A Reader Sends Me Photos of His First Collectible

Monday, December 29, 2014
Mostly sunny, some cloud, and colder

A Reader Sends Me  Photos

of His First Collectible 

   I took the day off yesterday from posting. I had no reason but I just didn't feel much about writing. I did check out my usual haunts and I had received some nice photos from a collector. His first set were out-of-focus, and so I asked him to reshoot. He did, and 3 out of the 5 were excellent.  When I looked at the first one, I didn't know how to present it. It was very nice with the foundation (what it was resting on), and the background (what is behind the object), I didml;t know what to do.  Should I just show the toy "as is", no photo-editing, or have some fun. I chose the latter, and made 4 variations of the toy. All 4 images are great!

This photo is what Dwayne sent me.

I did adjusted the exposure a bit, nothing else.

For the photo below, I removed some of that nice granite or quartz tabletop.

Doing this makes the truck take up more area in the photo,and thus emphasizes the truck more. 

For this photo, I simply removed the colour of the foundation and background, 

and lightened up the tones, which were now black and white. I probably could have lowered the contrast and lighted the background and foundation more.

However, this version is very nice!

And my "usual" version - the toy just on white.

Very nice, but as you can see, any one of the 4 would do nicely!

Mr. Dwayne C.  had sent me the photos,and explained that this was a New Era toy made by Mr. Bud Kraus of BuddyK fame. However, I am a bit confused. I had written about Mr. Marv Silverstein who went under the name of New Era Toys. So who was (Mr. Kraus passed on in 2006) Mr. Bud Kraus? He too also did what Marv Silverstein did - take old toys, and restore and restyle them. I did  do a search for Bud Kraus of Buddy K toy fame,but I couldn't find much material. I'll have to research some more unless someone out there can hep me out - please!

Dwayne said he was tired and would send more photos in the future. However his 3 sharply-focussed photos are great! I like the camera angles that Dwayne chose for all three photos.

Dwayne ask send me an additional photo after the nice minivan above. I told Dwayne that it reminded me of those British trucks (lorries) On e sad in the 195-'s and 1960's (in photos).

Dwayne also sent me a nice photo of some of his other toys in his collection.

Very nice!

Dwayne has some nice Wyandottes and some nice wind-ups Marx toys.

I also like the very young big on the tricycle. I can't remember who manufactured,but I didn't realize it was so large, relative to the other toys.

I'll have to thank Dwayne, and ask for some more photos.

I like his style of photography,

 and of course his toys!

Thanks for dropping by and as always,

have a great part of the day or night

wherever you may be,

Stacey

toysearcher@gmail.com

A Seller Asks for Advise about a Marvin Silverstein Restoration & Creation

Friday, November 7, 2014
Raining and cold

A Seller Asks for Advise About a

Marvin Silverstein Restoration & Creation

   It was a good thing that I chose to do a lot of pre-winter exterior housework yesterday. Today is cold and raining, and we have (do I have to say that word!) snow forecast soon! I forgot to mention the summer to winter tire changes and the flu shot yesterday! So now my body,my car,and my house are getting prepared for winter.

  Today's post has to do with a reader by the name of Malinda Trollinger, a great name by the way! Malinda wrote me last week asking about pricing a toy that was created and restored by the late Mr. Marvin Silverstein.

For those who don't know, Marv was an exceptionally talented craftsman who would restore old American toys to their original condition. His Company's name was New Era. When you look at this post and search my bloc for "Marv Silverstein", you will easily see that I am not exaggerating when I call Marv a craftsman!

Marv (Marvin) Silverstein

Please click here to redirect to my first post about Marv

Please click here to visit Malinda's ebay webpage

  Returning to topic of today's post, Malinda wrote to ask me about what she should price today's item on ebay where she is selling it for her father.  

Malinda's Question and note:

"Hi Stacey,

I'm so glad I found your site. There is nothing on the internet about New Era toys. I have a New Era Rescue Squad that has a plate on the bottom and is No. 02 of 02. I'm selling items (via auction) for my dad on ebay, but I don't want to undersell this truck because I know it is rare.

My dad told me that the front is made from a Tonka truck and the back a NyLint horse trailer. I'm attaching a few photographs for you.

Do you have any advice?

Thanks, 

Malinda"*

* The above is courtesy of Malinda Trollinger

( I hope Malinda wonltmind that I corrected my name, by adding the letter "e")

The question is very interesting because Marv's "Rescue Squad" restoration and creation is not an old toy that was restored. If you read Malinda's note, you'll read that this toy is described by her father as a composite of 2 toy companies - Tonka and NyLint. So the answer is not so "cut and dry" (a term for an easy and limited answer). 

My Answer to Malinda

Hi Malinda,

If you go to this page at Liveauctioneers, you will see what toys the late Mr. Marv Silverstein made and restored.

http://www.liveauctioneers.com/search?q=New+Era&org=yes&hasimage=true&dtype=gallery&type=complete&rows=120&addfq=auction_house%3A%28%22Bertoia+Auctions%22%29&fq=&location=&sort=&by_date=2014-11-03T00%3A17%3A48.022Z&logout=true

These restorations do quite well on Liveauctioneers in terms of the final winning bid, but they are are usually restorations of prized old toys.

Your father's toy perhaps is a different toy, since it is not based on an old toy,but perhaps as you mentioned a "composite" of 

parts of 2 different toy company parts.

Me.. Silverstein made toys in conjunction with another person. I found 1 toy that Mr. Silverstrin made with someone else (I don't have the reference).

The reason I mention this is because under Mr. Silverstein's name on your truck, there is other writing that I can't make out, as your photo is slightly out-of-focus.

Is that another name or signature, or something else written?

Since you plan to sell this toy on ebay, I would recommend that you give some background to New Era restorations and Mr. Marv. Silverstein.

The reason that I mention this is that ebay bidders may not be as informed as people who bid on toys

at auction through the Liveauctioneers auction companies.

As for a price, try high, at say at $ 600.00 with the "Buy it now" option,

and see what happens.

You could also try to contact some of the auctioneers that I write about and see if they are taking items for consignment in the future, and what they 

might say. However, I don't know if they would charge you just for writing and asking. Also,if the toy does not sell through an auctioneers, you ail leave to pay both for the shipping to, and the return shipping charges.

One more thing:

Take a lot more photos and get the photos in focus (More professional!).

And if a door(s) opens, show the door (s) in the open and closed position.

If you send more photos, and would like me to add a post about this toy, I can do that.

I just need your permission, and more photos.

I also like to  place the toys against white (as you do) but whiten up the whites much more.

I can write the post, mention this toy by Mr. Silverstein and see if any readers might have "suggestions" vis-a-vis pricing the toy for ebay. However, most of the time, readers are "gun-shy" and do not write comments.

Thanks for writing.

Stacey

Malinda initially sent me some photos, and I then asked her for more, including a close up (magnification) of Marv's sticker with the New Era name and information as to when the toy was built and what it's renumber is in the group. Marv sometimes made several restorations of the same toy.

 I had asked Malinda for close-ups of the label. I can;t read what is written under Marvin Silverstein's signature. He sometimes worked with another person on his creations.

I suggested to Malinda that she take lots of photos to show Marv's creation in the best manner. 

ebay eliminated (at least as of last year) the cost of photos (they used to charge) and also gave the seller and buyer the opportunity to see the photos in an enlarged mode. 

This is a great feature, and all sellers on ebay should be using this feature.

Dimensions:

L x W x H:      18 1/2" x 7" x 5"      470 mm  x  178 mm x  127 mm  

Malinda wrote me that she only had a $ 200.00 camera, and that her photos weight not be so good.
With a little bit of photo-editing, her photos are excellent. If this is what she can do with a $ 200.00 camera, keep the camera! Many people think that the more expensive the camera, the better the photos.

I'll have to ask Malinda what here background is because she had a great photographic eye for composition and styling.

I mentioned to Malinda, that perhaps some readers might  write to me and offer some advise as to what Malinda might do with the price of this fine item.

She doesn't want to underprice the toy, so that's why I said top start moderately high, and see what kind of response there will be on ebay. Also, most viewers on ebay may not know who Marv Silverstein was or about his exceptional work, so I suggested that she write something about him to inform the potential bidders.

From my perspective, the unknown variable (factor) to this item is what kind of demand would there be for a unique item, limited to a production of 2 from Marv. Since it's not a restored old toy, but so rare, would Marv Silverstein collectors want this for their collection even more than the restored old toys?

So if you own or have sold any of Marv's fine work, I'd like to here from anyone who might like to comment and offer advise. If you want you can write me directly at my e-mail address below my name, when I sign off at the end of every post.

Thanks for dropping by and as always,

have  a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be,

Stacey

toysearcher@gmail.com

An Exceptional Story - Part II

Thursday, September 19, 2013

An Exceptional Story

Part II

On September 15, I introduced you to the late Marv Silverstein of New Era Restoration Toys. Mr. Silverstein was a master restoration "artist" who crafted wonderful restorations in a most innovative manner. He would take old toy trucks and cars and modify them to new designs. But not just any design! These cars and today, these fine trucks were beautifully redesigned, but for the era in which the original toys existed. As I had mention in the earlier post, I had frequently misread "New Era,simply thinking that whenever I saw these words, it meant that the toys I viewed were of a modern design, rather than having been made by a company by the name of "New Era".  I would have liked to have seen Marv Silverstein's sketches to see how he would rework each toy to his own creation.

Please click here to visit Bertoia Auctions fine website

I didn't say much today, but as the old expression goes - "a picture is worth a thousand words".

In this case, Marv's unique work is worth an encyclopaedia!

Thanks for dropping by,

and as always,

have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be.

Stacey

toysearcher@gmail.com