Life Goes on Remotely in the Digital Age

Monday, May 11, 2020
Sunny with Clouds
8 C 46 F

Life Goes on Remotely

in the Digital Age

Please click here to visit Bertoia Auctions website

Please click here to visit Bertoia Auctions on Liveauctioneers

There's a terrible virus going around, and it's affecting people differently around the world. 

I'm doing blogging, one friend who is an endodontist (root canal) is reading more books at home, with minimal emergency work in his office. He's visiting his 2 children and grandchildren in another Canadian city, but he and his will be wearing masks and keeping that 2 meter / 6 foot distance from everybody else. I'm also cycling whenever the weather is warm. So far, April was terrible, and May is continuing with low temperatures. It even snowed earlier in the week.

My wife, a teacher teaching interior design, has not taught for 2 months now. She now is communicating with her fellow teachers over the Internet with something called "Zoom" that communicates over the Internet via conferencing. 

This week (I think), larger department stores will start opening. There is one side saying that it's too early to open, and others saying go ahead.  Meanwhile, food chains, Costco, and large hardware store chains are now open to all.

Today, on Liveauctioneer, I checked to see what the results were for Bertoia Auctions first day of their  annual spring auction. People did bid on the Net, and the results appeared excellent 

(from my point of view).

Below is a sampling of just some of the old toys that went to auction. 

The auction was very successful, and the prices were excellent, from my point-of-view.
Today's Auction (May 10, 2020) is the second part  of the total auction.
Todays' bidding in many cases is above the estimate that Bertoia Auctions started at.

Below:

Air Mail plane

Cast iron

Wingspan:    8" 203 mm

Manufacturer: Kenton  

USA

Below:

Motor Driven Stake Truck

Pressed metal with rubber tires

Length:  25" 635 mm

Manufacturer: Kingsbury

USA

Below:

Jonah and the Whale Mechanical Bank

Cast iron

Circa: 1900's and later

Manufacturer: Shepard Hardware Company

USA

Below:

Hold the Fort Mechanical Bank

Cast iron with brass trigger

Circa: 1900's and later

Manufacturer Unknown (Designer Samuel Clark)

Below:

Large Racer

Cast Iron

Circa: 1929

Length: 11"  / 280 mm

Manufacturer: Vindex

 USA

Below:

Jaeger Cement Mixer Truck

Circa: 1930's

Cast iron, nickel plated rotary cement mixer drum

Length:  9"

Manufacturer: Kenton

USA

I hope that you too are finding things to do safely during these times.

Thanks for dropping by,

And have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be.

Stacey Bindman

You can reach me anytime at:

toysearcher@gmail.com

A Vindex Toy Catalogue

Sunday, February 25, 2018
Overcast with rain and pellets
-2C  28.4 F

A Vindex Toy Catalogue

I've written many times about Vindex toys, a division of the National Sewing Machine Company, of Belvidere, Illinois (USA). This past week, I received  a toy catalogue from an ebay seller. The catalogue is a 1982 reproduction  from Thomas Toys, a fantastic toy parts seller from Fenton, Michigan (USA).

I thought  I'd share it with everyone, so that you'll be familiar with Vindex toys. You don't see as many of these cast iron toys, as you do the other manufacturers such ad Arcade or Hubley.  So the next time you're at a local old and antique toy fair, or an antique dealer, check out their toys. Who knows, maybe you'll be lucky and find a real bargain!

* I've only included the pages that relate to toys. Vindex also made some a toy oven, doorstops, an elephant nut cracker, and a doodle bug galoche (rubber boot) remover.

Also, I think this catalogue is from 1929.

So study this catalogue and print it out. And when you visit the local flea market, 

toy fair, or an antique store, be on the alert for Vindex toys!

Thanks for visiting,

and have a nice day or evening.

Stacey Bindman

Toysearcher@gmail.com

Exceptional Vindex Salesman Samples

Sunday, February 11, 2018
Overcast with Snow
-3 C    26.6 F

Exceptional Vindex Salesman Samples

Please click here to visit this exceptional American toy auctioneer on Liveauctioneers.com

The Vindex Toy Company was a sub-division of the National Sewing Machine Company.

Vindex was the name of a product line of National Sewing Machines. The company teamed up with  Farm Mechanics magazine. The purpose was for the magazine to offer children toys if the parents signed up for the magazine. The company was founded in the late 19th century, and closed in 1957, after less-expensive sewing machines from Japan entired the US market.

Of all the cast iron toy companies, Vindex seems to be one of the rarer companies. These

toys are in high demand, and if you go to Liveauctioneers and search the past auctions of Bertoia Auctions (or go to Bertoia Auction's website). There you will be amazed at the high prices these fine toys achieved upon auction.

A salesman's sample was exactly that. A salesman would travel to different cities and carry the sample to the merchants and department stores. These "salesman's sample" added more to the rarity of the  toys. Most of the salesman's toys come with a cardboard label, while others were in fact the same, but the tag or label was lost.

Vindex 1929 Salesman Sample Fokker Airplane

Cast iron body with nickled wheels with 

salesman sample tag.Wingspan:  10"  254 mm

Vindex Salesman Sample Pontiac Roadster

Cast iron with nickled wheels

Circa: 1929

Decal on cast iron spare tire

Opening rumble seat

Length:  7 1/4"  184 mm

Vindex Salesman Sample Wrecker

Cast iron with nickel-plated disc wheels

Another extremely rare sample

Provenance:  Donald Kaufmann

Circa: 1929

Length:  7"  188 mm

Salesman Sample Vindex Oldsmobile Sedan

Provenance:  Mr. Fred McAdams

Cast iron with nickeled spoke wheels

Vindex decal on spare tire

Mint condition

Circa:  1929

Length:  8"  223 mm

Vindex "Lansing" Cement Mixer

Cast iron with nickel-plated sid elever and spoke wheels

Length::5 3/4"  146 mm

Vindex Salesman Sample Stake Truck

Cast iron with nickel disc wheels

decal on rear

Circa:  1929

Length:  9 1/2"   242 mm

Vindex "Lansing" Cement Mixer

Nickel hopper and lever

Probably the most elusive of any construction equipment

Circa 1929

Length:  8"  203 mm

Vindex John Deere Combine

Rare toy

front mounted engine

Circa: 1929

Length:  18 1/2"  470 mm

Very Rare Vindex Packard Club Sedan

Considered the rarest of the Vindex toys

Provenance:  Dick Ford, Donald Kaufmann

Cast iron with nickled wheels

Circa: 1929

Length: 9 1/2"242 mm

Salesman Sample Vindex 1929 Packard Club Sedan

Tag has been lost

Provenance:  McAdams , Donald Kaufmann

Cast iron with nickled wheels

Length:  9 1/2"  242 mm

Vindex Motorcyle and side car

Henderson inspired toy

Manufactured for only 2 years

Cast iron with rubber tires mounted on spoke wheels

Length:  8 1/2"  211 mm

If you go over to Liveauctioneers and do a search for Vindex, you will be able to see almost all

of the cast iron toys that they manufactured from the 1929 toy catalogue.

Please click here to redirect to the search for Vindex on Liveauctioneers

© 2018

All images are copyright of Bertoia Auctions and Liveauctioneers.com

Thanks for dropping by,
and have a great part of the day or evening.

Stacey Bindman
Toysearcher@gmail.com

Is This an Arcade or Vindex Toy?

Thursday, January 5, 2017
Sunny with Clear Skies
-7C  19.4 F

Is this an Arcade 

or Vindex Toy?

Please click here to visit his fine American toy seller

I received an e-mail from my friend Ed who is the owner of Antique Toys. He had a very nice Fokker cast iron toy, but was in a quandary. His O'Briens "Collecting Toys" book identified the toy as an Arcade, However, Ed's knowledge of these cast iron toys had characteristics of a Vindex toy.  Ed e-mailed me to see if I could find information in my Arcade toy catalogues of yore. Unfortunately, my 1936 Arcade catalogue and the other one had no photos of airplanes, so I couldn't help Ed much.The best that I could do  was to ask Ed's permission to use his photos of the toy, and ask any viewers if they could identify the toy.  So this is basically what today's post is all about.

If anyone out there has a toy like this and knows what it is, would you please e-mail me with your photos, and any catalogue page scan that would cross-reference the catalogue image with that of the actual toy.

The photo below is one of an Actual Fokker airplane that the toy photos below are based on.

The dimensions of Ed's toy are:

L x W x H:

3 7/8" x 4" x 1 7/8"

98 mm x 101 mm x 48 mm

Ed wrote a more thorough and interesting article about his Fokker toy than I did. So if you visit the website address below, you'll have more information about why Ed is not sure whether the toyu is an Arcade or a Vindex.

Please click here to read Ed's article

So this is my first post of 2017, and I hope someone out there in the Web 

World will be able to help Ed out.

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

Searching for Information on Your Blogger Blog

2016-10-08
Sunny and Clear
14 Celsius / 57 Fahrenheit

Searching for Information

on your Blogger Blog

A few days ago, I added a post about 2 Vindex toys. Previously, I had a "Eureka Moment" and realized that I could do a search on my blog to find previous similar toys or information. I then decided that would be interesting for anyone who writes a blog, and would like to know about this feature.

Below:

Our dog Buddy that I use as my photo for a logo

Above: This is what you see when you go to www.blogger.com

Above:

The sign-in page

After I signed in, this is the page that appears. It's the 3 blogs that I write.However, I haven't written anything on the other 2 blogs in a long time.  Most people who have blogs eventually get tired from writing, or frustrated that there are not many readers coming to the blog.

Above:

When I clicked on my "Old Antique Toys" post (previous screen-capture), 

a list of the most recent posts show up on this page.

Above:

The red line points to "All Labels".

What I then do is type in the word "Vindex". That will show me all of the posts 

that I wrote about Vindex toys, or mentioned the name "Vindex".

Above:

The results are shown above. I wrote 10 posts or mentioned Vindex in 10 posts on my blog.

From there, I will search out photos and information about Vindex toys for a future post.

in the above screen-capture, you can see that not all of my posts ware popular or have lots of visitors, but that's how it goes! Posts are not always as popular as the interest that I liked in the information on the post.

Thanks for visiting,

and have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be.

Stacey Bindman

toysearcher@gmail.com

A Pair of Vindex Toys

Saturday, October 9, 2016
Cloudy with Rain
20 Celsius / 68 Fahrenheit

A Pair of Vindex Toys

I've posted on Vindex Toys before, however this time I want to use this post to lead into the next post. I want to use a search on my blog to bring up all of the Vindex toys I have posted, and then add them to that blog. It's something that is so basic ,that I completely forgot that this feature existed for blogwriters!

Please click here too visit the November 11-13, 2016 Auction

From various on-line sources:

The original factory was located in Boston, Massachusettes from 1880-1887. The company was then moved to Chicago, Illinois and finally to Belvidere, Illinois by 1886. In an effort to keep workers employed during the Great Depression, National expanded their product line to include home workshop machinery and cast iron toys. National was unable to compete with the low cost imported sewing machines and closed in 1957.

National manufactured sewing machines, washing machines, bicycles, the Eldredge automobile (1903-1906), home workshop machinery, and cast-iron scale model toys (Oldsmobile & Pontiac automobiles, Harley Davison motorcycles & side cars, John Deere farm machinery, a power shovel, horse-drawn wagons, book-ends, table lamps, dog door stops, dog and owl banks) under the Vindex Toy Company label. The complete line of home workshop machinery included lathes, band saws, jig saws, saw tables and line shaft assemblies.*

Citation:

Please click here to visit this website and citation

(specific posting on this site by "toolguyback")

Below:

VINDEX JOHN DEERE THRESHER
c. 1929, very rare cast iron farm toy, painted in silver body, green highlights overall, features folding chute, straw stacker and grain pipe, yellow spoke wheels, embossed "John Deere" on sides. 

15" (381 mm) length. 

Restored.

 Below:

VINDEX CEMENT MIXER

c. 1929, extremely rare example, cast iron, green painted frame with red drum and black spoke wheels, embossed "Lansing" on side, nickel lever, probably the most elusive of any construction equipment toy. 6 1/2" l. Levers, scoop & drum replaced, otherwise frame in (Exc. Cond.)

The cement mixer is estimated to sell for between $5000.00-$6000.00 USD (United States Dollars), while the thresher is estimated to sell for between $1400.00-$1800.00 USD.

The Vindex toys were not manufactured to the high production numbers as the Arcade, Kilgore, or Hubley toys. Nevertheless, they were quite popular and still are today, as collectibles. As such, they normally are offered at higher estimated auction prices.

Thanks for visiting,

and as always,

have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be.

Stacey Bindman

toysearcher@gmail.com

Rare Vindex Plows

Saturday, April 12, 2014
            (Sunny and warmer)

Rare Vindex Plows

    The weather is starting to get nicer, but next week's forecast is calling for below zero Celsius temperatures again, and perhaps snow!  Of course, if you're a farmer, you have to start preparing the ground and sowing seeds. Vindex was a cast iron toy company that manufactured very nice toys. I'll have to investigate further, but many of these toys usually are in very high demand and yield high prices at the final tap of the auction hammer.

Please click here to visit Bertoia Auctions fine web site

Vindex made 3 plows, of which I'm presenting two of them . The third one was a single "V" coulter plow. Google blogger is giving me a hard time with the spelling of the word plow, which of course is correct. However, in my written descriptions, I copied the exact term, but the term couter should have been spelled coulter, which is the cutting blade part of the plow.

The photos of the Case plow (above and below) are of the same plow. However, the green wheels were painted with different shades of green.

I like this John Deere plow better because of the geared cuts to the plow handles.

What I also noticed is that of the two back wheels, one is solid with spoke embossment, while the

other had actual soles with spaces in between each spoke. I purposely search for another listing of the same plow to see if this was an anomaly or an actual characteristic of this toy plow. 

The invention of the plow ( John Deere) of course,  allowed America to develop the vast midwest plains for the grain crops. Sadly the vast plains where millions of buffalo once lived took a mere few decades to eliminate the once great herds of these fine animals. 

Thanks for visiting, 

and as always, 

have a great part of the day or night, 

wherever you may be.

Stacey

My e-mail address is 

toysearcher@gmail.com