Wednesday, September 23, 2020

The Odds and Sods 1

 "Odds and Sods" are the toys we have one or two of, but not much in the way of a "collection". Some things just catch the Toyman's eye, and he'll grab them ... for whatever reason.  I have no idea why some of them are included, but ... as the wife, even I can admit some of them are pretty interesting. 

These two are from Richmond Toys - that's a brand I'd never heard of before. They're pretty well made steel toys, much like the Lincoln or Otaco toys. The design is somewhat similar, and the dump truck is a nearly identical design, other than the front end. 

Richmond Tow Truck


 

Richmond Dump Truck

I haven't been able to find out very much about the Richmond brand toys, other than they were produced in Michigan, during the 1940s - Richmond closed down in 1948. According to this page (Taylor's Old Toy Trucks) the toys use a design that is the same as one produced in Canada, by Ellwood Toys (another Ontario company I have never heard of).  The other interesting thing on that page is that Ellwood purchased the Lincoln dies after Lincoln went out of business.  I need to do some more research on that.  After learning that little bit, I guess it isn't surprising that they resemble Lincoln Toys.


The Heinz metal truck above is from Metalcraft Corp. This truck appears new, or nearly new, except for the metal grill on the front, which appears pretty warn, so if this is an older truck then it's been restored, but looking at the bottom, it's hard to say if it's new or restored.  The body is a light yellowish-beige, but the hubcaps on the tires are olive green (I mean, really the colour of bottled green olives). It seems like an odd choice of colour.  There is another in much worse condition found on the Heritage Auctions site, and they site the toy as being from 1930s. Whether this one is, or is a reproduction, I don't know and haven't time to research right now. Something else to find out!


Another thing I discovered when I found the one on the auction site, is that they had a box for it (the auction I mean). On the box, it says it has real electric lights, but the one we have doesn't appear to have anything at all in the light slot :).

Two additional toys we have are from Structo. One is an oil tanker style, but on the bottom is a wind up key, this being one of the first we acquired.

 


Structo Wind-up Tanker

And lastly for this post, a Structo Transportation Carrier. I think this was interesting to  him because it came complete with two cars for the carrier. Inside, is a ramp which can be removed to "drive" the cars down from the top or out from the interior. Over all, it's in pretty good shape, and looks to be original condition.



Til next folks ... happy collecting!




No comments:

Post a Comment