The Kansas Toy and Novelty Company - Revisited

Thursday, December 20, 2012

The Kansas Toy and Novelty Company

(Revisited)

     When I started to buy old toys on E-Bay, the "slush" toys caught my attention. The reason that these toys are called "slush" is the way that they were made. A mould or casting was made that was hollow and had 2 holes (usually oval) at the bottom. Molten (melted) alloys of metal would be poured into the casting, and "swished" around to adhere to the inner surface, and the rest of the alloy would be poured off. The word "swish" or synonymous with "slush. Once the casting and alloy cooled and hardened, the mould would be opened (usually 2 halves) and the toy removed. Later, the toy would be painted.

     What I liked about these small toys, usually 3"- 6" in length or 78mm - 152mm) was that they were "crude". If you can find larger-sized images, you'll notice that the workers did not file down the roughened window or other parts.  So windows to cars are not always smooth, but may have a rough-edged surface. Also, these toys break easily, especially if the original alloy had impurities in it.

I know because I had one arrive partly broken to my house, and I decided to see just how brittle the metal was. It broke off easier than a piece of chocolate. I wrote about that toy,way back! 

     I also like them because there were several companies that manufactured these toys,and relatively-speaking they're not as expensive as the larger and more popular toys. Of course, they were painted with lead paint, and they are brittle, and some of the alloys might contain lead!

    I often go to Live Auctioneers to screen-capture toy photos because sometimes the companies that allow me to use their fine photos don't keep archives form older auctions. Also, it's easier to do a fast search with the words "Live Auctioneers Slush" on Google. That seems to get me what I want much faster!  

   I was fortunate to have found a good variety of nice slush toys form the Kansas Toy and Novelty Company through Lloyd ralston Gallery, however many nice other toys were in groups and the photo sizes were too small for nice viewing. However, by all means go to Live Auctioneers to have a view.

http://www.liveauctioneers.com

(Please click on the address above to be redirected to their great site)

http://www.lloydralstontoys.com

(Please click on the address above to be redirected to their great site)

Thanks for dropping by, 

and as always,

have a great part of the day or noght,

wherever you may be.

Stacey

Minic - A British Toy Company

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Minic

(A British Toy Company)

http://www.lloydralstontoys.com

(Please click on the address to be redirected to the Lloyd Ralston Gallery)

     I don't write much about  non-American toy companies because it's hard to find them here on the North American marketplace. However, I did find the Lloyd Ralston Gallery which had a nice collection of Minic toys on Live Auctioneers.

   Minic was a toy company owned by the LinesBrothers. They started in 1850 and produced mostly wood toys and baby accessories. After WWI, several sons of Joseph LInes decided to build a factory to produce toys, and the company incorporated itself as Lines  Brothers Limited. The company flourished, and became much bigger, with a about 1000 employees. In 1924, the brothers registered the name Tri-ang, a symbolic log of 3 lines representing the 3 brothers. As I was researching the name Minic, I had come across the name Tri-ang several times, often written about together.

    Time passed,and several toy companies were purchased before WWII. With the start of WWII, Tri-ang had to retool for the war, as all companies around the world had to. The company expanded to 7000 employees, and made machine guns , magazines for the famous British fighters- the Spitfire and the Hurricane, and other war materials.

   After WWII, the company again went back to manufacturing toys, and the Minic line of toys was started up. What's interesting about these small toys is that they are mostly clockwork toys (wind-ups) with a key. They appear to be well-made, and last. One more thing that is interesting is that North American Auctions use the British titles and descriptions when listings British toys.  One example is that the British word lorry is kept when in North America, a lorry is in fact a truck! The British word petrol is correspondingly called gas or gasoline in North America.

   I've written most of the Minic and Tri-ang material from a very interesting site below. (credit)

http://www.triang.nl/historynew.htm

(Please click on their address to be redirected to a very great and informative website on these toys)

     What I find interesting with the Minic "mini" toys (usually no larger than 5" in length or 128 mm is that the British Isles and the Commonwealth of countries still affiliated with Great Britain at the time, could sustain 3 companies of these small toys. The other 2 companies of course being, Dinky and Matchbox. Yet in the U.S.A. there really was only Tootsietoy, and that eventually closed down. 

     1 more interesting point to note is that many similar items such as trucks will have the same truck (Lorry) cab, but the body will be different.

Thanks for dropping by for a visit,

and have a great part of the day wherever you may be.

Stacey