A Return Visit to the Antique Toy Collectors of America Inc. Website

Wednesday, December 25, 2024

Clear skies 

-13° C / 8° F

A Return Visit to the

Antique Toy Collectors of America, Inc.

First of all, I'd like to wish everyone a 

Merry Christmas and a Healthy and Happy New Year to come. 

To others who celebrate other holidays, I also wish you Health and Happiness, 

and a Happy New Year.

Please click on this sentence to redirect to the ATCA website

Over time, I've bought and sold old toy catalogues. Up here in Canada, there are 

not lots of toys or old brands of toys like in the USA. In earlier times with regard to old toys, we had Meccano from Great Britain. I had a set, but that was in the late 1950's. I base my comment on the fact, that when I started to blog, I searched high and low all over the Montreal, Province of Quebec (Canada)  and the surrounding area, and I never saw any American toys from pre-1940 and earlier.

I remember years ago, when I was doing my "usual" search, either

someone wrote to me, or I happened to "discover" the

Antique Toy Collectors of America  and their exceptional website.

I wrote to them for permission and 

they were kind enough to allow me to use their photos. 

The Antique Toy Collectors of America, Inc. was established in 1965, and has expanded not just to have American members, but also had invited toy collectors from around the world to join and become members.

What's fantastic about ATCA inc. is that they have lots and lots of old toy catalogues available on their website. 

As you can see, this is but one catalogue that ATCA, Inc. has at their location in Washington, D.C.(USA),  United States of America

The Antique Toy Collectors are always looking for new members.

The Group offers members access to their toy catalogues, members receive 2 magazines during the year titled Toy Chest Magazine , 

and they offer other features as well.

Of course there are some requirements.

Please click here to see what the requirements are to join ATCA

So that's it for today.

To everyone, I'd like to wish you all a Merry Christmas

and a Healthy and Happy New Year. 

And for everyone who celebrates another holiday, 

best wishes to all, and also

a Healthy and Happy New Year.

One of the Best Toy Blogs on the Internet

Monday, April 8, 2024

16° C / 61° F

Clear Skies with some wind

Lunar Eclipse - Please wear certified  sunglasses

One of the Best Toy Block Websites on the Internet

One of my favourite movies is Forrest Gump. It's about a very 

kind person who becomes a big success as a fisherman. In one scene,

Forrest is sitting on a bench with an older lady, and they're waiting for a bus. 

Forrest is talking to her, and after some time he says:

"Life is like a bowl of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get"

I've written 1,565 posts since 2011. Part of my day is spent searching for something to write about I search using different words each day. On the latest day that I was busy browsing, I spent about 15 minutes scouring the Web. I looked at many websites from the Google search results, and suddenly I saw two words that caught my attention.

"Collecting Keystone"

I clicked on the URL address from the Google search, and

as another expression is written: "the rest is history".

The writer of this exceptional blog is Mr. Derrick Clow.

I'd been communicating with Mr. Derrick Clow now for a while now.

He's been an active member of ATCA , an acronym for

American Toy Collectors of America

ATCA is a fantastic resource to learn about toys. 

So when I went to the "Collecting Keystone" website, I must have been tired, 

not to realize that Derrick Clow is the same Derrick of ATCA. Not only that, but Derrick has just been appointed an "at-large director" for the Fall of 2024.

Without exception, Derrick's blog has to be one of the best blogs

on the Internet. The photography is excellent, Derrick's writing skills are superb, and you want to keep reading like the great book (Forrest Gump)

 that I just mentioned.

The "piece-de-resistance" (masterpiece) of Derrick's website is the encyclopedic vast amount of information on one of the great toy manufacturers - 

Keystone Manufacturing Company.

Please click here to redirect to Derrick's website

The Keystone Manufacturing Company started out in 1919, manufacturing 

movie cameras for the industry. Over time, the company expanded and  entered the toy business making pressed steel toys.

Above is a screen-capture of the page when you arrive at Derrick's website. 

The 4 titles (from left to right) have sub-sections that provide you will

lots of information.

I've screen-captured each of the 4 first titles 

and their contents as you can see below:

Below is a 1959 advertisement for Jacrim's toy sail boats.

 Jacrim was a division of the Keystone company.

Below are 4 examples of  their catalogues. There are

lots and lots more catalogues going all the way to 1957.

What's great about Derrick having added these catalogues is that

you can search for toys, but more importantly, you can

try to find out when the actual toy was made.

On Derrick's website, each catalogue can be opened through an app.

The app allows you to turn pages, enlarge each page, and even make the 

photo brighter or dimmer.

The titles below only have 2 sub-sections

Nevertheless, this information is of value for those looking

for more detailed information.

When you click on Keystone, you are redirected to another menu.

 That menu will list the many different toys that Keystone made.

I clicked on "Keystone Vehicles", and added 

the 4 well-photographed  screen-captures.

This is another section of Derrick's website

This section has to do with "confirming Keystone Model Numbers"

Derrick has taken on a mega-project to catalogue all of the toys ever

produced by Keystone. It's a major undertaking, and it's ongoing.

There are pages and pages of catalogued items, and it will keep Derrick 

busy for a long time.

So that's it for today.

This was a brief introduction, and my next post

will be more emphasized on actual toys and the descriptions. 

You can see just how complex and expansive Derrick's website is.

But once you click "here or there", you come across the most 

interesting sections about this once great company. 

I'll be working from now on to show the toys that the Keystone

company once made.

Thanks for dropping by,

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

 

 

An Exceptional Collector and his Website are Rediscovered

 Thursday, November 23, 2023

 Cloudy

 3.9 Celsius / 39 Fahrenheit

An Exceptional Collector

and his website are Rediscovered

    I recently contacted ATCA (Antique Toy Collectors of America) to ask for permission to write about their website and this great resource for toy collectors. Coincidentally, the person who replied to my inquiry was Mr. Derrick Clow. I received the permission, and posted recently on ATCA.  

    This week, I found an exceptional website, and it just happened to be written by Mr. Derrick Clow. What a coincidence. However, I didn't make the association, because lately, I've been very tired probably from the flu. I contacted Derrick, not remembering that he had had answered me 2 weeks before on behalf of ATCA. Nevertheless, I had a "Eureka moment", and recalled that I had just written to Derrick at ATCA, and now I was asking if I might write about his excellent website. I even checked my website, and sure enough, about 10 years ago, I had written a post about Derrick!  Needless to say, I was very embarrassed, and apologized to Derrick for my memory lapses.

  Derrick happens to specialize in collecting Keystone toys, catalogues, and even old invoices of a renowned American toy Company by the name of Keystone. Not only did Keystone once manufacture toys, but they also were known with regard to their having manufactured movie cameras and movie projectors.

Please click on the address below to visit Mr. derrick Clow's fine website

http://www.collectingkeystone.com/author/derrickclow/

        I've just presented a very small "introduction" to Derrick's exceptional website and resource for anyone collecting Keystone toys, or wanting to know about this once very popular company.

    I'll be returning to this great website, and will write another post some time soon. In the meantime, please have a look at Derrick's website. It has lots of information, and of course lots of photos of toys for anyone interested in learning about Keystone.

                                                       That's all for today.

                                                   Thanks for dropping by,

                                   And as always, have a great part of day or night,

                                                   Wherever you may be.

                                                   I can always be reached at

                                                     toysearcher@gmail.com

                                         (Mr.) Stacey Bindman

        

    

    

Teamwork in Identifying Althoff Bergmann Toys

Thursday, February 2, 2018
Overcast and Snowing
-2 C  28.4 F

Teamwork in

Identifying Some Nice 

Althof Bergmann 

& Company Toys

Please click here to visit this renowned American toy auctioneer

The Althof Bergmann & Company was established in 1867 by three miner-brothers.They

imported porcelain and toys, such as horse-drawn vehicles, railways, and boats. The toys were made of iron and tin, and were quite similar to the pull toys of the times. 

A great resource for identifying certain types of old toys happens to be the Antique Toy Collectors of America or ATCA. On their fine website, they have a section, whereby one can visit their collection of old toy catalogues, and one of them happens to be  a reproduction Althoff Bergmann catalogue from 1874.  What I did was  use the scanned pages from ATCA two cross-reference (*match up) the toys from Bertoia Auctions to the catalogue.

Courtesy of The Antique Toy Collectors of America

Courtesy of The Antique Toy Collectors of America

Courtesy of The Antique Toy Collectors of America

Here's a fine "large dog on wheels" pull tin toy on cast iron wheels. It's an Althoff Bergmann,

 but it's probably made a bit later, and the catalogue doesnt' have the dog

without the small basket.

Here's another match-up of the upper image of the steam fire engine with horses.

Here again, we have a modified toy called the "Fulton. Bertoia Auctions identified this toy 

as an Althoff Bergmann. Nevertheless, you would have been able to 

identify this fine toy through the ATCA catalogue.

The bend in the that you see above helps you to know

that the irregular shape of the rod holding the 2 wheels has an attachment

that would allow the upper triangular part of the steamship to move up and down.

Of course, it helps when you have excellent photos such as these from Bertoia Auctions to 

help you identify the Althoff-Bergmann toy.

Thanks for dropping by,

And have a great day.

Stacey Bindman

Toysearcher@gmail.com