Pratt & Letchworth Revisited

Sunday, October 3, 2016
Overcast with rain
17 Celsius / 62 Fahrenheit

Pratt & Letchworth Revisited

Please click here to visit this famous American toy auctioneer

History

In 1848, the Pratt & Letchworth Company was established by Samuel F. Pratt, Pascal P. Pratt and William P. Letchworth The company initially manufactured cast iron hardware for saddles and carriages. Over the next few decades, Pratt & Letchworth diversified its product line to include cast iron hand tools, toys and railroad equipment.  By the turn of the 20th Century, castings for railroad equipment became the company’s primary product. In 1923, the Dayton Malleable Iron Company acquired Pratt & Letchworth. Located on Tonawanda Avenue in Buffalo, New York, the Pratt & Letchworth foundry consisted of three buildings on 25 acres of land. During its peak production years, the company employed nearly 1,000 people. In 1981, faced with dramatically reduced demand for railroad equipment, Pratt & Letchworth ceased operations. In 2005, the foundry was demolished.*

* Citation: 

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PRATT & LETCHWORTH PHAETON
Cast iron, white horse, missing guide wheel, repair to riveted cart. 15" l. (Good Cond.)

PRATT & LETCHWORTH BOY'S EXPRESS CO. WAGON

Two horse team, brown with black trim, yellow manes, spoke wheels, black hitch, early version with tin wheel, original figure. 11" l. (Exc. Cond.)

Estimate: 1,200.00 - 1,500.00 USD

PRATT & LETCHWORTH ONE HORSE WAGON
Cast iron, black coach with embossed seating, large spoke wheels, back rests, drawn by brown horse with yellow saddle. 15" l. Back armrests bent, (VG Cond.)

Estimate: $ 600.00 - $800.00 USD

PRATT & LETCHWORTH HANSOM CAB
Cast iron, open front coach with side windows, driver seated on rear of roof, drawn by solo horse, painted sides. 11" l. Replaced figure, toy (VG Cond.)

Estimate: $ 400.00 - $500.00 USD

PRATT & LETCHWORTH PHAETON
Cast iron and pressed steel, open Phaeton done in black with brown seat and yellow foot mat, red spoke wheels, drawn by white horse, seated lady driver. 16 1/2" l. All original, (Exc. Cond.)

Price Realized: $ 885.00 USD

As time moved on, Pratt & Letchworth changed with the times. The company produced less 
horse-drawn carriages, and  produced cast iron trains and fire station horse-drawn wagons. 
This change was similar to what other companies were doing at the time. 

PRATT & LETCHWORTH VESTIBULE FLOOR TRAIN
Largest of the cast iron floor train models and arguably the most desirable ever produced, this buffalo train, as it is referred, comes with locomotive, tender, buffet and large "Vanderbilt" coach, well painted in olive green, red roof, orange trimmed windows and black loco highlighted in gold, strong red colors. 56" overall length. Flaking to paint, break to one pole at baggage car.
Realized Price: $ 2655.00 USD

PRATT & LETCHWORTH LADDER WAGON
Early cast iron example, painted in open black frame with red sides and high bench seat, includes two replaced seated drivers, red spoke wheels, drawn by two white horses. 22 3/4" l. Horses, spokes and areas of wagon repainted.
Price Realized: $ 501.50 USD

Please press here to visit one of my previous posts on Pratt & Letchford

More Great Toys in an Upcoming June Auction at James D. Julia Inc.

Wednesday, May 28, 2014
                  Cold and Raining

More Great toys in an Upcoming

June Auction at James D. Julia Inc.

   In the last couple of posts, I presented samples of some very nice Steiff toys and of douse my favourites - Salesman Samples.  Today though is the finishing touches or the icing on the cake - toys! James D. Julia Inc. is an outstanding auctioneer. I sometimes look at their many different divisions because the photo quality and the items are just superb. I'm not a gun aficionado, but the items that come to action are historic and beautiful to look at.

   I only selected 5 items for today, so that you'd go to their website to look other items. Their site is better to view toys as they present very large-sized images, and on some special toys they have a 360 degree rotating platform to view the toy all around.

Please click here to visit this exceptional auctioneer's website

I like this early version of afire pumper because it looks so simple as naive art. Also, the disproportionate size of the rider to the pumper and horses adds a bit of  whimsy to the toy.

It must be nice to actually see the motion of the 2 horses as they are pulled along.

The black horse reminds me of the horses that you see carved on ancient Greek vases.

I've always been amazed at the large-sized European toy ships of the late 19th and early 20th century. First of all is my amazement that they survived in such nice condition for such a long time. My second amazement is that such toys existed for those who could afford them. Of course, there always was, and will be toys or anything else for that matter that has an extremely broad price range.

These boats or ships were carefully hand-crafted to ensure that they were watertight.

You'll have to search through my blog to see some other examples of these ships and how they were soldered together.

The only paper-backed toy that I fever had were puzzles (if you can call them toys). Therefore, I always am amazed that paper toys such as this existed and again, could last for so long.

If  you've been to my blog or are a regular visitor, you would have seen the Hubley motorcycles before. However, you absolutely, positively have to venture to the James D. Julia website to see these toys in the large sizes that are present there. Sometimes, I will talk about "fakes" or reproductions", and these 2 toys are great examples how Hubley manufactured exceptional castings for their cast iron toys. Modern "fakes" or reproductions" either cannot produce such quality, or the cost is too high to produce. 

That red -armoured motorcycle is amazing. The bends band the the rivets of the armour plating , and the strapping on the 2 policemen is exceptional! 

Thanks for visiting,

and as always,

have a great part of the day,

wherever you may be.

Stacey

toysearcher@gmail.com