A New Toy Store Discovery on eBay

Wednesday, November 27, 2024

Sunny with Clear Skies

2°C / 35° F

A Great New Toy Store 

Discovery

on eBay

Writing a post is a not as simple as it seems. I have to give lots of credit and accolades

to all of the bloggers who write. It's hard work, and you always are thinking -

what am I going to write today? There are some bloggers who have been writing

 for many years, and some who just stopped after a few years. 

However, the hard work creates rewards, and mine are being able

to reach out and find great new discoveries in toys and people.

A few days ago, I did a search, and then decided to check out ebay.

I searched the site, and then found a very interesting store name 

the attracted my attention.

The name of the store is:

hotdog explosion

Please click on this line to redirect to Charles' ebay store

With a great name like that,  

you certainly can't skip going to visit the store,

and that's what I did.

I had a short visit, and I knew right away,

 that this store and person

would help me write my next blog post.

The owner's names Charles, and he allowed me to write about his store and him.

Charles' reputation on ebay excellent, and his photography is excellent. Not 

only that, but there are lots and lots of photos for each item listed for sale.

This post is an introduction to Charles, and his store 

hotdog explosion

When I have the timely next post will be about other "discoveries" on Charles' store.

Each of Charles' listings comes with a thorough 

and well-written description and includes the dimensions.

The metric dimensions are:

9.71 cm x 3.17 cm x 4.45 cm

I knew the size of this toy was small when I read the description at the beginning.

However, when I went to the last photo, I was smiling. Charles'

excellent photos were so good, that I forgot that I was looking at

a very small toy.

When I saw the Budweiser can of beer, I was pleasantly smiling.

In my mind, the truck was large, but next to the Bud aluminum can of beer,

the toy was small.

Of course, the toy could have been big,

 and the Bud can gigantic!

Sometimes, a small laugh is all the incentive and motivation that I need

 to keep on writing this blog,  and the pleasure that I receive keeps me going.

As always, thanks for dropping by,

and have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be.

My name is (Mr.) Stacey Bindman

andI can always be reached at 

toysearcher@gmail.com

OpAmerica Revisited

Thursday, May 7, 2020
Overcast
11 C  52 F

OPAMERICA

Revisited

If you've read my last several posts, you'll know that I have been going 

back in time to visit my old blog posts.  In this way, I can select stores, companies,

or individuals who have given me their permission to write about them.

OPAMERICA  is probably one of the more-successful stores on  ebay  to say the least.

They have an excellent reputation, have excellent merchandise, including toys, and 

their photography is just super!

Please click here to visit this very fine ebay seller

Below:

Vintage  1935 Marx Rocket Racer

U.S.A.

Larger scale tin toy windup

Length:  16"  407 mm

Below:

Wells-Brimtoy

Great Britain

1935 tin toy racer

11" x 3 1/2" x 2 3/4"

Below:

Antique Tin Touring Car Toy

JLH Hess Hessmobile

Flywheel, Germany

Length:  8"  204 mm

These 3 selections were certainly in quite good conditions.

With these racers, I just thought about the INDY  500 (USA Race).

I wonder if by August 25, 2020, the race will go on.

Who knows?

Thanks for visiting,

and as always,

have a great part of the day or night.

I can always be reached at

toysearcher@gmail.com

Stacey Bindman

Marx Toys

Sunday, December 17,2017
Overcast with Sunny Periods
-10 C  14 F

Some Newfound Marx Toys 

Come to Market

Please click here to visit this fine auctioneers

Please click here to visit Bertoia Auctions on LiveAuctioneers

A Cover Photo of Louis Marx on Time Magazine

Born in Brooklyn, New York, to Austrian Jewish parents, Marx graduated from high school at age 15 and started his career working for Ferdinand Strauss, a manufacturer of mechanical toys. By 1916, Marx was managing Strauss' plant inEast Rutherford, New Jersey. But within a year, Marx was fired by Strauss' board of directors over a disagreement about sales practices.

Marx then entered the United States Army as a private and attained the rank of sergeant before returning to civilian life in 1918. Marx's passion for the Army was reflected throughout his life; most of Marx's military toys represented Army equipment, and Marx would later make a practice of befriending generals and naming his sons after them.

Following military service, Marx then went to work selling for a Vermont-based manufacturer of wood toys, redesigned the product line, and increased the company's sales tenfold.^[

In 1919 Marx and his brother David incorporated, founding the company that bore his name. Initially working as a middle man, Marx was soon able to purchase tooling to manufacture toys himself. When Strauss fell on hard financial times, Marx was able to buy the dies for two Strauss toys and turn them into best-sellers. By age 26, three years after founding his company, Marx was a millionaire.

By utilizing techniques of mass production and reusing old designs as much as possible – Marx utilized some of his toy train tooling developed in the early 1930s until 1972 – Marx was able to sell a broad line of inexpensive toys. All US-made toy trains would come from a plant in Girard, Pennsylvania which produced millions of lithographed tin, and plastic toy trains.^[

By 1951, the Marx company had 12 factories worldwide, and for much of the 1950s it was the largest toy manufacturer in the world, with much of the success coming from Sears, Roebuck, & Company catalog sales and the many the med play sets available. As World War II drew to a close, Marx had toured Europe and acted as a consultant on how toy manufacturing could aid reconstruction efforts. Marx used the contacts he made in this manner to forge partnerships and open factories in Europe and Japan Marx was featured on the cover of Time magazine on December 12, 1955, with his portrait eclipsing an image of Santa Claus, while examples of his toys swirl in the background.

Please go to Wikipedia to read the excellent article

 Most of the Marx toys above range in date from the 1930's - 1940's.

They were manufactured from thin-gauge pressed steel, and  lithographed for their colour. 

At one time (1951), as the article from Wikipedia indicates, Marx was the largest producer of toys in the world. Eventually, after WWII, Japan, during its' comeback years started to make toys for the world market. This had a large effect on the Marx company manufacturing. By the 1960's and later, toys were being produced around the world in countries with low-paying jobs.  Mr. Marx sold the company to Quaker Oats for $ 58 million dollars at the age of 76. After that the toy company was faced with too much competition from around the world.  Quaker sold its struggling Marx division to the British conglomerate Dunbee-Combex-Marx, who had bought the former Marx UK subsidiary in 1967. By 1980, the last Marx toy factory in the US closed, the Marx brand disappeared and  the company  Dunbee-Combex-Marx filed for bankruptcy.

* Written material from Wikipedia  (2017)

A Rare Marx Wind-up Coupe

Tuesday, January 10, 2017
Overcast
-01 C 30 F

A Rare Marx

Wind-up Coupe

Please click here to visit OpAmerica's Wonderful ebay Website

I often like to revisit people and companies who have given me their permission to write about their fine toys and to be able to use their photos. When I revisited the Opamerica Toy & Bank Museum, I wash;t disappointed. I had to go to their already sold part of ebay in order to view what they had already sold, as they didn't have anything up for auction at the moment.

I came across a rare Marx wind-up mechanical coupe with battery-operated headlights. The 1933  toy was in superb condition, albeit the lightbulbs were most-likely modern-era replacements.The toy is made from lithographed tin, and is wound up with a key on the rear right side of the toy.

The toy measures (L x W x H): 8" x 3 1/3" x 3" (202 mm x 82 mm x 71 mm).

The condition of this toy surely is quite amazing for being 84 years old. You don't find such old toys in such good  condition, and I hope that you enjoy this toy, as much as I did.c

o

nditioand I was 

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

Some Rare Toys from Another ebay Seller

Thursday, November 10, 2016
Sunny with clouds
9 Celsius / 48 Fahrenheit

Some Rare Toys from

Another ebay Seller

Please click here to visit another fine ebay seller

I've been using an ebay affiliated website called picclick. Picclick has all of the toys on ebay, but presents the toys through a search. The site is well-organized and easy to work with. Yestersday, I came across the Doepke Adams road grader, and decided to investigate. I clicked on one of the commands, and I was redirected to bbrsales on ebay. There was an excellent collection of toys, and some of them I had not seen before. I wrote to the owner of the ebay store, and got the permission to use the photos, and write about the store. bbrsales has an excellent record on  ebay, and sells a fair amount of rarer and different toys. 

Vintage Doepke Model Toys Adams Road Grader

Circa late 1940's-Early 1950's in excellent condition considering its' age.

These toys were meant to last, and were made of pressed steel.

Length:  26"  (660mm)

When I started to write about toys, I used to buy and resell them on  ebay.  I've had several Doepke toys, and they were made very well and have endured over time!

Rare Antique Orobr German  Tin Litho Wind Up Double Decker Bus

Early 1900's with a wind-up mechanism.  When wound up, the bus moves forward. 

The wheels are moveable, allowing the toy to go in circles.

 6" x 2 1/2" x  3 1/2"   (152 mm x 65 mm x 88 mm)

The Orobr toy is certainly in great condition, considering that it is 100 years old  and more.

WHat shows here is the fact that the European toys were more sophisticated in terms of lithography on the sides of the toy. At that time, many of the American toys were cast iron or pressed steel toys.

Vintage Marx Wind-Up Pressed Steel Large Reversible  Coupe Car

The wind-up motor is done with a key that winds up a spring. The car features front and rear bumpers. When the coupe hits something, it reverses direction.

L x W x H:  16" x 4" x 3 1/2" (406 mm x 101 mm x 89 mm)

Once again, here's a you in quite good condition. Marx was an American toy company that was highly successful. At one time, Lousi Marx;s company was producing nearly 1 in 3 toys in the USA.

Original Vintage 1920's Keystone Packard Pump Engine Fire Truck.

This is a push toy with a working steering wheel that allows the truck 

to go straight or in circles.  Pressed steel with rubber tires.

The truck is very large, and measures 28" (711 mm)

The Keystone company started out in the photography business, and developed  toys later on.

I've never seen this Keystone truck before, and it certainly is quite sophisticated with its' bell, siren, tank, and hose reel.

Scarce Vintage Structo Pressed Steel Dump Truck with Headlights.

Early 1930's pressed steel dump truck. 

Headlights are battery-operated, and the on/off switch was professionally after-market.

L x W x H:  17 1/2" x 6" x 5 1/2"  (444 mm x 152 mm x 140 mm

Here again is an old toy (Structo) that is in very good condition considering that its' 80-85 years old. 

These toys were made for the outdoors, and were built quite well. The Structo Company was founded in  1908 in Freeport, Illinois (USA) and was originally known as the  Thompson Manufacturing Company. The name was changed to the Structo Company in 1911. The name "Structo" was a play on words based on the word indestructible. *

*http://www.antiquetoyworld.com/shows/structo-toys-100-years/

I hope you enjoyed looking at these toys, and you can venture over to bbrsales, 

by clicking the link under the company logo at the top of the page. 

Thamks 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 Tale of Two Tow Trucks

  Thursday, May 8, 2014
Sunny and warm , but seasonally cool.

A Tale of Two Tow Trucks

  I saw two nice tow trucks that Ron Michaud from Maine had sold  and decided to compare the two. Ron always seems to have very nice old toys up for sale, and like all the people that help me out, I really appreciate his help. I decided to compare the 2 toys because Mr. Marx had at one time worked for Ferdinand Strauss.

Please click here to visit Ron Michaud's fine ebay site

I don't have the dates of manufacture of these 2 toys, but they look similar as to the type of tow truck that they were modelled from. What I'd like to comment on, is the nature of the construction and lithography of the toys. I had once read that the Marx company once had used discard metal from other companies to make their toys. As such, perhaps there was either a shortage of materials or they could save money in this manner. Of course the paint or printing was on the inside.

When you start to compare the 2 toys, you can see (in my opinion) that more money would have been spent on the Ferdinand Strauss toy.

1. There is more lithography on the Strauss as compared with more solid colour painting.

2. The Strauss toy is painted all over and more thoroughly. look at the underside photos to compare.

The Marx toy has extensive surface rust.

3. The wind-up mechanism is covered on the Strauss toy, compared with the Marx toy.

I don't know if that was for safety or cosmetic appearance, but this would of course cost more in labour and materials.

4. The Marx toy  has 6 wheels, while the Strauss toy has 4.

However, the Strauss toy  had the better lithography (more colours)and is finished on the inside. 

5. The Marx toy has small hubcaps on the wheels.

6. The Strauss toy is larger in size.

7. The Strauss toy has more extensive design which would have required more cutting and shaping on the large presses of the time.

I don't know what the original costs of the toys were at the time. And both companies were quite successful. In the end, the Marx company outlasted the Ferdinad Struass company, and at one time Mr. Marx even made the time magazine cover. His company at one time was making almost 1 in 4 toys made in the U.S.A. So although the Marx toy company toys might have been less costly both in production and at the marketplace, the company certainly would have been on the top 50 toy manufacturers of the last century.

Thanks for dropping by,

and as always, 

have a great part of the day,

wherever you may be.

Stacey

toysearcher@gmail.com