It was Teddy bear and doll enthusiast Linda Mullins’ first Del Mar Shpw as an exhibitor. She used to put on her own San Diego area show, and is well-recognized at the All-American Collector’s Show, but she treaded new territory in November.Aside from bringing her bright white Maltese, Lily, she brought everything Teddy, from Black Forest carvings to mechanical toys. ”It’s been a very good show for me,” said Mullins, who has always regularly attended the Del Mar Show. She has written close to 20 books on Teddy Bear-related topics and has held several fundraising auctions to help areas hit by natural disasters. The showstopper was an early 1900s carousel horse, and a Black Forest bear humidor/smoking set, which sold at the show. She had it priced at $2,500. She bought the elaborately-carved smoking stand at May’s Antique Market in Brimfield, Pennsylvania. She offered five Black Forest pieces at the show in the thousand dollar range, but the smoking stand was the largest and most expensive. The Teddy Bear’s namesake, Theodore Roosevelt, could be seen in both cast iron and lithographed on a tray. The name originated from an incident on a bear-hunting trip in Mississippi in November 1902, to which Roosevelt was invited by Mississippi Governor Andrew H. Longino. There were several other hunters competing, and most of them had already killed an animal. A suite of Roosevelt’s attendants, led by Holt Collier, cornered, clubbed, and tied an American Black Bear to a willow tree after a long, exhausting chase with hounds. They called Roosevelt to the site and suggested that he shoot it. He refused to shoot the bear himself. deeming this unsportsmanlike. However, he instructed that the bear be killed to put it out of it’s misery, and it became a topic of a political cartoon by Clifford Berryman in The Washington Post on November 16, 1902. While the initial cartoon of an adult black bear lassoed by a white handler and a disgusted Roosevelt had symbolic overtones, later issues of that and other Berryman cartoons made the bear smaller and cuter. Morris Michtom saw the drawing of Roosevelt and the bear cub and was inspired to create a new toy. He created a little stuffed bear cub and put it in his shop window with a sign that read ‘Teddy’s bear,” after sending the bear to Roosevelt and receiving permission to sell the bears. The toys were an immediate success and Michtom founded the Ideal Novelty and Toy Company, which still exists today. At the same time, in Germany, the Steiff firm, unaware of Michtom’s bear, produced a stuffed bear from Richard Steiff’s designs. They exhibited the toy at the Leipzig Toy Fair in March 1903 and exported 3,000 to the United States.
Category Archives: Toys
Expert Craftsman verses hill folk
Out of the 500 dealers at the Hillsborough Show, there was only one game board. Done by either a company or a master craftsman, the marquetry board for playing either checkers or chess, hoped to castle for $925. The intricate board is quite a show piece as compared to many of the crudely carved game boards made by the hill folk that appear at Tom Baker’s Calfornia Country Show. These folk art boards are also widely collectible, and oftentimes more expensive. Despite the myth that the hill folk were only hand making boards for games of chance to safe a few bucks, upon closer inspection of some of these folk pieces required considerable skill and intellectual prowess. Country Show dealer Kim Chambers, who wrote the definitive book on the subject of folk art game boards, has a themed marquetry board in is his collection that is valued at $10,000. For more information on the game board in the space of Charles Gray Fine Art, call (916) 987-9446.
Warmboe's three-seater hopes to zoom off with $750
While Art Deco era toy trucks are relatively common, sedans are much more unusual. William Warmboe offered a red and black three-seat sedan in excellent condition that he hoped would speed off for $750 at the Arts & Crafts Show in San Francisco.Warmboe’s next show will be the Golden California Show where he will be making what he calls a warehouse grab for a bunch of never-before-seen merchandise that he has had in storage. There is hardly and antique show Warmboe won’t do. He travels between Southern and Northern California setting up at nearly 30 shows a year. One of his newest favorites is the Sacramento Antique Faire, which he enjoys for the different group of customers and dealers. According to Warmboe this is one of the few outdoor monthlies where he can sell fine Victorian furniture. He can be contacted at (650) 344-4050.
Yogi bear breaks world record at Midnight Sun Auction
Yogi Bear wasn’t just vying for that picnic basket at the Midnight Sun Auction held in June. The stakes were much higher than a peanut butter and jelly sandwich
Vintage G.I. Joe's fire up all-American Show
Military memorabilia, from helmets to toy soldiers, always take aim at the All-American Show and this summer’s event, slated for August 15th and 16th at the Glendale Civic Auditorium, is no exception. With the release of the new G.I. Joe movie right around the corner, military items will be shooting up faster than the mercury in thermometers. Dealer Phil Miller is likely to bring his own G.I. Joe, a life-sized fiberglass soldier ready to engage in battle. He brought the angry 1970s G.I. to the last All-American Show in hopes that he would blast away for $950. ”He would make a great showstopper for a military collector’s showroom or any military-themed display,” he said. “These are also popular at Army Surplus stores.” Miller bought the well-armed soldier from a dealer in San Dimas. The movie has been described as a cross between Mission Impossible and James Bond with some Rambo thrown in, as well. In this thriller, instead of Bond’s SPECTRE, there is the nefarious COBRA, the Scottish arms lord. The female lead in Sienna Miller famous for her co-starring role with the deceased Heath Ledger in the movie, “Casanova.” She will be playing the villainess Baroness. Channing Tatum will be playing Duke. He is best known for his current role as Pretty Boy Floyd in “Public Enemies.” Prior to his gangster role, he was the star of cult favorite, “Battle in Seattle,” where he protested in the streets against World Trade Organizations. Whereas in the G.I. Joe movie he uses machine guns to fend off high tech tanks, in Seattle, he threw bricks at a Starbuck’s barista. In celebration of “G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra,” which will be released on August 7th, just a week before the All-American Collector’s Show, dealers will be bringing out vintage G.I. Joe action figures and parts. The G.I. Joe line of military-themed action figures produced by Hasbro began in 1964 as a 12″ line of figures, and in 1982, the line was relaunched in a 3 3/4-inch scale complete with vehicles, playsets, and a complex background story involving an ongoing struggle between the G.I. Joe Team and the evil Cobra Organization. The G.I. Joe toys are significant because they led to the coining of the term “action figure.” The All-American Show will be open from noon to 6 p.m. on Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday. Admission is $7. Call (310) 455-2894 for more information.
Vintage marble games, names and manufacturers
Kids have been playing marbles and marble games for thousands of years. It is thought that marbles began with clay people playing with small pebbles or balls of natural clay. Clay balls have also been found in the tombs of Egypt, and in Native American burial grounds as well as the ancient Aztec pyramids. The actual marble game is attributed to the Dutch in the 1500s or 1600s. The earliest book on marbles was written in England in 1815; it revealed that the marbles of the time were made of china, clay, glass or even real marble. Around 1948, a German glassblower invented “marble scissors,” a device used to make marbles. The first machine made marbles were made in Germany in 1890 and later that year in the United States. The 1950s was the marble heyday. In Japan, the cat’s eye marble was created by injecting colored glass into a regular marble. Glass is the most popular marble material. Clay marbles are made inexpensively, but are not as accurate as glass marbles, which are made by melting glass in a furnace and pouring it into molds. The first company that produced marbles almost entirely by machine was M.F. Christensen & Son Company of Akron, Ohio. They went out of business in 1917. Around that same time, another company called Akro Agate began business in West Virginia. Once they came into being, all these smaller companies came about, mostly along the Ohio River in West Virginia. Christensen Agate began in 1925, but was out of business by 1931. There glass was such a high quality that the Great Depression hit them hard. But during those six years or so, they created some of the best machine-made marbles around and are among the top collectible marbles. Marble names Some of the later popular marbles were called corkscrews and were characterized by two or more colors, with one color spiraling on top of another. These were produced by Akro Agate and have been more specifically named by collectors
Game Board Guru's true name
Since his name sounds similar to that of the the unibomber and fellow educator, Ted Kaczynski, Long Beach Vets dealer Tom Cieszynski prefers to go by the name ordained by Collector magazine
A.C. Gilbert still champ with erector set
Instructo toy company out of Philadelphia attempted to give Aflred Carlton Gilbert a run for his money, with their “Master Toy” erector set-inpired building toy, but appears they came up short. Dealer Lynne Fraser offered a complete “Master Toy” set for $120 at the recent Long Beach Antique Market. Boasting lots of interlocking metal gears and parts, the sets claim to fame was “No screws, nuts or bolts,” which contrasted it with the wildly popular Erector Set. Although the Mater’s box says, “The World’s Greatest Building Toy,” Fraser believes the toy never really caught on. The patent pending construction toy seems to be quite an oddity. A building game aficionado that walked into her space at the Long Beach Show told Fraser that in more than 50 years he had never seen an erector set by that company. If the Master Toy had surpassed the true master, they would be as amply available as vintage Gilbert erector sets. Alfred Carlton Gilbert was an amateur magician, trained doctor, and Olympic gold medalist in the pole vault, who became a famous inventor and toy manufacturer. Gilbert thought up the idea for the Erector Set during one of his frequent commutes from New Haven, Connecticut to New York City. From his train window, Gilbert viewed workers building a power line tower. He based his children’s construction set on miniature versions of the same beams the workers were using. He introduced his first toy erector set in 1913. Originally named Mysto Erector Structural Steel Builder, Erector Sets had evenly spaced holes for bolts to pass through, and used screws, bolts, pulleys, and gears similar to those used during real construction. At the time, Erector Sets were in direct competition with the Meccano building toy. However, Meccano Toys, Ltd. bought the rights to the Erector Set in 1962. The Erector Set is said to have been the subject of the first national advertising campaign in America for a toy. Besides the Erector Set, Gilbert patented more than 150 toys, many educational, including model trains, glass blowing kits, chemistry sets (including one designed for girls), and a miniature Atomic Energy Lab (with real radioactive particles and Geiger counter).
Graphics, Geography & Morality
Games today don’t have the same educational aspects as they did in the late 1800s through the 1960s according to the Board Game Guru, one of the the Long Beach Antique Market’s newest dealers. He is a recently retired school teacher who spent 37 years in the San Marcos School District, and after retiring decided to branch out from not only collecting vintage board games, but to selling them. He has been a dealer at the Long Beach Show since October. When it comes to the unfortunate disintegration of board games, he is not just referring to the fact that games back then actually focused on useful subjects, like science, math and geography. “They also used to teach more moral values by forcing children to make ethical decisions,” he said. “Today, the games are mostly violent.” Among the most desirable vintage board games, according to the Board Game Guru are the many varieties of Peter Coddles, games about history, radio games, and Disney varieties that showcase Disneyland rides or Mickey Mouse. The former teacher admits he gravitated towards board games because of the educational aspects, as well as the great graphics on the boxes. The first game he purchased was certainly educational, entitled “Across the Continent.” ”I loved the graphics…it has the continent of Europe on the cover…and I loved how it meshed so well with me being a teacher,” he said. His personal collection of games tend to be older than the ones he offers at the Long Beach Show. All of his are pre-1900. The earliest one he had for sale at the February show was from 1892, but the oldest in his personal collection dates back to 1862. ”It’s called ‘The Messenger Boy,’” he said. The messenger boy would run from place to place delivering telegraphs. He would draw cards that would tell him where to deliver his messages, and he would move along the game board accordingly. He actually has a later (1920s) version of ‘The Messenger Boy’ that shows the delivery boy on the cover with an upgraded mode of transportation
High end items selling
“Only the absolute best sells. Only the top end,” said Frank Berry, a dealers in vintage toys and advertising, who had two of his best shows ever at the December Rose Bowl and Long Beach Vets.He warns dealers to be careful because it is often tempting to buy the mediocre items, especially now, because they are priced low. ”But there is no market for them because of the economy,” said Berry, who is also a cruise ship comedian. It goes beyond the economy. There is also a generational shift taking place. The younger generation, which is marrying and starting families, is starting to shop the flea markets and antique malls in order to find interesting and unusual items to furnish their homes and apartments. ”They only want something that is unique and in mint condition,” said Berry. Shoppers these days want a high end item that is ready to go. The dealer’s observations is in line with Dennis Boses’ credo, which is clean, clean, clean. Leaving something dirty or covered in verdigris does not preserve a valuable patina, in most cases, it hurts its chances of selling. He brought several examples of “mint and unique” to the Long Beach Show in December. Among them are circa 1915 pair of matching eggshell enamel cases with fairies. The smaller of the English cases was for stamps, and the larger for cigarettes. He had not priced the pair yet, but explained that in their country of origin, they would sell for well over $2,500. A plush and composition teddy doll, along with another bundled in a plush Eskimo type suite, are most desirable because they are scarce. ”The doll company brought them out in around 1910 and they weren’t popular so they stopped making them,” he said. Berry is going to continue to bring the teddy doll, $975, and the plush eskimo doll, $200, to shows until he finds the right buyer for them. Louis Amberg & Son Doll Company (1878-1930) was one of the companies that made teddy dolls in around 1909. The toy and doll company began in Cincinnati. Ohio in 1878 and later moved to New York City around 1893. They first imported bisque dolls from Germany and France, later they manufactured their own composition dolls. By the late 1920s, after the addition of a partner and a name adjustment, the Amberg company was advertising more than 600 style numbers. including some imports. The teddy dolls was not the most unusual of their plush meets composition creations. That same year they made a Chantecler, or chicken doll. The 14″ tall doll had a composition head set on a rooster’s body. The doll was based on a character in a popular card game at the time. If Berry found one of these, he’d be sure to snap it up.
