Mr. Victor Schreckengost - Industrial Designer

Wednesday, February 7, 2018
Overcast with Snow
-8 C  17.6 F

Mr. Victor Schreckengost

Industrial Designer

Please click on this sentence to visit this exceptional Auction Company

When I first  saw today's toys, I was amazed to find out that Heritage Auction's  auction was not about toys, but was about a person whom I would later found out upon reading, was a well-known and famous American industrial designer. Mr. Viktor Schreckengost not only designed toys, but he was known for designing all kinds of things. Mr. Schreckengost lived to be 101 years old, but his fame still percolates through the industrial world to this day.

I also was to find out that Heritage Auction was among one of the world's most famous and renowned auction house not only in North America, but in the world!

Heritage Auctions is an auction house established in 1976 in Dallas, Texas. Heritage is the largest collectibles auctioneer in the world. In 2014, Heritage's total sales exceeded $969 million, a single year record for any collectibles firm. As of January 2015, Heritage had over 850,000 registered online bidders.*

* Courtesy Wikipedia

For more information on Mr. Schreckengost, please click on the link below, 

to be redirected to Wikipedia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Schreckengost

When you  look at the photographs below, you can see how well the items stand out. I'm sure that Heritage Auctions not only uses a professional photographer, but also has their own photgraphy studio on their premises!

Pedal Pursuit Plane (Child's Pedal Car)

Murray Ohio Manufacturing Company

Enameled pressed steel and rubber tires

H x W x L 24" x 23" x 47"  (61.0 x 58.4 x 119.4 cm)

Industrial Design Drawing for Steelcraft Toy Train

February 10, 1939

Color pencil heightened with white on board.

H x W:  18 x 29 inches ( 45.7 x 73.7 cm)

The drawing was designed for the Murray Ohio Manufacturing Company

Industrial Design Drawing for the Steelcraft Toy World's Fair Bus, 1939

Colored pencil heightened with white on board

H x W:  13 1/4 x 28 inches ( 33.7 x 71.1 cm)

This toy depicted above was for the Murray Ohio Manufacturing Company

Steelcraft Toy Bus

Murray Ohio Manufacturing Company

Painted pressed steel with rubber tires

Circa 1939

H x W x L:  7 x 6 x 20 3/4"  (17.8 x 15.2 x 52.7 cm)

Design for Red Bicycle for the Murray Ohio Manufacturing Company

Mixed media on illustration board

Signed and titled in the image along lower edge

H x W:  10 x 20 inches (24.5 x 50.8 cm)

Red Astro Flight Bicycle

Circa: 1965

Enameled steel with rubber tires

H x L  43 x 68 1/2"  ( 109.2 x 174 cm)

So what else could I say? 

A superb auctioneer, excellent photography, a famous industrial designer, 

and a fresh post that I haven't written about before, nor have ever found an industrial designer who designed toys.

What a day!

All images courtesy of Liveauctioneers and Heritage Auctions.

Thanks for dropping by,

and have a great day or evening.

Stacey Bindman

toysearcher@gmail.com

Beautiful Steelcraft Pressed Steel Toys

Friday, January 17, 2014
              (Mild and overcast)

Beautiful Steelcraft

Pressed Steel Toys

   Yesterday, I saw a very nice Steelcraft  toy being auctioned off on ebay. I sent an e-mail to the seller, and will be waiting for an answer.Nevertheless, I decided to check out Steelcraft toys. It was a successful American company in the 1920's-1940's era, and produced lots and lots of very nice and usually larger-sized toys.

"Steelcraft toys were made by Murray Ohio Manufacturing Co., a Cleveland firm that opened in 1919 to make parts for that recent invention, the automobile. By 1923, Murray also was making toy cars using the steel and production methods it used to manufacture full-size car parts. The toys were marketed as Steelcraft Wheel Goods.

This diversity helped Murray survive the Depression. The company’s pedal cars, airplanes, coaster wagons, bicycles and smaller wheeled toys were marked 'Steelcraft', the identification seen by today's collector.

Murray has made many other products, including lawn mowers and tractors. It even made special-order toy trucks that looked like a customer's full-size delivery trucks."*

*Courtesy of: http://www.fabtintoys.com/steelcraft/

Please click here to visit the exceptional Bertoia Auctions website

I decided  to present only 3 Steelcraft toys today.

When you have beautiful and superbly well-made toys, I didn't want to present my usual "10".

"Less is better", as the expression goes.

Thanks for visiting,

and have a great part of the day, wherever you may be.

Stacey

Please feel free to write to me anytime at:

toysearcher@gmail.com

Steelcraft Toys

Friday, November 16, 2012

Metalcraft Toys

     The Metalcraft* toy company started up in 1931. It produced a limited catalogue of toys that were mostly "labelled' with names of companies. Because of the timing (The Great Depression) the company only lasted until 1937, when it was forced to close down due to bankruptcy. The toys, of course still survive today, and have moderate appeal and  moderate final prices as far as today;s  auctions go. 

* A reader sent me an e-mail which you can view at the end of this post. I had mistyped the name of the manufacturer of these toys. These are Metalcraft, and not Steelcraft, as I had originally written  in November 2012. 

     Thanks both to Bertoia Auctions and James D. Julia Inc., I have been able to us their fine photographs in order to present to you my posts. 

http://www.jamesdjulia.com

(Please press on the above address to visit the James D. Julia site)

http://www.bertoiaauctions.com

(Please press on the above address to visit the Bertoia Auctions site)

The Steelcraft Zeppelin toy was certainly different from all of the other manufacturers.

     What I find  interesting is how long these toys have been around and still are in "playable" condition.  I have a friend who makes shelving. His presses that bend and shape the shelving components are from the 1930's , a span of 80 years. They still work, and when you look at them you know that they were meant to work and last! Of course, the machine will need a new part once in a while,and thankfully there are highly-skilled machinists around to machine any parts needed. 

As an aside, if you go to Cuba, you will see American cars from the 1950's that are driven all over. The replacement parts from those cars are also machined because of 2 conditions. Past are hard to get, and of course the American embargo on Communist Cuba still exists.

Thanks for dropping by, 

and have a good morning, afternoon, or evening

wherever you may be.

Stacey