Master of the Oceans

Saturday, May 16, 2020
Sunny with clouds
18 C 66 F

Master of the Oceans

(From the exceptional collection of Mr. Dick Claus

Today's post is all about an exceptional collection of toys, 

owned by an exceptional collector, and sold by an exceptional auction house.

The date was November 10, 2012, and that day was  the second day of a most-unique collection of toys collected over the years by Mr. Richard T. "Dick" Claus. The  exceptional auctioneer (auction house) is Bertoia Auctions, a specialized and unique auctioneer company that specializes exclusively  with old and antique toys.  I say exceptional because they have a great reputation, great photography, and fabulous research into the items that they sell. Also, they were one of the first companies that allowed me to use their fine photography for my blog.

Mr. Dick Claus is an exceptional collector, who  amassed one of the best collections of toys in his 30 year span of collecting. At the  2 day auction, with the model (toy) ships being auctioned on the second day, there was an electric atmosphere as bidders from North America and Europe waited for the start of the auction. The auction was over a 2 day span, and at the end, set records for Bertoia Auctions , Mr. Dick Claus, and for the prices of these most sought after toys and especially the model (toy) ships. Many of the ships were from the early and later 1900's. 

Please click here to visit this unique auction held in 2012

c. 1900-1902, with sea captain at foredeck this majestic ship conjures the image of sheer luxury at sea, Marklin left no detail and used artistic appointments at cabin windows with painted curtains and ornately stamped seating area: even the second level with passenger benches and bridge have gold painted railing, funnel is held steady by chains to deck, lifeboats hang on davits, boarding area ready with opening plank door, covered paddle wheels proudly read "PROVIDENCE," with accent lines, a first class clockwork powered example of a significant toy importance. 26" 

(660 mm) long. Minimal restoration includes masts and posts, minor areas of railing and bench spikes. It's originality is as rare as the example itself. One lifeboat is a replacement. (Exc. Cond)

The model ship (toy) set a record for the price of this unique antique. If you visit Bertoia Auctions, you can find the price of this toy ship, as well as many, many other model ships.

This auction was so unique that is was well written up and publicized by many news sources on the Internet. I've listed several sources below, so that you can read up on the collection, Mr. Claus, and of course Bertoia Auctions.

An article by the Philadelphia Inquirer by Mr. David Iams

An article by Scoop - an Internet current events website

An article by A & AN - An antique and auction news website

I could have written lots more, but I felt that you, my readers would rather see the toys, as well as read about them from other resources. I hope you'll enjoy seeing the collection that was assembled over 30 years. After that auction, the toys were shared by many, many happy people.

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

The Wonderful Ships of George Carette

Saturday, March 10, 2018
Overcast 
-2 C  28.4 F

The Wonderful Ships 

of Georges Carette

Please click here to visit Bertoia Auctions

 Georges Carette et Cie was founded in 1866 by Mr. Georges Carette. Initially, Mr. Carette was a supplier to Bing, another famous toy manufacturer.  Later, Mr. Carette began to produce toys independently. His big break came when he introduced a toy tram that was powered electricity, which was a fairly new "phenomena". Eventually, Mr. Carette and his partner (Paul Josephtal) contacted the British model railway manufacturer - Bassett-Lowke. The George Carette company was successful with their meeting, and began to produce locomotives and cars modelled after British models. The quality was so good, that the Carette toys became very sought after. By 1905, the company expanded from model railway locomotives and cars into other toys. These included toy cars, ship models with clockwork drive, aircraft, airships, and optical and technical toys. The Georges Carette toys today are very much in demand as collectibles.*

* Narrative selected from Wikipedia

Sleek gunboat shaped for speed, and features a

clean styled hull, large intimidating gun sits above 

deck towards the stern,  between stacks sits

another cannon atop a green pedestal

Professionally restored.

Length:   17.75"  45.2 cm

Nicely scaled model, clockwork driven

simulated wood upper deck planking

Missing masts

Length:  16 1/2"  42 cm

Early Carette fire boat,

hand-painted, clockwork action

Length:  12"  31 cm

Carette Live Steam Launch with Canopy

brass boiler, hand painted

Length:  13 1/2"  31.5 cm

Carette Four Stack Ocean Liner

Length:  20.5"   52 cm

Thanks for dropping by,

and have a great part of the day or night.

Stacey Bindman

toysearcher@gmail.com

The Walbert Toy Manufacturing Company

Sunday, July 6, 2014
    Overcast and some rain

The Walbert Manufacturing Company

   I came across a nice old tin ferryboat on ebay today, but decided to check Liveauctioneers to see if I could use any of my sources that allow me to use their photos.  Bertoia Auctions appeared and fortunately had sold another Walbert toy. 

Brief History

The Walbert Manufacturing Company was founded by Mr. Walther Huth. I found the 2 toys below that were made under the Walbert name. Wolverine, another toy company, purchased the design and manufacturing rights of all the Walbert toys in 1927.

Please click here to visit the fine website of Bertoia Auctions

I always like old packaging and graphics on boxes that accompany old toys. 

The interesting aspect of the Walbert toy is the fact that when the centre circular plate is hit, 

the ship "splits" into 2, as if to simulate its sinking. 

Certainly, this has been one of my shorter posts,

but at least I now have a record of the Walbert Toy Manufacturing Company.

Thans for visiting,

and as always,

have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be,

Stacey.

toysearcher@gmail.com

The Marklin Civilian Ships

Saturday, May 25, 2013

The Marklin Civilian Ships

   I've presented a few of the Marklin ships in some of my posts, but have never dedicated an entire post to them. Marklin is still a you manufacturer, and  has been around for more than a century. The company was founded in 1859 and originally produced fine railroad sets (trains).  Their success led them to acquire other companies, which allowed them to diversify in terms of the range of toys that were produced. They still are in existence today, and still produce world-renowned toys for young people.

    Marklin produced outstanding ships from the early 1900's and later.  They were made probably of tinplate with clockwork driven mechanism to propel them in the water. Children would bring these boats to local parts with large-sized ponds, and the children would wind the toys up, and them let them move in the water.  I assume that the park lakes were shallow enough so that if the wind did not push the toy boat back to the sides of the lake, then a person could wade out and fetch the toy. Sometimes these park lakes also had rowboats for rent, so maybe helpful other people would help.

    Montreal has 2 large-sized park lakes . One is at the top of Mount Royal in the centre of our city, and the lake is called Beaver Lake. The other park is called Lafontaine park. I'm sure that at the beginning of the 20th century and earlier, these 2 parks has lots of local people and new immigrants who would go to these architecturally-designed parks. And I'm sure there were even children with sailboats, and perhaps even the occasional clockwork  driven boat.   I've never seen anyone play with a boat in these parts, but then again, my wife and I rarely go to them.

   The toy ships that I am presenting for today's post are the civilian types - ocean liners, river boats, and yachts. Their other type of  ships were the military battleships. I would highly recommend visiting the link below to read the outstanding narratives and descriptions that accompany all of the ships that I have presented today. When you go to the link, simply add the words "Marklin ships" in the search engine "keywords" space at the top of the page. 

Please click on this sentence to be redirected to Bertoia's fine Website

I wanted to present these beautiful ships in the way I've been presenting toys lately - against a white background. However,  all the fine details on these ships makes it harder to separate the grey tones from the ship.  Maybe in the future on a slow day, I'll rework the images., because personally, I like the way a toy "stands out" by itself against white. 

I like the way these toys even came with a metal roller support, so the child could pull the ship to the park lake. I'm sure the parents had lots of fun playing with these toys.

The riverboat above reminds me of the 1951 Kathryn Hepburn-Humphrey Bogart movie titled the African Queen. The movie had the same type of boat, by without the lifeboat. The movie boat ran by a steam engine.

     The last 10-12 days of  May here in Montreal have been miserable. It's been rain, rain, and more rain.  The good news is that I was able to reseed the bare spots on my lawn , and the grass is growing nicely.  Ironically, we has a water alert this week. A repair and maintenance crew accidentally let the water level in our largest reservoir and water purification plant get too low.  It's to early to assign blame, so the city will be conducting a review to find out what went wrong. As a consequence,  the bottom residue leaked out into the water pipes throughout much of the city. 1,200,000 were given "advisory  warnings" to boil their water for drinking or cooking. Bathing and shampooing were OK though. I bought water to wash my hair and shave. Some of the Starbucks cafes did not serve coffee for 2 days! Bottled water sold out in a few stores,and record sales were recorded!  

Thanks for dropping by,

and have a great day, 

wherever you may be.

Stacey

The Next Lloyd Ralston Auction

Monday, February 18, 2013

The Next Lloyd Ralston Auction

   I had just revisited 4 of the auctioneers who have allowed me to use their fine photography with their selection of fine toys. One of these is  the Lloyd Ralston Gallery. If you've read the previous posts, I had not visited them for a while, and was very pleasantly surprised to find toys that either I had not seen before, or toys with parts that were a set.

  The bigger surprise with the Lloyd Ralston Gallery  was that they have presented their images much larger. Initially I thought that perhaps I had magnified my computer screen viewing, but when I checked,  the images were now much larger. Please don't forget, that you can always view these images magnified in Blogger.  When you magnify them, these toys are even nicer to look at.

http://www.lloydralstontoys.com

(please click on the above address to be redirected to the Lloyd Ralston Gallery Website)

I never heard of the Ito company, but this PT boat is great.

I'm even more amazed at the size - 30 1/2" or .775m.

 For a toy this age, it's in quite good shape.

What's even more impressive is that the windup mechanism is still working!

2 very nice pieces!

 Here's another nice toy.

What I like is ts the fact that someone found replacement parts, and made the effort to either repair the toy or have a craftsman do the work!

Sometimes a simple toy is nicer that a sophisticated one.

It would be interesting to know what the missing driver looked like.

 In the 1950's, Louis Marx and his toy company appeared on the cover of TimeMagazine.

He was producing and selling 1 in 4 toys sold in the USA!

The airplane above also has the windup mechanism working. 

I'm sure the toy moves, but I'm wondering id the propellers rotate as well?

 Up to now, I never heard of the of the Neff-Moon toy company, but now I know.

 It's listed in the O'Brien's "Collecting Toys Book on page 729.

The company was created by William Moon and Charles Neff in 1923. What Interesting to read in Karen O'Brien's book is that the company was located above a grocery store. 

Sadly, the Great Depression placed  forced the company out of business.

I always liked the concept of changing parts of a toy, such as with the Tootsietoy Graham cars.

In this case, the Neff-Moon Company produced a fine set of interchangeable parts.

This is the first time that I think I've seen a double-decker bus made from Litho pressed steel.

It's certainly a great piece for its' age, and like the other toys above, the wind-up works.

My wife kept her toaster, and I had to sell mine at a garage sale. It's a GE toaster,and she even had it repaired here in Montreal. She didn't like the way the newer toasters toasted toast. As well,it's an oven for chicken fingers and heating up items.  We were just married about 2 years, and were cleaning the apartment to relocate to our newly purchased house.  I liked my own toaster, but wasn't going to create a fuss! Our toaster is still working 23 years alter, and I'm not sure how many years she had it before.  Eventually, GE got out of the toaster business to become larger,more successful, and of course profitable, making larger items they manufacture today. These include all kinds of things from MRI's to hydro-electric turbines to generate electricity.

Last but not least, is a fine Liberty Playthings Sportster Boat.

I learned about these boats, and even wrote a post about the company.

This particular toy is in great shape for 78 years "young". All it needs is a replacement wooden arm.

I was just thinking this: I wonder how many children of toy collectors take out their father or mother's antiques and play with them "by accident"?

Thanks for visiting, and have a great part of the day, 

wherever you may be.

Stacey