The Upheaval of Toys

New Broadloom

Work  on the toyroom is progressing, albeit a little slower than I would have hoped. Finally, on Saturday the broadloom was installed. That was after our daughter and son-in-law stopped in to move all the cabinets out into the yard ... it looked like a garage sale with stuff everywhere.

After the carpet was down, we managed to bring in the TV stand and the desk ourselves, and all the drawers that got removed from the cabinets, but we couldn't manage the cabinets ... they got tarped and left outside overnight as we prayed it didn't rain.

Sunday afternoon, the 'kids' stopped by on their way home from their trip and moved them back inside for us. Still ... although everything is in the house, the room hasn't been put together.  We still have to wait for more renos - the baseboards have to be installed, and he's decided to remove the door and front end of the room and make more wall space. On the stair landing (would be left side in the photo) is an opening that used to be a window (the man cave was a garage at one time). We will get that filled in with drywall and small shelving for some of the little toys, hopefully, at the same time the door area is filled in.

The Smaller Collections

In our collection we have several collections of smaller toys, and those collections are limited in the number of toys we have (or will have). One of these small collections are of Studebaker models. That collection began way back in the late 1940s when my father-in-law worked at the Studebaker factory. Neither I, nor my husband, know exactly how my father-in-law acquired the first toy, but that car (made of plastic and rubber tires) was a prototype design for the car Studebaker was to build the following year (1950 or 1951). 

It surprises me even more that this car has survived all these years, in basically perfect condition. It isn't terribly detailed, but has a tin insert on the underside, and does have silver coloured bumpers and the typical Studebaker "pointed bullet" front.

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

After the Move

It's now almost a year (well, actually only 9 months) after we moved into our new place and (sigh) we are still "under construction". I guess I shouldn't be that surprised ... it tends to end up always being that way for us.

We moved into this place December 1st, after it being renovated completely inside for 3 full months, and it still wasn't fully completed. The exterior still needs new siding (working on getting someone for that) and new windows (going into tomorrow (Sept 15) finally, so  yay!), the entry (was actually called a sunroom in the listing but we won't be using it as that, but as the entry hall) has not had anything done as yet (probably have to wait til spring now) and the man-cave (ie: the toy room) is still waiting on it's floor (carpeting - on order, so yay again) and a proper handrail for the stairs.

Selling Toys is Not Much Fun

For the last year we've been trying to sort and organize a rather large collection of toys (the collectible kind) and it's turned out to be far more difficult than I expected. Truth is, it wouldn't be hard for me ... it would be gone by now (it isn't), all of it, but it's hard for the guy that owns them.

I've done my share of pushing him, and to be fair to him, he has sold quite a number of boxes of toys, so the effort is there, it's just going a lot slower than I'd hoped. Besides the boxes that have sold, he's set out a box full of toys for our nephews (both grown up with kids of their own), one of our grandson's has claimed a few, and the Toyman has donated some to several groups for fundraising.

Cardboard Cars and Wheeled Toys

Had a hard time parting with this.

Who knows what lies inside the mind of a collector?  In some ways I actually can relate, because I have my own (few, and small) collections. I used to collect a lot of different things, and have whittled away almost all of it, except for the things that are usable (some kitchenware for example, that I still use), and even fewer things that are just for looking at.  Having been a prolific collector myself in the past, I do understand part of the thought process, just not all of it.

Sold at Garage Sale

For me, when it came time to pare down (to move), it wasn't all that hard to clear out the things I no longer used, no longer had on display, and no longer had room for. There were a very few pieces that I had a problem getting rid of, but I did. There is a time and place for everything, and when it gets to the point that there isn't (a time and place), it's time to start emptying out.

The Toyman has a harder time with that, but as much as I want to just grab stuff "I" don't think he needs ... that really doesn't work.  He'd be annoyed if I did that, but he'd also get over the annoyance. The problem is that he would eventually (slowly) replace that stuff. You can't change another person, but you can push or nudge them towards making that change, and you can support them as they go through it.

London Toys Company - The Little Things

We're still going through the piles of toys in the basement, but there is a box with a pile of mostly common toys, and the Toyman just tosses toys into it when he comes across something that he doesn't think is worth anything (in terms of $ value), or that he doesn't have a lot of interest in collecting. Anything worth $1 or less he just tosses into the box.

Me, on the other hand ... I'm the one whose pulled toys out of that box. Not always because they are worth something ($ wise), but if they looked like something different from all the "more-modern" Hot Wheels and Matchbox toys. I'm a big proponent of "different" or "unusual" things (don't always keep them, but I like to learn about them - bit of a history lover).

A few of the toys I pulled out were marked on the bottom. They weren't in terrific shape in terms of paint, and they didn't have bottom panels like a lot of vehicles do. Still, they tweaked my interest (my historical interest). Most older items that have markings also have a story somewhere to be found. These were marked with "London Toy" and the name of the vehicle (beverage truck, fire truck, 5 passenger sedan), and a number (14, 15, or 16).

And of course, I went online to check it out. It does have a bit of history - a few people have written about them already, but very few indeed.

Initially I wondered about the name of the toys - a lot of the collectible metal cars and trucks were produced in the UK, so that was my first inclination, but as it turns out, it was a company in London, Ontario. It no longer exists, but all the reports I can find indicate the dates were somewhere between 1940 and 1950. Links to the sites I visited are for Collectors Weekly, The Silicon Underground,  & Rodney's Dimestore Gallery.