A Beautiful Kingsbury Fire Truck up for Auction by Milestone Auctions

Sunday, June 9, 2024

Overcast with intermittent rain showers 

16° C /60° F

A Beautiful Kingsbury Fire Truck

with the Original Box

Click on the line below to redirect to Milestone Auctions

My usual part of the day writing a blog post began with searching out 

the many different contributors to my blog. I started to search, when I came to 

Milestone Auctions and saw something different. What was amazing was the fact that the 

Kingsbury fire engine came with a "wooden box"!!!!!!!

Whoa, after all those years and this toy was being traded from hand to hand, the original wooden box still was kept together! And I never even knew that Kingsbury toys came with wooden boxes! 

I like to visit Milestone Auctions because they have excellent photography of their items going to auction, and well-written and informative descriptions. 

Description:

KINGSBURY #272 PUMPER FIRE TRUCK w/ BOX

Please Click this sentence to redirect to the Milestone Kingsbury Truck Listing Truck

"Wonderful original Pumper Fire Truck. Has nice paint throughout. Still has original white tires. Version with motor driven pumps that works. Still has original rubber hoses.A great looking Fire Truck. Still has scarce accessory fire hydrant.  Comes with original wooden box. Missing top and 1 panel. A great addition to any collection."

Length:  24 1/5" / 62.23 cm

Below is a screen-capture from ATCA, 

which is The Antique Toy Collectors of America - an exceptional resource for

information on old toys.

The screen-capture below is from a page of a Kingsbury toy catalogue

Click on this sentence to visit the toy catalogue section

Above:

The arrow is pointing to the pumper fire truck that is up for auction.

The screen-capture is from the 1926 Kingsbury catalogue.

It's 2024 right now, and only 2 more years until this toy becomes a centenarian!

 And to the people who currently are bidding on this toy on Liveauctioneers - 

the best of luck to all!

Thanks for dropping by to visit my blog,

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

The Kingsbury Racers

Sunday, May 24 , 2020
Sunny
25 C 77 F

The Kingsbury Racers

Please click here to visit Liveauctioneers and the page relating to these toys

A page from the 1920's catalogue

In the 1920's there were a lot of British race car drivers who wanted to set the world record

for the land speed record. Malcolm Campbell set the record in Great Britain.

# 335 Napier-Campbell Bluebird Racer

The original car was driven by Capt. Malcolm Campbell in 1928,

which broke the land speed record of the time by going 207 mph.

Wind-up spring motor with Dunlop rubber tires.

Length:  19" 482 mm

Model of the famous Sunbeam Racer, driven by Major Seagrave,

that made the world's speed record of 203 mph, on Daytona Beach (Florida) in March, 1927.

Heavy gauge metal, Dunlop rubber tires, and a strong steel spring motor.

Length:  19" 482 mm

Length:  19" 482 mm

Major Seagrave's Golden Arrow Racer

An exact reproduction in which Major Seagrave broke the World's record 

by driving at a record speed of 231.5 mph.

length: 20" 508 mm

Kingsbury "Thunderbolt" Racer

Pressed steel, painted in red, rare toy racer, seated driver,

with a tall tail fin design. A land speed racer.

Clockwork driven with a strong wind-up mechanism.

Length:  17 3/4"  (450 mm)

The Kingsbury company made lots of other toys besides racers. Mechanical wind-up trucks, cars, airplanes, and fire trucks were all made in the Kingsbury plant in New Hampshire, USA.

Take care, and have a nice
part of the day or evening.

Stacey Bindman

toysearcher@gmail.com

A Rarer Kingsbury Milk Truck

Tuesday, April 16, 2019
Cloudy with Sunny Periods
8 C 46 F

A Rarer Kingsbury Milk Truck

       I received an interesting e-mail last week.  Mr. Bryan Westmoreland sent me photos of a Kingsbury Dairy Truck. The name on the truck was  Biltmore Dairy Farms.  Bryan had wanted to know if this particular truck was rare. I searched on the Internet for this truck, but could not find any yellow Biltmore Dairy Farms Kingsbury Trucks.  I wrote Bryan back to say that I found a white Kingsbury truck with a Borden's Dairy decal written on the side, a red Dairy truck, but no yellow Biltmore Dairy Farms Kingsbury truck.  I wrote Bryan also to ask if I might use his nice photos, and he replied yes. I did this in the hopes that perhaps someone out there might have information about this truck. I mentioned also to Bryan that perhaps, this yellow truck might have been customized for the Biltmore Dairy.

The photo above illustrates the unique wind-up mechanism that the Keene Toy Company of Keene, New Hampshire had for their toys.

"Company history and description of the company Kingsbury Mfg. Co., Keene New Hampshire, USA
In 1895 Harry T. Kingsbury bought the company Wilkins and with the Clipper Machine Works and led her long continue under the old name. At first cars were produced. The Wilkins line was abandoned during the First World War in favor of the Kingsbury models. They manufactured famous models of aircraft, trucks, and buses. 
1942 the toy production stopped during the Second World War and was no longer included. Everything was sold to Keystone in Boston. The company still exists as Kingsbury Machine Tool Division, as a supplier to IBM, General Motors and GE. "**

**Courtesy of  https://www.historytoy.com/

If anybody has any information  about this Keene (Kingsbury) yellow toy truck, would you please comment on this post at the bottom, or simply write to me at my e-mail address below.

Thanks for dropping by,

And as always,

Have a great part of the day or night,

Wherever you may be.

Stacey Bindman

Toysearcher@gmail.com

Kingsbury Toys Revisited

Sunday, December 18, 2016
Overcast and very cold at night
-1 C 30 F

Kingsbury Toy Revisited

Please click here to visit this fine American toy auctioneer

The company started out as a sewing machine and clothes wringer manufacturing and repair company in 1875. In 1890, James Wilkins took over the company that was renamed as the Triumph Wringer Company. The company got into deep financial trouble, and the company was purchased again by a local bike shop owner who was very inventive and was adept at mechanical problem solving. IN 1890, the company started to make cast iron trains and fire engines. The bike shop owner who purchased the company invented and patented (1902) a clock-spring motor that propelled  toys.  That clockwork-driven motor would remain as the only mechanism for all of the toys that the comp would make throughout its' history. At the time, the company was making toy horseless carriages (as cars were known as then).  The inventor (Harry) not only invented the motor, but he also designed toys and built the machines that made the toys.  As the company grew, many different types of toys were designed and built. These included boats, cars, airplanes, submarines, trucks, and blimps.In 1918, the company changed its' name to the Kingsbury Manufacturing Company.*

*Please click here to read about the history of the Kingsbury Corporation yesterday and today

Kingsbury (J.C.Penny) Covered Delivery Truck

Pressed steel, painted in green overall,

Little Jim decals on side, Huckster styled body

white tires with orange disc wheels, box has .

Length:  14 1/2"  368 mm

Circa: 1927

Kingsbury No. 446 Sedan

Pressed steel painted in green overall with gold accent stripe, black fenders features electric lights, clockwork motor, spare mounted on rear body, rubber tires with orange centres.

Length:  12 1/2"  317 mm

Circa: 1932

Kingsbury # 444 Coupe

Pressed steel, painted in blue body, Fisher label on side,

white rubber tires on orange disc wheels, motor driven.

Length: 12 1 /2" 307 mm

Circa: 1931

Kingsbury Brougham Sedan

Pressed steel painted in tan and red body, electric headlights

rubber tires with green centres.

Length:  12 1/2"  337 mm

Circa: 1928

Kingsbury Roadster # 342

Pressed steel, early model with wire frame, clockwork motor

Length: 12 1/4"  310 mm

Circa: 1927

 Kingsbury "Aristocrat" Ice Cream Autocar

Very rare example, pressed steel hood and fenders, wood cab and body,

comes with two small boxes of ice cream cans, wooden wheels.

Length:  660 mm

Kingsbury Station Wagon

Pressed steel, painted in tan body, embossed sides, blue fenders, orange tires,

red disc wheels, silver trimmed radiator, interior seating, great condition, and rare.

Length:  10 3/4"  273 mm

If you go to Bertoia Auctions, and find the page showing you all of their past auctions, you can enter a search in the search box for "Kingsbury". The search will yield 8 pages of Kingsbury toys
for you to look at.

Thanks for visiting,
annd have a great part of the day or night,
wherever you may be.

Stacey Bindman
toysearcher@gmail.com

The Pressed Steel Metal Toys Website

Sunday, November 27,2016
Overcast
1 Celsius  34 Fahrenheit

The Pressed Steel Metal Toys Website

I'd seen this fabulous website many times, but I'd never written about them. So, this past Monday, I decided to write to them and ask for permission. I received a very nice letter from Mr. Mike Yolles.

"Hi Stacey, I was an ardent toy collector specialist in 4 manufacturer's . I am also a member of The Antique Toy Collector's of America Inc. This organization is dedicated to the preservation of antique toys. I focused my collecting to specialize in Pressed Steel Toys with steering wheels or steeming handles. My interest was mainly with Buddy L (Moline, Il), Keystone (Boston, MA), Kingsbury (Keane,  NH) & Sturditoy (Pawtucket , RI). My reason for posting my website was to help other collectors identify  the variations and color combinations that these manufacturers offered. Also other Web sites don't  specifically  identify themselves As Virtual MUSEUM. People think they are dealing with  the manufactures museum. Not true!!!!  I get many questions each week concerning condition & approximate  values. I enjoy helping people in pursuit of there hobby or just as an info source. I have no problem letting you use my pictures etc, Mike Yolles."

Mike's website has lots and lots of toys from the four manufacturers that he has filled his museum with.  Not only that, but each of the four toy manufacturers have been divided into sub-categories. 

Even better, Mike hhas presented many of the different variations of a standard toy, such as a car.

I decided to start first with Kingsbury company as they manufactured many nice toys, especially the cars and race cars of that ere (1920's-1930's).Also the racer that they manufactured were based on some of the fastest cars that raced on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah (USA).

Please click here to visit this fabulous toy museum

The  Pressed Steel Metal Toys Museum is dedicated to showing some of the many toy variations

that were common in the heyday of pressed steel toy manufacturing during the1920's and 1930's. The four toy manufacturers if this time period which will be showcased on this site are as follows:

- Buddy L Toys

- Keystone Toys

- Kingsbury Toys

- Sturditoys

Kingsbury Toys

Kingsbury, the Wilkins Toy Company, manufacturer of tin novelties was founded by James S. Wilkins in Keene, New Hampshire in 1890. By the turn of the century, toy automobiles were introduced to the line and quickly became popular. The early Wilkins automotive toys were equipped with specially-designed disc wheels with real, white rubber non- skid tires vulcanized to the wheel. Automotive models could be purchased with metal spoke wheels or equipped with rubber tires at slightly more cost. Wilkins toys were made of steel ranging in size from 7 to 18 inches. The vehicles were powered by a long-running, flat spring mechanical motor, mounted horizontally at the end of the toy. In 1919, Kingsbury changed the name of the company to the Kingsbury Manufacturing Company. By 1926, Kingsbury introduced a new line of mechanical toys which were some of the finest automotive models ever produced. Leading the line was the 34-inch "Aerial Ladder Truck", the 25 inch long "Motor Driven Truck", and the "Fire Engine." Each toy was equipped with a front-end crank for winding the toy's flat spring motor. The 1927 line included the new Deluxe Custom Built Cars, featuring the "Town Car" and the "Sport Sedan." In 1930, Kingsbury announced that all Kingsbury passenger cars were now being designed and built with "Bodies by Fisher," just as real cars of the day were so equipped. Kingsbury's automotive toys received battery-operated lights in 1931. Kingsbury continued to manufacture toys until the beginning of World War II. After the war, the tooling was sold to the Keystone Manufacturing Company of Boston, Massachusetts.*

* Courtesy of Pressed Steel Metal Toys

The Automobiles

The car immediately below was quite sophisticated at the time. Most cars that were battery-operated usually had just the front lights go on. With this car below, it also had a battery-operated tail light.

Mike has taken lots of excellent photos of his toys, which most certainly was a big job to do, but well worth it to the many readers, whom I'm sure have visited his website.

The Racers

The Kingsbury Racers were very popular at the time, and were manufactured with wind-up mechanisms to have the racers move. I'm sure children had lots of fun with these nice race cars.

So that's it for today. For sure, I will be returning to Mike's excellent museum website in the future. His toy collection is certainly exhaustive, and is great for referring to. He is also always looking to but new toys, or to sell or trade some of his toys for ones that his museum does not have.

So you might want to contact Mike of you have something interesting that you think he might be interested in.

Thanks for dropping by,

and as always,

Have a great part of the day or night,

Wherever you may be.

Stacey Bindman

toysearcher@gmail.com

A Very Rare Kingsbury is Discovered

  Friday, August 1, 2014
 Variable weather leading to showers

A Very Rare Kingsbury is Discovered

    The Kingsbury Company still exists today, but long ago gave up its manufacture of toys. The company is located in Keene ,New Hampshire, USA. The company manufactured larger-sized pressed steel toys, and had a patented wind-up motor, that was used inmost of their mobile toys. I've personally had one of these toys and they're beautiful because of the quality of how they were made, and their nice larger size.  This morning, as I was browsing on Liveauctioneers, I came across a past sold listing for a "very rare" Kingsbury "Parcel Delivery Van Truck. I searched further, found another rare truck, and an earlier one (not as rare). And that's how today's post came to be. 

Please click here to visit this fine American toy Auctioneer

The toy below is an early 1920's version of the Kingsbury "Special Delivery" truck. If you read one of my recent posts, you'd realize that the open cab where the driver sits is a design form that time period. As early as the 1920's you can see the wind-up patented motor under the chassis of the truck. It's in the rear axle area.

The truck below is one of the "rare" Parcel Delivery" trucks. Because I don't have Kingsbury catalogue from that time, it's hard to know which of the 2 toys below is older. Whastdifferentiates the 2 toys is the fact that the "rarest of the rare" Kingsbury trucks (the last one), does have electric headlights (battery operated).

The truck below has those electric (battery operated) front headlights. The small lever on the right side of the middle photo (in the cab) would probably be the on/off switch for the battery and front headlights. It would have been a great car to play with because of its size, the mobility via the wind-up mechanism, and of course the front headlights.

 I've written about the Kingsbury toys before, and if you do a search, you'll find a great post on the early Kingsbury cars. That post is one of the best that I ever presented. It has lots of beautiful Kingsbury cars from that early time. Just do a search for "Kingsbury" and you should find several of my posts on this fine American toy company.

Thanks for visiting,

and as always,

have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be.

Stacey

toysearcherer@gmail.com

A Beautiful Kingsbury Trolley

Saturday, December 28,  2013
                (Very Mild and Cloudy)

A Beautiful Kingsbury Trolley

   In 1955, our family moved to a part of Montreal called Outremont. We had outgrown our previous triplex apartment unit,and so we moved. About 1956-58, the City of Montreal decided to retire their streetcars, as we called them here,and modernize to busses. I remember vaguely that the streetcars were made of wood and of course steel, rode on steel tracks,and got their power from overhead electrical lines. When I was in San francisco many years later with my wife Heidi, we rode the trolley and it was a great experience. Of course, with Montreal winters, that experience would have been much different!

   So when I saw the Kingsbury trolley, I know immediately that I would have to post it for today. I have the pleasure and permission to use the exceptional "discoveries" that I always find on Opamerica's ebay store site. They have an excellent sales record and reputation, and  have a broad range of toys in terms of people's interests and budgets. And as a blogger, I like them because they take great photos, and I donlt have to improve them very much.

Please click here to visit Opamerica's wonderful store

Fantastic photo - my favourite.

For those who don't know, I'm also a pro photographer.

I like that slightly-compressed foreground to background view.

 That round shape between the wheels on the left of the bus is the Kingsbury 

wind-up mechanism.  All of the moving Kingsbury toys appear to have this unique mechanism.

The painted blue tires is a small detail,but certainly caught my attention.

And the tires that are still intact after so many years!

I hope everyone is having a happy holiday, 

and having a good rest from the day-to-day 

hectic regiment of work.

Thanks for dropping by,

and as always,

have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be.

Stacey

toysearcher@gmail.com