An Exceptional Collection of Cast Iron Banks From The RSL Auction Company - Part 2

Thursday, December 26, 2024

Overcast and Damp

-13° C / 9° F

An Exceptional Collection of Cast Iron Banks
From the RSL Auction Company

(Part II)

Please click here to see the Auction. on Liveauctioneers

Earlier today, I added a first post for the RSL Auction Company. However,

I decided to write a second post about the cast iron banks. What I like about the 

RSL Auction Company is their large numbers of photos for each and

every item going to auction. The viewer and potential bidder bidding on

an item is bidding remotely from his/her computer. As such, the bidder

cannot touch or examine the item, but has to reply on the photographs

and the written description.

Below is the written description of this wonderful cast iron bank:

"J & E Stevens Company. Cromwell, Connecticut
(USA), 

Circa 1888

When the bank is activated, a little boy emerges from behind the bulrushes,

frightening the mule, and thereby toppling the cart backwards.

In doing so, the coin has been deposited." *

 Description courtesy of the RSL Auction Company*

I can imagine a young boy or girl being given a you like this,

and of course being given a few pennies to see how the bank collected the money.

It's truly amazing to see these toys from so long ago still around for collectors.

2024 - 1888 = 136

This toy has been around, and still operable after 136 years old!

I can't even imagine all of the different children and people that have handled 

or owned this wonderful toy.

I would think that even adults who collect these toys "play" with them by 

putting coins into the depository, er toy bank.  Of course, you'd never catch an adult playing with his/her antique toy, that would be unfathomable!

Why not, being happy keeps you healthy.

Thanks for dropping by 

and visiting my blog.

Thanks for dropping by,

and enjoy your morning, afternoon, or evening,

wherever you may be.

My name is (Mr.) Stacey Bindman, 

and I can always be reached at

toysearcher@gmail.com 

An Exceptional Collection of Cast Iron Banks From The RSL Auction Company - Part 1

Thursday, December 26, 2024

-13 ° C / 9° F

Overcast and Damp

An Exceptional Collection of 

Cast Iron Banks

From The RSL Auction

 I "discovered" the wonderful world of American cast iron banks from the 1800's

long after I had started to blog. Up here in Canada, I've never seen one in person, 

but I've seen them on American auctioneers websites, and occasionally on a PBS TV station (An American Public Broadcasting System station on TV, and through American Auctions on the Internet.  These banks were made in the 1800's

and AI'm sure found a place in many houses with children, who would save their pennies in these banks.

Please click on this sentence to redirect to the RSL Auction Company's Auction 

I selected this particular bank because it would have bee very enjoyable for children. After winding it up, the horses and their riders would ride around in circles, and I'm sure they were very enthralled to see the horses go "round and round".

This particular cast iron bank was manufactured be the 

J. & E. Stevens Company.Their plant where they manufactured these banks

was located in Cromwell, Connecticut, USA.

This particular model was made in 1872.

There are a lot more banks to see on The RSL Auction Company's

website, as well as on Liveauctioneers.com

Thanks for visiting my blog,

and have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be.

My name is (Mr.) Stacey Bindman

I can always be reached at toysearcher@gmail.com

An Exceptional Collection of Toy Banks Comes to the RSL Auction Company

Saturday, November 2, 2024

Sunny with Cloud

5° C / 41° F

          An Exceptional Collection of Toy Banks

         Comes to the RSL Auction Company

Please click on this line to redirect to the RSL Auction Company's Auction on Liveauctioneers

    I haven't added many posts lately. So when I checked to see whom I would write about, I decided to write about the RSL Auction Company. Like many auctioneers, they've come a long way since I started to blog, way back on January 11, 2011. The times have been changing since I started to blog, and what I've noticed is that many auctioneers have opted to join Liveauctioneers on the Web.  What I've also noticed is that their photography has changed to "high key". Many auctioneers in the last 5 years have changed their photography lighting. They use a softer lighting and the contrast between the bright and dark areas is reduced.

   High Key simply means placing the person or product on a white background. What you notice in high key is excellent detail of the item everywhere. Because a soft lighting is used, there aren't any deep shadows from a harsher type of lighting.  The set-up  is easier, and you don't need many photo lights and reflectors to control the contrast. The photo  term "contrast" simply means the difference between the brightest areas called "highlights" compared to the darkest areas called "shadows". The photographic "shoot" moves much faster, and there is less work to bring out the shadow detail.

    The RSL Catalogued Auction has "325 Still Banks, 80-90 Mechanical Banks, Folk Art, and approximately 75-100 Cast Iron and Tin Toys" 

Here is the RSL Auction Company's well-researched and catalogued description:

" J & E. Stevens Company. Cromwell,CT (Connecticut) - 1890's. A print block

accompanies this lot. For most mechanical bank collectors the Girl 

Skipping Rope" represents the closest thing there is to a Holy Grail. In fact,

the Mechanical Bank Collectors of America (MBCA) designated it as their

mascot when the club was founded in the late 1950's"

There is something that readers should know about:

If you click any a photograph it will enlarge to a large size.

The purpose of the enlarged photo is to better see the detail.

    

An Outstanding Collection Of Mechanical Banks by The RSL Auction Company

Wednesday, July 17, 2024

Clear skies / Lots of Sun

82° F / 27.8 ° C

An Outstanding Collection of Mechanical  Banks

by 

The RSL Auction Company

from the

Haradin Family Collection

I can't believe how fast the time is "flying"this year. I feel that the older. I get, the faster time literally flies by. 

I'm on the RSL Auction Company's mailing list, and so I received their latest 2 auctions.One just came up in July, and the other one (which  I will be showing today),will be on

August 3, 2024

(Live Auctioneers)

Of course as time "flies by", everything changes, 

and so does this fine American Auction Company.

For this exceptional auction, the RSL Auction Company has

created an excellent Adobe PDF (Portable Document Format).

I downloaded it (I am a monthly subscriber to some of Adobe's

programs), although you might be able to download it also,

without cost. 

Personally, I find lately, that successful and fine  auction companies

are advancing and modernizing their ways of bringing fine merchandise to auction.

Photography has improved , and presenting merchandize against a white background makes merchandize stand out much better.

However, creating  a catalogue as an Adobe PDF file to download is

marvellous. It allows the viewer to download one large file and view it at his or her pace, whenever they want.

This takes time, along with skilled people who can take professional photos, and then present them in a program that assembles the items into a beautiful catalogue.

 

Please click on this sentence to visit this wonderful 

collection of Cast Iron Banks

I really enjoyed writing this blog post. It's great to see toys, and especially these cast iron banks, being auctioned to other new owners. These new owners will continue to marvel at these fine types of toys for another generation.

For myself, I find that the older I get, the faster time goes by.

Yet these toys will be around for a long time to be handed down from one family generation to another, or to be sold at auction like this great collection is. 

It's wonderful to realize!

Thanks for dropping by to visit my blog,

and as always,

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

An Exceptional Auction Toy from the RSL Auction Company

Sunday, June 9, 2024

Overcast with Rain

17 ° C / 62.4 ° F

An Exceptional Auction Toy from

the RSL Auction Company

(Scheduled for June 29, 2024) 

I've been slowing down lately due to the transition to spring and summer.

Nevertheless, I always like to see what is going on in the toy world of auctions.

Last weekm I ventured over to LiveAuctioneers,and decided to check out what the RSL Auction Company was scheduling for their June Auctions.

Sure enough, I was euphoric to see a wonderful collection of mechanical toys. The one that I am presenting today is an exceptional  example of a rotating wind-up toy.

It's best to use the written description that the RSL Auction Company wrote for this majestic toy:

"Made by Althof-Bergmann Company. New York - Ca. 1877 - 14 1/2 Diameter. Until the recent discovery of this toy from the attic of a house in Ohio, there was only one other known surviving example. That one hailed from the renowned Curtis & Linda Smilth collection and it brought $84,000 at auction in recent months. Though not quite the same condition as the Smith specimen, this piece is nonetheless very beautiful and mechanically very sound. After the toy is given a good winding, the child can watch the spectacle of the parade take place. This includes boys on horseback, lions drawing chariots with acrobats and flag carrying participants. The Strassburger catalogue of 1877 shows an old line-cut illustration of the toy with five flags. As with the Linda Smith example, these flags were lacking. They were expertly replaced with modern copies."

I'm always being surprised to see that there are still wonderful old and antique toys still to be seem and viewed through fine toy auctioneers. The sheer fact that this 147 year old toy is still around, and ready to be turned over to another collector, is wonderful to see.

Please click this sentence to redirect to the RSL Auction Company Auction on the LiveAuctioneers

Please click on this sentence to redirect to the RSL Auction Company website

So that's it for today. If you have the time, have a look at the rest of the exceptional mechanical toys that will be going to auction in the near future.  These are wonderful to see, and to know that they will be around for a long time.

As always, thanks for visiting,

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 resched at:

toysearcher@gmail.com

The Times They Are a-Changin'

 Sunday, December 31, 2023                                                                                                         

-3 Celcius / 26.6 F

Overcast with some flurries

    There's a song title by the famous American folk singer, Bob Dylan. The name of the song is

"The Times They Are a-Changin". And so it goes with toys and toy auctions. In the last couple of years, well-known American toy auctioneers have joined an ever-growing auction website by the name 

liveauctioneers.   

    I haven't contacted the many auctioneers whom have allowed me to write about them, and of course use their excellently-photographed toys at their auction websites.  But in the last 2 years, I've noticed that several respected and renowned auctioneers have joined 

liveauctioneers.

    Interestingly, many of them still retain and maintain their websites, along with the ability to view their auctions. Bidding takes place on LiveAuctioneers, and I'll have to contact one of the fine American toy auctioneers to see if bidders can still bid on both their websites, as well as on

 liveauctioneers.

Liveauctioneers is a website that  has become very popular and has got quite large. It's a website that allows all kinds of different types of auctioneer companies to present their merchandise and auctions there. If you go there, you will see all kinds of different types of merchandise. Naturally, I've only written and presented old and antique toy auctioneers.  I've only presented a small number of companies that I've written about, but there are also, many more that you will find on this website.

CYBERTOYAUCTIONS is another well-known American auction company that now can be found on liveauctioneers.   

The 3 companies shown below happen to be owned by CYBERTOYAUCTIONS. Old Toy Soldier Auctions USA, is a special auction company that specializes in "old toy soldiers". 

You can go to the liveauctioneers website by clicking on the link below:

https://www.liveauctioneers.com/

Once you are on the liveauctioneers opening page, you can search for the auctioneers that I've

listed today, and you will be redirected to any of the companies that I've added to this post today. 

You will also be able to search out for other toy auctioneer companies.

As always,

Thanks for dropping by.

Have a great part of the day or night.

My name is (Mr.) Stacey Bindman

and I can always be reached at:

toysearcher@gmail.com

And one final note:

To all of my readers, thanks for dropping by,

and have a Healthy and Happy New Year.