Lloyd Ralston Toys Revisited

Thursday, May 14, 2020
Sunny with clouds
12 C 54 F

Lloyd Ralston Gallery Toys Revisited

I've been visiting people and their stores to see how they are doing in 2020.
This fine store was founded by Mr. Lloyd Ralston, 
who sadly passed away some years ago. The company  ( Shelton, Connecticut, USA)
is now run superbly by his two sons.

Like many auctioneers, the Lloyd Ralston Gallery has signed up with Liveauctioneers.
Liveauctioneers is a unique website that signs up antique dealers of all kinds, including the special area of antique and modern toys. It has a vast linkage all over the world.

A great asset of this company is the fact that it has the resource of seeing toys from previous auctions, as well as their corresponding final prices of the toys. However they lack the capability of entering the  brand name or descriptive words of their merchandise. Nevertheless,
it still is a fantastic source of information about toys.

The auction occurred on May 2, 2020, and consisted
mostly of railroad train, cars, and accessories.

I've added the final prices of the these toys that went to auction. These are
the higher-priced toys, but there were lots of other toys that buyers selected at lower prices.


Please click here to visit their website

Please click here to arrive at their link on Liveauctioneers


Lionel 400E Locomotive and Tender
400T Tender 
Final Price: $ 750.00 US + Fees + Taxes




Bing 7116 Post Car
0 Gauge
Hand-painted tin with Interior
Both 4-wheel trucks articulate
Final Price: $ 1100.00 US + Fees + Taxes



Ives 800 Trolley
O Gauge
Lithographed Tin, Windup  Mechanism
With Trolly, Pole & Cowcatchers
Circa 1910
Final Price: $ 4200.00 US & Fees & Taxes




Lionel 1928 Store Display
Lithographed Press-boards
60" x 22" (558 mm x 154 mm)
Final Price: $ 16, 000.00 + Fees + Taxes


Lionel Train Set
0 Gauge
Twin Motor Engine and Assorted Cars
Final Price: $ 1300.00 US + Fees + Taxes



Lionel 2624M
Manhattan Pullman
0 Gauge
With Original Box
Final Price: $ 1500.00 & Fees & Taxes



Buddy L Trench Digger
Painted Pressed Steel
L x W x H  24" x 14" x 20"  610 mm x 355 mm x 509 mm
Weight:  28 pounds  /  12.72 Kilograms
Circa 1928
$ 2500.00 US + Fees + Taxes (Unless out-of-state)
© 2020
Lloyd Ralston Toys


I'd seen these Buddy L trench diggers before, but hadn't 
realized just how heavy and big they were. Also, I  thought
that they were manufactured much later in the 20th century.
This one was produced about thye 1930's!



MarklinDT800 Rail Car
HO Gauge, First Version
  Final Price:  $ 800.00 US + Fee + Taxes
Lloyd Ralston Toys



Ives 490R Universal Fast Freight Jr. Set
0 Gauge
Assorted Cars
Original Boxes
Circa: 1930
Final Price:  $ 2700.00 & Fees & Taxes


Ives 117 Suburban Station
0 Gauge
Lithographed Tin
Circa  1906
Final Price:  $ 1000.00 plus Fees & Taxes



Wow!
The time sure is moving fast.
In 5 weeks it will be summer, 
but with this pandemic it most certainly doesn't have the elation
of looking forward to  the nice weather, and having a vacation.
Nevertheless, it's what it is, and we all have to make the 
best with what we have.

Take care, and be safe.

Thanks for dropping by

Stacey Bindman
toysearcher@gmail.com

National Products Promotional Pieces

Saturday, February 6, 2016
Partly sunny and cool

National Products

Promotional Pieces

Please click here to visit the Lloyd Ralston Gallery

    If you've been following my posts lately, you'll have read that I'm searching out the upcoming season of auctions. I wrote about Dan Morphy previously, and today, it's about the Lloyd Ralston Gallery. Mr. Lloyd Ralston was a fine auctioneer and sadly passed on much too young in life. His 2 sons now own and manage this fine American toy auction company.

   I found a new company that manufactured what is called a promotional piece. In the 1940's and 1950's car dealerships would  purchase promotional pieces and would hand them up to customers who purchased their cars. Of course, the fathers or mothers would pass these promo pieces to their children who would then play with them. The pieces were made either for car dealerships or for truck dealerships, but in either case, children would have fun playing with these "toys".  Most of the times presented today were die cast  with rubber wheels. Like any other collectible, these promo pieces still are in demand.

I've never seen this particular toy , so seeing it must be a rarity. As to whether this translates into higher p[rices at an action is "another story". It certainly is an interesting piece!

Below is a "promo piece" from a truck company - White.

Back in history, there were hundreds of different car manufacturers. One of them was the Nash Motors. The company was started by the then president of General Motors, Mr.  Charles W. Nash in 1916.

Please click here to read about the Nash Motors Company at Wikipedia

 Below are 2 Buick car promotional pieces. In the bottom car, you can see the trademarked 3 small circles on the side of the car. To this day, this trademark is still used on Buicks, one of the cars that is still being produced after the collapse of GMC in recent history.

The item below was actually cast in bronze - imagine!

Thanks for dropping by,

and as always,

have a great part.

Stacey Bindman

Toysearcher@gmail.com

Look! Up in the Sky! - Part 2

Friday, February 6, 2015
Partly sunny, flurries, very, very cold!

Look!

Up in the Sky!

(Part II)

  The days are speeding along and are getting longer. However winter is staying - groundhog or not!

For those who don;' know, there's a silly annual event in North America where people take a groundhog out from it's hibernation and wake him (her) up. If the animal sees its shadow, there's 6 more weeks of winter, it not, winter will end early. Up here in Montreal, shadow or no shadow, it's winter.  And to me winter doesn't end on the Spring solstice, when the days (sunlight) start getting longer than the nights! Spring really starts here on June 21 or the 22, when the summer equinox starts. I really think that up here in Canada we really have 2 seasons - hot and cold. 

   Returning to toys (only 44 days until official spring), I had checked out Liveauctioneers and found a fantastic of airplane photos that are up for auction from the Lloyd Ralston Gallery. The toy airplanes are probably being sold in groups to save on time during the auction. When you have an auction of 400-500 lots, the auction can be a strain on some of the bidders, since you may have to wait for hours till the lot that you like comes to the bidding stage.

  The airplanes not the most expensive of American toy airplanes, but they certainly are worth collecting. I'm sure some purchasers will buy them and sell off the "extras". What caught my attention was how nice the toys look in groups, and that's what made me decide to post them in 2 instalments.

Please click here to visit this fine American auctioneer's website

I especial like this photo because of its photo composition. I call the term "disruption". IN the photo are 2 airplanes that are different from the rest, which makes the photo all the more interesting. It's a "milder" form of disruption to a composition. A more "shocking example would be a group of cats in a photo, and in the lower conner a mouse tail!

One of my favourite airplane toys - A Marx "Piggyback" Bi-Plane. When I first saw this photo, I wondered in NASA had borrowed the idea. NASA used to shuttle the "Space Shuttle" from California, when the real space shuttle had to land there- instead of Florida. Weather was the usual cause of the alternate landing area.

These airplanes were of course modelled after the American aircraft carrier versions that one saw in WWII - mostly in the Pacific. At the time America and its allies were fighting the Japanese on the Second Front.

I've never seen the Lincoln Swept Wing Plane (the white one).

For sure, I'll have to search for more of them! 

I even like these 2 simpler airplanes - especially because of their simple design.

What's nice to see is are toys that come to auction jun a "well-used" condition. This affords everyone a change to purchase them. ANd as far as replacement parts go, there's are several places in the USA to find parts - I definitely have to write a post  about Thomas Antique Toy Parts! 

That's it for today. I wrote minimally so you could appreciate the toys without interruption of the narrative. I remember when the first Boeing 747 (Jumbo) passed over my house in Ville Saint Laurent .It was huge, but being about 2 miles from the runway, it had slowed down. I thought it would fall from the sky, but of course it never did. It was huge, but elegant!

I'm sure everyone at any time in aviation history always was in awe of airplanes. I know when I went to Washington years ago, Heidi and I went to the Smithsonian and the Aviation Museum 

(they now have a newer museum).  I could have spent a month just in that one museum. Almost every famous airplane in America's history was there, and every tourist in the gargantuan museum was in awe at whatever they were looking at. Amazingly, we stayed until the closing, and within 10 minutes the entire museum was cleared out and was silent. We stayed (more I than Heidi) stayed, and were almost the last ones to leave. One day, we'll have to return to Washington.

 The Smithsonian Museum and it's exceptional grouping of museums 

is definitely the best I've ever seen-period!

Thanks for visiting and as always

have a great part of the day or night

'wherever you may be,

Stacey Bindman

'toysearcher@gmail.com

Look! Up In The Sky!

Thursday, February, 5, 2015
Cloudy and warmer

Look!

Up In The Sky!

   The new season of auctions will soon start again, so I've been perusing through Liveauctioneers, searching for auctioneers and their upcoming auctions. I came across today's post that way, and the Lloyd Ralston Gallery will be having their auction on  February 21, 2015.  For thosewell-know ho don't know, Lloyd Ralston started this fine auction company and was  well known in the auction community,. Sadly, he passed away quite young. Fortunately, his 2 sons continue the tradition, and his fine legacy.

  When I came across the airplane images that you see today, I know immediately that they would "jump off the screen" - a delineation of the old expression- "jump off the page". You don't see multiple toys presented as a single listing often. However sometimes, it's better to sell a grouping rather than one-by-one. Those who are interested will bid,and hopefully for the seller and auctioneer, the final gavel price will be amenable to all. When you have 400+ listings, time is important. The sellers want to finish in good time, and bidders do not want to wait 4-8 hours for a single item.- at least that's how I've felt at an auction.

Please click here to redirect to this fine American auction company

Most of the toys today and tomorrow's post toys span from 1930-1950 in time, and cross over from the cast iron era into the pressed steel era of toy making. When you see a group of one type of toy, the image is much more interesting, and you can appreciate the details of the toy model.

Initially, I wasn't going to add the listing below, because it had a blimp or dirigible ,which really is not an airplane. But I changed my mind. In photographic composition and image content, sometimes adding something "out-tocontext" makes the photo or in this case the 10 images all the more interesting. As you look at the beginning photos, all of a sudden, you are presented with a blimp! 

I also like the 2 accompanying monoplanes.

I just noticed as I was typing, that I erred - I foot to place a slash for the size 4 1/2".

When you see so many toys of the same  type, and that they are all America, you realize just how many toys were made in the "Golden Years" of the industry.  America searched for people to come to Her, and millions and millions of people from around the world took her up on Her offer. You just have to go to Wikipedia and search for the censuses of America from the 1880's - 1950's to realize just how big America grew in population.

With so many people, the American market was enough for most American manufacturers. 

Even today, trying to find American products in Canada can be almost impossible;e. There's just too much red tape to sell here in canada with a mere population of 33, 00,000 people scattered in the second largest country in the world in  land mass.

I was going to write more, and add more detail to the post, and then decided - nah!

Let everyone just look at the fine set of airplanes and relax.

I also was going to make this a post of 20 images,but that would have diluted the overall quality of the airplanes. So tomorrow, I'll add the second instalment of the collection. I purposely selected the word "instalment". It reminded me when I was a kid in elementary school. On sunday,we'd go to the school auditorium, and there would be serial movies of cowboys or space movies such as Buck Rogers.

The Wyandotte Mystery Planes above reminded me of Buck Rogers. The photo reminded me of those "alien invasions" that you'd see when those bad aliens were coming to destroy our planet! Fortunately, today is going to be cloudy, and I won't have to look up in the sky - to check !

Thanks for visiting, and as always

have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be,

Stacey Bindman

toysearcher@gmail.com

The Tootsietoy Doodlebugs and Zephyrs

 Monday, February 2, 2015
Cloud with snow to follow, very, very, cold!

The Tootsietoy 

Doodlebugs and Zephyrs

  I'm not following my own plan for my blog lately. The plan is basically to have several posts prepared in advance with their respective screen captures and the photos and their respective descriptions already worked on. So what I'm doing is loping at my e-mails to see if anyone has written, and periodically going to Liveauctioneers and other places to see what might be of interest for tomorrow's post. It must be the long winter or what feels to be a long winter. 

   I did go to Liveauctioneers, and found some nice Tootsietoys that had been auctioned by the  Lloyd Ralston Gallery. However these Tootsietoys were "special". I'm sure I've presented them in my numerous posts about these exceptional American small die cast toys, but I never realized something. The Lincoln Zephyr  sand the Doodlebugs are 2 different toy models, even though they appeaser to me quite similar. So this is the post for today.

Please click here to visit this fine American auction company

The Doodlebugs

These small toy cars were die cast and had rubber tires. They were originally presented at the Chicago World's Fair as "The Car of Tomorrow". The toy came in multiple colours and could be purchased separately. One option was to purchase  an trailer called the "Tootsietoy Roamer". The trailer could attach to the back of the car, and children could then play with two toys instead of one. 

The metal  grill is exceptional on this toy,and of course the entire car is beautiful. If you look at the last green car below, you can actually see the small hold at the back of the car, where the "Roamer" would attach.

The Lincoln Zephyrs

The major differences between the Tootsietoy Doodlebugs and Lincoln Zephjyrs are:

1. The Doodlebug has a separate grill that attached to the front of the car.

2. The Lincoln Zephyrs are windup toys. They came with a key and the toy could

 be wound up and later could roll along the sidewalk or indoor wood floors or linoleum.

3, The Lincoln Zephyr came in 2 versions. One had what appears to be a large rear light at the back of the car. The other version was called a wrecker and had a large-sized hook to be able to tow cars.

While I was researching this post, I decided to search for "Tootsietoy windup toys". Other than the Lincoln Zephyr, I only found one other windup toy - the #1018x Jumbo  Sedan Windup.  I 'll be loping for other Tootsietoy windups. I'm wondering if the wind-up mechanism would have added too much cost to the toy, or if the winding mechanism would have stressed the metal  over time, due to the added force of the wind-up. 

Dinky Toys have outlasted Tootsietoys. The Tooysietoy Company closed down long ago. However, these are my favourite small-sized toy. The Tootsietoys started almost at the very beginning of the both century; 1901, to be precise.  Instantly they made fine small die cast toys, and  4 decades later were making toys in the millions. You can always find them on the "usual websites of Liveauctioneers and ebay, and I'm sure you'd find them at any antiques fair or flea market.

I did find an actual listing by Lloyd Ralston Gallery of a toy that came with the key. 

I'll have to add this at another time.

Thanks for visiting and as always

have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be,

Stacey Bindman

toysearcher@gmail.com

A Return to the Auburn Rubber Company

Friday, December 12, 2014
Overcast, some flurries, mild

A Return to the 

Auburn Rubber Company

   During the time that I was buying and selling toys on ebay, I discovered the fascinating world of rubber toys. One of the largest manufacturers was the Auburn Rubber Company.  What fascinated me was the fact that these toys have survived for so long considering that they were made from rubber.  I know nowadays that my car tires do not last as long as my earlier cars.Are the manufacturers using "different" materials so tires do not last 50,000 miles  (80,000 km)? I had to replace both my summer and winter tires (on rims) last year, yet I only had  45, 000 km or 27,000 miles. Worst of all, summer tires are used for 8 months of the year and winter tires for only 4 months. Yet when I received my 1940's and later rubber toys, the rubber was still flexible on most of the toys.

   What I also liked from the rubber toys was the fact that rubber contoured superbly well in moulds. Consequently, lots of small detail could easily be designed to eventually come up with detail in the final product.  When I would photograph the rubber toys,I had a lot of fun and satisfaction, by being able to light these toys up so fine. Of course,  the photography was lost on most ebay buyers. As long as you are honest and show a fair image of what you're selling most don't care how great the photo looks! However, photography on ebay, is improving - finally!

Please click here to visit this fine American auction company

I hadn't added a post lately from the Lloyd Ralston Gallery, so it was good to be able to. 

The two sons of the late Lloyd Ralston have continued the fine company. Also, they were one of the first people to help me with my blog by allowing me to use their images, 

after I had stopped buying and selling on ebay.

Not all of the toys below are Auburn Rubber Company toys. Nevertheless, I selected this image as a great example of the some of the many different toys that were made in that period. Also the arrangement and composition of the photo is excellent.

Here's another sampling of rubber toys from different manufacturers. Obvously, although there are no dates provided, the jets most certainly have to be from the mid-1950's.,give or take a few years.

The 4 trucks are from the 1940's, and I can;t tell you when the 3 propeller airplanes were made.

 The name of the company on the side of the car is easily read if you enlarge this image in Google Blogger slide view. That illustrates how much fine detail can be transferred from the mould to the actual finished toy.

 You can easily appreciate the large catalogue of toys that the Auburn Rubber Company had at the time. Today's presentation is merely a "taste". As I was searching for what to present today, I had come across a fine set of rubber soldiers from the company.  I almost decided to add a post on the Auburn Rubber Company soldiers, but decided to present something different. Too many posts of a similar nature tends to keep readers from reading the later posts.  However, in a few weeks, I 'll see if I can find enough listings to write a post on the Auburn soldiers.

I like the depth and design of the many different racers and cars that the company produced. I didn't even get them all! 

I don't know why the company would make 2 very similar racers that were only 1/2" 13 mm) difference in length? However, the nicely-detailed tractor came with the racers, so I left all 3 together. I like how the hand of the driver are relaxed on the steering wheel,and how his head is turned downwards and to the side.  That's quite different from the normal  position of looking straight ahead.

Of course, if you like old cars,you'd like old toy cars.  What's great about rubber toys is that they're within easy reach (cost to purchase) of most collectors,and they'd make great items to display in anyones den or on house walls.

I would think that since rubber was fairly inexpensive at the time, the rubber toy companies could make lots of different moulds with lots of different models, toy types, and colours. You can easily see how the 2 motorcycles below are quite similar,yet have enough differences.

I've heard of the Cord car, but now that I think of it, I don't think I ever presented a metallic Cord!

What I like about this racer is how large the real racer was. at the time. Some racers were huge and I canlt even imagine the noise, vibrations and exhaust times that these produced.

Pastel colours were not used that much, and primary colours were. If you look at the overall toys shown today, there are a few toys that have 2 different shades of the same colour or are  totally different (red/silver, yellow/green, blue/white, and red/yellow). I don't know how the 2-toned or 2 different colours were applied to the rubber,so that's a question I'll have to find the answer to.

I think  I sometimes give myself too much homework to do!

If you want to do a search for my very early posts on my own bought and sold rubber cars, simply do a search for Auburn, Rubber Toys,Sun Rubber Toys, and Arcor. That should be able to  have some results come up.

Thanks for dropping by and as always,

have a great past of the day or night,

wherever you may be,

Stacey

toy earcher@gmail.com