Some Fine Items Up For Auction at Fontaine's Auction Gallery

Saturday, September 13, 2014
                 Cloudy and much colder

Some Fine Items up for Auction at

Fontaine's Auction Gallery

   I recently wrote about two very nice Hubley racers  that were to be sold by Fontaine Auctions Gallery . However, I remembered many more nice toys, and decided to revisit. Coincidentally, their auction is today Saturday. I sometimes post in advance, so if you are reading this on Friday, I hope you will not be confused as to the dates.

   I especially like Fontaine's Auction Gallery because they take excellent detailed photographs (and lots of them), and write nice descriptions of their items. I don't do too much with their photos, and that's another reason that I like them - my work (if I can call this work!) is much easier, and takes less time.

Please click here to visit this fine American auctioneer

I only selected four toys to present since Fontaine's provides so many photos for each listed item.

The horse-drawn ice wagon is called a "pull toy" for those who don't know. A string (cord) would be attached to the front of the pair of horses, and a young child would pull the toy behind him. Notice the small whees  attached to the front right hoof of the right horse, and the left horse.

Personally, I like to see lots of photos for an auction listing, although to many collectors it may not be necessary. Also, I would;d have to say that auctioneers and toy sellers are an honest group, and having less photos is not any indication of a lesser-respected auctioneer.

The age of the toys below were not provided. Nevertheless, I always like fragile toys or what I perceive to be fragile. How can papier mache toys, paper toys, or wood toys past so long and not be torn or broken?

Once again, you can see how this auctioneer has made the extra effort 

to present his items to the viewer to look at.

What I especially like from the photographs of this toy , is how the toy actually works. 

In the pair of photos below, you see the wind-up mechanism, a brass or yellow metal rod extending from the gears to the seat of the figure. In the second lower photo, you can see another brass or yellow metal rod extending out from the right kneecap of the figure.

These photos explain it all in terms of the movement of this nice toy.

I also like the shredded and individual threads of the jeans that the figure is wearing,

 and the nice lighting on the figure's head.

The head is papier maché, yet it appears like metal.

This is an interesting collectible that I haven't seen before.

I'm wondering if it was a stand-alone toy, or could it have been part of a doll house?

Can someone please help me out and explain what that green metal bucket is 

on the right side of this toy? It exists on the inside portion of the kitchen wall, as well as the outside.

Was it a bin for ashes that allowed smoke to escape to the outside?

You might want to take a look at Fontaine's  Auction Gallery website or Liveauctioneer's since tomorrow is the actual auction. If you sing up to Liveauctioneers, you can actually see live bidding, and eventually see what the items sold for later.

I seldom include the final pricing in my posts, since there are so many factors that can affect the final bidding price to an item. But it's always interesting to see what an item might have sold for.

Thankjs for dropping by to visit,

anmd as always,

have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be,

Stacey

toysearcher@gmail.com

A Tale of Two Hubleys (With Apologies to Mr. Charles Dickens)

Monday, August 18, 2014
  Finally - Sunny with cloudy periods

A Tale of Two Hubleys

(With apologies to Mr. Charles Dickens)

  I never know how many people will view a post, so sometimes I try and add a "catchy title". The term "catchy" simply means attention-getting. I modified the famous title of Mr. Charles Dickens book - A Tale of Two Cities", which is of  course one of the "classic" books of English and World literature.  

  The fall season (oh, how that hurts to write!) is approaching fast, and many of the auction companies are already adding their lineup of auctions to their websites and on Liveauctioneers.  Fontaine's Auction Gallery is a long-established (1960) auction gallery in Pittsfield, Massachusetts (USA), and of course they are getting ready for the fall season.

   Fontaine's has lots of interesting items, but what caught my eye was 2 separate listings for the famous pair of Hubley "animated" racers. The exceptional Hubley toy designer, Mr. J.E. Burbaker created these 2 exceptional toys and filed for their patents in the early 1930's. What makes them unique is how work.  

A Brief Explanation as to how the Hubley Animated Racer Works

The front axle is purposely bent into an S-shape, and is attached to 2 long rods. These rods have projections (in red) that poke through the top of the engine or hood. They are meant to simulate the "explosions" of the engine pistons as the spark plugs ignited the fuel in the cylinders. As the car was pushed or pulled (as a pull toy), the  s-shaped front axle would alternately hit each of these 2 rods, and cause each rod to poke through the line of holes on each side of the hood. 

This is a very unique and clever solution to the design, and certainly deserved the patent for its exceptional design and solution to a clever idea that eventually came to fruition through production.

Of course, there was an exceptional toy designer or inventor at Hubley, and his name was

Mr. J.E. Brubaker.

Below are the actual plans that were submitted to the U.S. Patent  and Trademark Office

on May 26, 1930, with the patent issued May 5, 1931.

Please click here to redirect to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

Please click here to visit this fine auction gallery's website

The Hubley Animated toy below is the smaller of the 2 version. Nevertheless, it's beautiful. I was very lucky to have caught sight of the  listing by Fontaine's Auction Gallery. Their photographer certainly took an excellent grouping of photographs to present the 2 models in their best views.

Whaen you look closely at the photos (it's best to view Blogger's images in the slide mode), there is so much detail to be seen. It's certainly one if the nicest race car toy designs (in my opinion) of  cast iron toys. I even had purchased the larger one and wrote about it (but that was probably a "reproduction".

The  top photo of this quartet of images shows you the s-shaped front axle, with the 2 moving rods a. In the 3rd photo of the series, you can clearly see that the "fire" from the exploding pistons are out-of-synchronization. with 1 side higher than the other - clever!

Notice also the wood wheels that have white rubber tires mounted on them. 

I like the small raised "bumps" on the side of the car. 

I am assuming that they were meant to be rivets.

Once again you can see the excellent photography by Fontaine's Auction Gallery's photographer.

The model below is the larger of the 2 "animated" racers. It came with beautiful spike wheels with black rubber tires. There are 12 cylinders to this model, compared with 8 cylinders on the smaller model. What is interesting for this upcoming auction is to find 2 similarly-coloured models.  The models came in yellow, orange, white, and green at the time of production. 

You can see the Hubley decal above. What I always wonder is how the tires on these old tires remained in such great condition after so many years. Also, the paint is great. There must have been some special properties to adding lead to paint to allow it to adhere to all kinds of surfaces. Of course, today, lead paint has been banished forever, and even oil-based paints are slowly disappearing!

The shine or patina as the term applies has that wonderful lustre from having been handles over and over for so many years.

I'm wondering if some lucky child had the opportunity to get both Hubley toys for his/her birthday or Christmas that many years ago?  Of course, I'm probably "dreaming", but being a blog writer, you have that" poetic license" to imagine!

A Very Nice Metalcraft Airplane Kit

Saturday, January 25, 2014
   (moderately cold, cloudy, and snow)

A Very Nice Metalcraft Airplane Kit

   I introduced Fontaine's Auction Gallery on January 22, 2014. They are located in Pittsfield, Massachusetts (USA), and sell all kinds on antiques, including toys. The first post of January 22 was  an introductory post, and I've started to present interesting "non-toy" antiques, as well as toys. I would recommend visiting the previous post, as there are 2 very interesting very old items that might interest you.

   What initially caught my attention  when I was searching on Liveauctioneers, was their Metalcraft kit of the Spirit of St. Louis. The kit comes unassembled with instructions and a wrench.  The kit came with parts that could assemble several different airplanes, but the Spirit of St. Louis is the most famous one. The "Spirit of St. Louis" was Charles Lindburgh's  airplane that flew from the USA to Britain on May 20-21, 1927 - the first person to cross the Atlantic solo in an airplane.  

Please click here to visit the fine website of Fontaine's Auction Gallery

I checked to see when this kit came out, and several sellers wrote that it was about the 1920's.

The image sizes at Fontaine's auction were small, but you can still make out some of the other airplanes that could be assembled with this kit.

The plane that has been assembled here has 3 engines.

 Charles Linbdburgh's airplane had only one.

The toy certainly  looks quite nice when finished. What I am most amazed at is the  condition of the original box and written instructions.

Thanks for visiting,

and have a great part of the day or night, 

wherever you may be.

Stacey

toysearcher@gmail.com