BY JACK HERBERT AMONG the very earliest of American-made toys are the rarely seen tinplate Riverboats designed and manufactured by such firms as Althof Bergmann and Francis Field & Francis in the 1860s and 70s. They are quite fragile by now, of course, which may account for the scarcity of some of them which were not originally made of cast [...]
BY R. T. CLAUS BETWEEN 1935 AND THE BEGINNING of the Second World War two great ships of nearly identical size competed for “The Blue Riband.” When completed in 1935 the Normandie of the CGT, at the time the world’s largest liner, weighed in at 79,280 gross tons. On her maiden voyage she captured the speed record with a westbound [...]
BY BURTON BENJAMIN THE MODEL CARS FEATURED in this article were made by JNF. Josef Neuhierl founded the company in Furth, Germany in 1920. His company was among the most prestigious sheet metal toy production companies. They manufactured metal cars from 1920 to 1956, which was the introduction of plastic cars. In 1963 Carrera, a.k.a. Neuhierl was formed. Today, Carrera [...]
BY JACK HERBERT HOW OFTEN HAVE YOU ever seen a toy Popcorn Wagon in your travels? Probably never, although it would seem to be a natural for a Twenties or Thirties toymaker, wouldn’t it? As far as I know, this is the only Popcorn Wagon ever attempted. It’s huge – 20″ long, the size of a kitchen sink, and made [...]
BY R. T. CLAUS Next year will be the 103rd anniversary of two quite unusual Marklin ships. Neither are to be found among the more prestigious and collectable boats seen in the “Schiffe” section of the 1909 catalog, but rather tucked away, one under “Landfahrzeuge,” and the other in the steam driven toy section under “Baggermaschinen.” I would wager to [...]
FAIRFIELD, MAINE, November 30, 2011. Over the past 40 years, James D. Julia Auctioneers have established themselves as one of the leading auction houses the world over. During that time, their company has evolved into four separate divisions, each of which has established their prowess. Their firearms division is unquestionably by far the leader in the world today for rare [...]
When ever I came across Bill Powell’s booth at an antique show I knew I was going to see some of the most exciting things in the show – Bill has one of the great “eyes” in the business – whether it is a great trade or tin sign, a fabulous store fixture, or a lithographed paper-on-wood toy – it [...]
BY R. T. CLAUS The Graf Zeppelin was the world’s most successful airship. In spite of having only an 80 mph cruising speed this huge craft was able, during 9 years of service beginning in 1928, to circle the globe, make 590 flights, and travel over one million miles. The Luftschiff had truly mind boggling statistics. It was 776 ft. [...]
BY JACK HERBERT INTRODUCED IN England in 1935 by Tri-Ang, a frabjous (yes, that’s a real word!) line of small, tinplate vehicles called Minics filled an obvious need in the toy world. The cars, lorries, and commercial vehicles were just a tad larger than the prevalent diecast vehicles of that time. They were from 4″ to 7″, but had the [...]
VINELAND, N.J. – A pressed-steel collection with deep provenance and an eclectic West Coast collection whose owner lives by the motto “preserve and protect” have merged to form the heart of Bertoia’s big Sept. 23-24 antique toy auction. “This sale represents the journey of two great collectors – the late Fred Castan of Nebraska and Ralph Tomlinson, who lives in [...]
