The Home Hardware collection was probably the real instigator of the whole toy collecting mess. Although he was already a collector of various things (mugs, banks, generally old stuff and antiques), the toy mania really began to grow and expand with Home Hardware.
I admit it - I didn't help much by purchasing some of those myself as gifts for him. That was probably a mistake ... you see, these toys were not only collectible replicas of old vehicles, they were banks with a locking key. I liked the idea that he could display both a car/truck and a bank in just one piece. To me that meant less banks.
Unfortunately for me, it meant something entirely different to him ... just another type of bank to add to the bank collection he had already. Even worse, these were trucks or cars so not only did the Home Hardware collection have vehicles that were banks, it grew to include things like metal tractor trailers (not banks); plastic tractor trailers (not banks); tiny toys like hot wheels - again, not banks.
That ignited about 30-odd years worth of toy collecting (the happy thing is that he mostly stopped collecting banks, mugs, and glasses).
Edit: Oct. 11, 2018
So finally I managed to get some of the Home Hardware collection photographed to upload. Most of what's on this page is from the first series. We've been trying figure out when he started collecting them, and he thinks it was 1978 or 1979, but we haven't been able to pin the actual year down yet. Still, in the Series 1 set, they issued one a year, and there are 12 of them in that series.
I don't know how many were issued in Series 2 (*update - The Toyman says there is only 5 in the second series) or Series 3 (apparently he says we have none of 3).
Since there are 12 images on this page, the Series 2 banks, and other collectibles issued by Home Hardware that aren't truck-banks will be added on separate pages linked from the bottom of this page. I don't want to make the pages too long.
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| Series 1 - Issue #1 |
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| Series 1 - Issue #2 |
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| Series 1 - Issue #3 |
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| Series 1 - Issue #4 |
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| Series 1 - Issue #5 |
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| Series 1 - Issue #6 |
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| Series 1 - Issue #7 |
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| Series 1 - Issue #8 |
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| Series 1 - Issue #9 |
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| Series 1 - Issue #10 (notice it's not a truck, but a horse and wagon!) |
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| Series 1 - Issue #11 |
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| Series 1 - Issue #12 |
My son had a 2004 home hardware van with operating doors on the cab and a bank in the back that was a gift from his grandmother. It got dropped and the front cab broke, I am wondering if you sell these items found on your site or if you know where you can buy them. Thank you
ReplyDeleteCan you give me a model # or a picture .There about 40 of these toys.I have some extres ,but need this info . TY Ron Also the toy will have a series # and # in series.
DeleteMy son had a 2004 home hardware van with operating doors on the cab and a bank in the back that was a gift from his grandmother. It got dropped and the front cab broke, I am wondering if you sell these items found on your site or if you know where you can buy them. Thank you
ReplyDeleteWe have one!
Delete