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

Blog search Results for Vindex Toys

Monday, October10, 2016
Sunny and Clear Skies
13 Celsius / 56 Fahrenheit

 Blog Search  Results

for Vindex Toys

Please click here to visit this fine American toy auctioneer

My last post happened to deal with showing my readers how to do a search within their blog. Today's post has to deal with the results of a search for "Vindex Toys". 

In my search, I was able to find 12 entry posts on Vindex toys. Of course,the most interesting information is the actual number of different toys that the company manufactured. Vindex was most famous for their farm machinery toys, but like other manufacturers of the time,they manufactured all kinds of toys for the marketplace.

What always interests me is the fact that different manufacturers were make very similar toys. 

Although to the expert, he/she could identify different manufacturers, or identify the toy from its' label. But the interesting part, that unlike today where companies will sue each other for the tiniest infringement of similar features of a product, way back in the 1920's-1930's this didn't  happen. 

Of course, it would be most difficult to do a search for 

 "toy lawsuit patent infringements" from that era.

As an example, that fine Vindex motorcycle below, 

could easily pass as a Hubley to the untrained eye.

The farm machinery below  are certainly are certainly great collectibles. 

What's even better for me personally is to have the excellent photography of Bertoia Auctions to work with! The photography is always well done, but placing the toys on white seamless paper makes it easy for me to do minor touch-ups in Photoshop. This usually consists in adjusting the exposure, and the contrast, so that the toy stands out more against the white.

Once again, it would be difficult for most of us to identify the 2 motorcycles as Vindex,

 compared to those of Hubley.

Below are a group of Vindex toys that are more rare 

in the sense that you don't see them too often.

Finally, in closing, here are another nice grouping of farm machinery.

Most of the photos came from Bertoia Auctions, except for 1 image that came from Mr.Bob Walden.

The reason for visiting an excellent auctioneer such as Bertoia Auctions is that they  exclusively  deal with only old and antique toys. Of course, as I mentioned before, the excellent photography, written descriptions, and consistency of placing toys on a white background, always makes my work so much easier.

If you ever happen to come across a Vindex toy, then check it out, and if the price is right, by all means buy it. Just make sure that the seller or auctioneer can put in writing on the receipt that the toy is in fact a Vindex!.

Thanks for visiting,

and as always have a great part

 of the day or night

Wherever you may be,

Stacey Bindman

toysearcher@gmail.com

Cast Iron Racers-Part 3 - Vindex

Thursday, September 19, 2014
       Sunny, exceptionally cold morning

Cast Iron Racers

Part 3

 Vindex

Today's post is from the Vindex Toy Company. The company existed around the same time as other cast iron companies of the time. These included Arcade and A.C.Williams,whom of written about. I'll be writing about Hubley's version soon.  Vindex toys are rarer and usually achieve higher values at auction. Their cast iron farm toys are always in high demand, and of course it's their well-crafted design and detail that make them more in demand.

Please click here to visit the newly-redesigned website of Bertoia Auctions

Please click here for part I (Arcade) of this series


Please click here for part 2 (ACWilliams) of this series

The  driver on this car was cast  separately from the body.THe wheels are similar in nature (spoke) to those of the Hubley "animated racer". The contrasting gold painted tail and gold painted embossed tailpipes and hood vents certainly make this toy a collectible.

At 11" (279 mm), it was quite heavy, and I can imagine this car travelling a long distance when pushed hard on a road or a long hop use corridor.

 This red model has nickel plated spokes that are in excellent condition.
THe tail fin is not painted compared with the one below.

I like hpow the driver is bent down as if to simulate a more focussed attention on the dashboard and steering,as well as to avoid the strong wind coming at him as he races.

What's great about these fine-looking toys is that I'm sure the photographer has 

a great feeling when photographing them. I know I would. When you see such toy in such great condition, and know that children also must have enjoyed the so long ago, you just can;t help but smile!

Thanks for dropping by to visit,

and as always,

have a great part of the day or night

]wherever you may be,

Stacey

toysearcher@gmail.com

I Didn't Know that about Vindex Motorcycles

Sunday, July 20, 2014
              Sunny and hot

I Didn't Know that about Vindex Motorcycles

   I didn't post anything yesterday. I was tired from not sleeping well the night before, and I went cycling. When I came home, my wife first had a friend over, then her mother,and  then a friend with my mother-in-law. So I stayed outdoors.

   Of course, I "peeked' on my computer for something to write, and I decided to read the written description for a Vindex motorcycle. Hello! The Vindex motorcycles were modelled after a company called Henderson, and in some case specifically the Henderson Excelsior. Then I looked for actual photos of the Henderson motorcycles on Wikipedia. The Henderson motorcycles looked totally different from Harley-Davidsons, which I thought (a big mistake and misconception) all cast iron motorcycles from that era were modelled after. Si I returned to my screen captures of the toys, courtesy of Bertoia Auctions, and lo and behold, upon closer inspection,  the Vindex motorcycles were quite different!

  You have to look closely, but when you do you can see certain features that are totally different from other makers of cast iron toys from that era. First and foremost, are the 4 cylinders in a row - definitely unique to the Vindex motorcycles. Then, all the toy motorcycles are modelled with police officers on them which is not a "big deal", until you magnify the image more. Then you can see that each police officer wears a silver badge on his check, and a silver badge on the front of his cap. 

The Story of the Motorcycle

   It turns out that the Henderson Motorcycle is quite interesting. The Henderson Motorcycle Co, of Detroit, Michigan (USA) was created by 2 brothers - William G. and  Tom W.  Henderson in 1911. The brothers produced fine motorcycles up to 1917, when they sold the company to Ignaz Schwinn of bicycle fame. The production of the Henderson motorcycles moved to  Chicago, Illinois (USA) where Schwinn's Excelsior Motor Mfg. & Supply Company existed. The company then began to market their motorcycles in Europe and Australia, and today, there are as many remaining motorcycles overseas as there are in the USA.

   Unfortunately, in 1931, with the Great Depression in the midst of things, Ignaz Schwinn called a meeting of his department heads at the Excelsior Company,  and told them simply that "Gentlemen, Today, we stop". Mr Schwinn, felt that the Depression could last as long as 8 years, so he had decided to focus all effort on his main business - bicycles. Sadly, the company closed down.*

*Description Courtesy of Wikipedia

Please click here to read the full story of the company at Wikipedia

 The Story of the Toy

   The story of Vindex choosing to select the Henderson Motorcycle Company's models in itself is also interesting. I only have 1 source of reference for the story, so If I find another source, I will add it later. The source that I found is  the Motorcyclemuseum.org.

  It turned out that the Hubley Manufacturing Company has signed an exclusive contract with the Harley-Davidson Motorcycle Company by which only they could produce toy motorcycles. That left Vindex, a subsidiary of the National Sewing Machine Company with no choice but to look elsewhere. Like all businesses, when a company sees another company producing some new new and different, they want to also. So, Vindex arranged with the Henderson Company to produce cast iron toy Henderson Motorcycles. 

*Description Courtesy of  the Motorcyclemuseum.org

Please click here to visit this fantastic site about motorcycles

Please click here to visit this fine toy auctioneer

 THe toy above is called a "pull toy". A child would pull the toy with a strong attached to e the toy. At the end, where the hand would hold the string was a round ball that allowed the string to be pulled easier.

Of course, ever toy story should have a good ending, and so I decided to write a happy ending.

 I'm "softie" at heart, and always cry at sad and good-ending movies,except now at 65 years young, it's harder to cry when you are "all grown up"!

The great news is that Vindex cast iron  made some very nice toys besides the motorcycles. As with all Vindex cast iron toys, they are rare and usually receive very high final bids at auction. I'm not sure  just how many toys the Vindex Company made,but as WWII approached, production of cast iron toys stopped for the war effort.By the end of the war in 1945, 

cast iron toys were hardly being produced, if at all.

 If you ever come across a Vindex toy, buy it fast, especially if you find one  t a garage sale or local antique store. They may not be as knowledgeable as exclusive toy dealers or auctioneers. One word of advice though - don't panic and give your enthusiasm away, 

the seller or dealer might not want to sell it!

Thanks for dropping by,

and as always,

have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be.

Stacey

toysearcher@gmail.com

Some More Beautiful Cast Iron Cars

Thursday, April 3, 2014
               (Sunny but cool)

Some More Beautiful Cast Iron Cars

When warmer weather and  the spring season begins,  you can start to see more activity in the action marketplace.  Bertoia Auctions is having their second auction of the new year, scheduled for  May 10. It's called the Spring Toy Break auction. People like to get out was the warmer weather approaches. Of course, if you live in the warmer parts of the world, you may not know what snow and more snow, and very cold temperatures are. At least up here, it looks like it may not snow anymore-finally!

Please click here to view the fine items up for auction at Bertoia Auctions

Many of the auction companies are settling into their newer version of their auction presentations. The older versions are still available. The basic difference is in how the items are presented.  In the older version, the images are presented on a single page, along with the description of the item. With the newer version, the images are presented separately and are viewed one at a time for each of the images provided per listing. Also, a double-click of you mouse allows you to view a magnified version of the item against a complete back window. You can always press the escape key to return to the descriptions.

I haven't seen this particular A.C. Williams model sedan before. It's one of those take apart cast iron cars from the 1930's (estimated). Most of the cast iron toy companies made similar versions of this type of toy. With it, you could dismantle the upper body and lower chassis,and exchange parts. YOu could for example change this perhaps into a convertible or even a truck.

Here's another cast iron toy that I've never seen before. It appears to look like a take apart, but without a description, and no catalogue, I can be 100% sure. I also assume that it may not be tat rare as the estimated price range (low and high) and the starting price are relatively low .

 Here' yet another race car that I haven't seem until recently. If you look closely there are 2 passengers in the car. At one time in the sport of racing, there were 2 people in the car - an assistant and the driver.

 And yet another "treasure" that I've never seen until recently. It looks like the cars that would appear in very old comic books of the 1930's.

I have seen the Vindex, but I still presented it for today. Iy's very rare, and has a much higher starting bidding price than most of the other cars. I never tire of  this toy.

I once bought and resold a Hubley racer with a similar  hood that could open. The above sedan has been  restored and had some replacement parts.However, even that will not deter collectors from bidding on this fine toy. It too has a very high starting price, and is quite rare.

If you're a regular reader of my blog, you should know what this car is and who makes it. It's a Hubley Airflow, but this one is a larger sized one with electric (battery lights).  This one is in superior condition, and it too has a high staring bidding price.  The Chrysler "real" Airflow is beautiful, but unfortunately did not sell well in the marketplace of the 1930's. Sadly it was discontinued. If you do a search for Chrysler Airflow, you will see a very beautiful car. Many of the cast iron toy companies made the Airflow, and for sold more of these "toys" that Chrysler sold their "real" car.

You have to check out this Bertoia auction because there are just so many fine toys to see. I'll be posting more in the coming weeks with the many different  classifications of toys. There are an amazing amount of pull toy bell toys that I also haven't seen before!

Thanks for dropping by,

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

Vindex Toys - Revisited

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

The Vindex Toy Company

(Farm Machinery)

   Vindex was a division of the National Sewing Machine Company.  National and the magazine, Farm Mechanics came up with an idea to sell more subscriptions to the magazine.  The idea was for children to promote and enlist magazine subscribers in return for getting farm machinery toys as rewards and incentives (Wikipedia). 

     Vindex also made other types of toys and promotions. You can find a great article, written by 

Mr. Bill Vossler about the history of the company at the link below:  

http://www.farmcollector.com/Toys/Vindex-Toys.aspx

(Please click on the link above to be redirected)

   The toys are cast iron, which are one of my favourite types of toys. As I mentioned before, there's nothing like having a "heavy" toy in your hand to play with! As for the farm machinery toys, you have to realize that at the time farming was very important to the US, as well as providing many jobs (proportionally) to the total population of the US. The term "breadbasket to the world" was  related to the vast crop production of the US at those times (1920-1950), and even now!

http://www.bertoiaauctions.com

(Please click on the link above to be redirected)

     I am always amazed at what the Net has done in terms of accessing knowledge and other areas of mankind. AS for myself, just writing this blog has been a real education. And I have to thank all of the kind and generous people-the Bertoias.  They have allowed me to write about them and use their photos to share with everyone dropping by to read this blog.

   The fact that many toys,especially these Vindex toys survive today says a lot about people and the Vindex toys. People liked them and kept them , passing them on from generation to generation,and eventually being sold at auction. That certainly says something about people and toys!

Thanks for dropping by,

and as always, have a great part of the day,

wherever you are, and whatever time of day 

you are now reading this post.

Stacey