Revisiting                                   AntiqueToys.com

Please click here to visit Antiquetoys.com

     If you follow my blog, you'll have noticed that I haven't written much for the last 2 years. I got Covid in the beginning of  January 2022, and got a whole list of problems from Covid! I saw more doctors and had more tests that in all of the other 73 years of my life! Right now, I'm feeling great, but I'm having trouble trying to gain back 17 pounds (7.71 kilograms) that I lost. I've even been to a dietician who gave me advise on how to regain my weight loss, and to eat 5 meals a say!

    For my last post, I had to do research to find out the true identity of that exceptional 4-Horse Brake Coach. A reader had asked me to try and identify the cast iron toy, and I came across 2 possible answers - Pratt & Letchworth and Hubley. I gave the answer as "Hubley",  (and I was wrong!!!!!), but the reader was able to contact an exceptional website with an exceptional owner - Mr. Ed Sandford. The reader had found Mr. Ed Sanders from a blog post that I wrote years ago. I phoned Ed, and talked with him for a while. Later I wrote him, and said that I would like to write a post for him, for having helped the reader find an answer. I also mentioned to Ed that I was going to write an updated post for having helped the reader find an answer to his inquiry.

    So, today's post is a big thank-you to Mr. Ed Sanders for having helped the reader out, as well as having taken the time to chat with me about the reader's inquiry.  Years ago, I found Ed Sander's website exceptional. It had great photos, excellent information and identification of toys, and of course one could buy fine toys listed on his website.

    Flash forward to today and the weeks before, and I was totally taken aback at how much his website has evolved to be one of the finer websites about toys and for buying toys on the Net (of course, that's my "humble" opinion).

Above:  

That screen-capture is the opening page. You can see all of the categories that this extraordinary website contains

Above: 

A "sampling" of some of the many different categories

that will allow you to research your toy.

Above:

Ed's photography is exceptional. A plain white foundation

allows the toy to be presented without any distractions. As well,

when you click on the photo, you are redirected to another page, 

where there are plenty of other photos to examine.

Above:

Each category of toys is then broken down into other sub-divisions.

This website is like an encyclopaedia, and filled with extensive information, and 

great photography.

Above: 

Ed's background before entering the world of selling toys and writing, was having been an engineer. His extensive research, superb organization of his website, and excellent photography all can be attributed to his training and education in this the field of engineering. 

Above:

I already mentioned that Ed also sells fine toys. He writes nice and thorough descriptions, describing repairs, scratches or even missing pieces.  Obviously, Ed is well-educated in knowing his toys, as this Harris toy originally came with accessories.

Below:

And last, but not least - my favourite - excellent photography.

In focus, well lit, large photos, and lots of photos of the item being sold.

Of course, I hope many of you visit his great website. 

It's a cornucopia of encyclopaedic material overflowing with what any toy collector 

or buyer might want.

So that's it for today.

Thanks for dropping by,

and as always,

Have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be.

My name is (Mr.) Stacey Bindman, and

I can always be reached at:

toysearcher@gmail.com

       

Pratt & Letchworth or Hubley 4 Seater Brake Coach

Sunday February 5, 2023

2° Celcius 35.6° Fahrenheit

Cloudy with Snow

Pratt & Letchworth or Hubley 4-Seater Brake Coach

    I can't believe the extreme differences of temperature in the last 2 days. Yesterday, it was -30° C / -22° F  and today is "warmer at -16° C / -3.2° F. Needless to say, that's the type of weather that kept me indoors writing a few blog entries! The weather today is going to go up to to 0° C / 32° F . Finally, I'll be able to take my dog for a walk!

    Now back to being serious! 

    A few days ago, I received an e-mail from a reader asking me if I could help him identify a beautiful family heirloom toy that had been in the family over a few generations. Naturally, I was very eager to help the reader out, and of course, I said yes.

    The reader wrote that the item was a Pratt & Letchworth 4-Seat Brake that his grandfather had as a child in the 1900's, about 1915. That was a great bit of information, as I never, ever, heard of the word "brake" to describe a horse-driven passenger transport.

     After some searching on the Internet, I wrote the collector to say that also I thought that the item was a Pratt & Letchworth 4-Seat Brake. Of course, I'm far from an "authority" or "expert" on toys. 

    Interestingly, the collector did some research on my blog, and found a website by the name of Antique Toys. The website is an excellent resource for finding information about old and antique toy manufacturers. The photos are excellently photographed, and the narrative is well done and very educational. And of course, there are always a fine selection of toys for sale.

    The collector contacted Mr. Ed Sanford, the owner of this excellent website, as well as a seller of toys and the owner of his store -Antique Toys. Mr. Sanford looked at the owner's toy, and identified it as a Hubley. 

Please click the address below to visit this fantastic website

https://www.antiquetoys.com/

    I wrote Ed Sanford back, and asked for some detailed contrasting details between the Hubley and Pratt and Letchford, in order to contrast the 2 different companies. Ed replied and I was very much amazed at the information and detail that he provided.

Here's what Ed had to say

"The Pratt and Letchworth toy uses metal on the double trees for the horses, and the overall tree design is different. I have a photo of the P&L.

*Double/single/quad trees are the pieces that connect to horse harness

From LiveAuctioneers."

"The color palette is different on the P&L. P and l also pinstriped their wheels and tend to use Carmel color horses. 

P & L horses always have detailed reins and usually white with red and black colors.

I am still looking for some good photos for you from a catalog, but possibly it is the odd toy that is not well cataloged.  -in surviving catalogs

P & L did not use as many tabbed in floorboards and benches. Hubley cut tongue and groove slots into the side of the carriage cast-iron for assembly.

As I review photos, I wonder if the toy trust allowed Hubley to use some of the castings patterns that were improved upon."

    

    I was glad that the reader had found out the manufacturer of his toy heirloom,  that he had inherited from his father. 

    Living in Canada, I don't get to see any old or antique American toys. My knowledge is mostly from finding information on the Web, and writing about toys from what I learn on the Web.

The first place that I went to was liveauctioneers. For those who don't know, that company is a major auctioneer for many different categories. However, it's a superb resource for finding information about modern, old, and antique toys.

I found excellently-photographed images  from Morphy Auctions, as well DAKOTApaul. Morphy Auctions had photos of the Hubley coach, while DAKOTApaul had photos of a Pratt & Letchworth Coach.

I've spent a lot of time trying to compare the 2 different manufacturers of the 

4-seater brake coach with a team of 4 horses. However, not ever having seem these 2 wonderful and historical toys, it was hard for me to compare and contrast. the Hubley and the Pratt & Letchworth.  I'm very glad that the reader was able to find Ed Sanford, and get the answer to what he was searching for.

Above: Hubley 4-Seater Brake Coach

Below: Pratt & Letchworth 4-Seater Brake Coach

 If anyone out there either has the Hubley or the Pratt and Letchworth 4-horse team with 4 seats Brake Coach, I would very much be elated if you would like to have a blog post written about you and your toy.

So that's it!

Thanks for dropping by,

And as always,

Have a great day, 

wherever you may be.

My name is (Mr.) Stacey Bindman

and I can be reached at

toysearcher@gmail.com

An Unknown Cap Pistol

 Saturday February 4, 2023
 -24° C / -11.2 F
 Sunny

                    

A Rare and Old Unknown  Cap Pistol

  It's -24° C or -11.2° F, on a very cold day. 

When I awoke today, it was -30° C or -22° F.  

What a great day to be indoors and write a few blog posts! 

 

This week, I received an e-mail  from a reader. 

He sent me a well-photographed photo of what most-likely is an early 20th century American cast iron toy cap pistol.

    I thought it might be easy to find information about this most-interesting toy pistol, but it hasn't been easy. I've spent a long times searching for this toy, and I was certain that I would find information and identification about it. But I haven't!

    Toy cap guns were very popular in the late 19th century and 20th century, and there are hundreds and hundreds. of different cap guns that were made during those times!

The first place on the Internet was ATCA, The Antique Toy Collectors of America.

ATCA is an exceptional website for doing research. Their exceptional collection of old toy catalogues is a great asset when searching out information on toys. I selected several American toy catalogues whom I knew had manufactured toy guns.

I then did a search on Pinterest

 Nothing was to be found!

Finally I chose Google.

However after looking at pages and pages of "antique toy cap guns", "antique cast iron cap guns", antique American cap guns", and so on,

I was out-gunned!

So, my dedicated readers; thanks for visiting me once again.

And if there is anyone out there who can identify this very rare

toy cap gun, would you be so kind as to 

write to me.

From there, I will write to and send him the good news!

As always,

Thanks for dropping by,

And have a great day,

wherever you may be.

 (Mr.) Stacey Bindman

My e-mail address is

toysearcher@gmail.com