Choo Choo Chugging Around the Christmas Tree

 

QUESTION: Every Christmas since I can remember, our family has got out an old tine train set that belonged to my grandfather and set it up under the Christmas tree. It still runs and is in good condition. All we know is that the set was made by a German company named Märklin. What can you tell us about this company?

ANSWER: From the looks of your train, I’d say it dates from the 1920s or 1930s. At the time, these trains were more toys than authentic models. Their design reflects the boxy look of European trains rather than the sleeker, simpler lines of American ones.

As the 1930s dawned, the Great Depression forced millions of people out of work. Owning an electric toy train was the ultimate. Kids even loved observing the trains displayed in department store windows. What could be more rewarding to a young boy than to receive a model train for Christmas? But these little trains were expensive so were out of reach of many families. 

Manufacturers lovingly handcrafted the earliest toy trains, made prior to 1850, of shining brass to run on the bare floor. But by the late 1830's, a number of prosperous toy companies began producing toy trains.  Around 1856, George W. Brown, a Connecticut firm, produced the first self-propelled train made of iron and  coated with tin to prevent rust. A wind up clockwork motor drove the engine and carriages on plush Victorian carpets on straight or curved tracks.

In 1859, tin smith Theodor Friedrich Wilhelm Märklin began producing doll house accessories made of lacquered tinplate. Although the Märklin Toy Company of Germany originally specialized in doll house accessories, It became known for its toy trains.

By the 1870's, the most popular trains were powered by steam. Utilizing alcohol or sometimes coal to propel. they duplicated the might and energy of their big, big brothers.

The tin toy makers in both Europe and the U.S. realized that profits could be made by selling toy trains to the masses and jumped on the toy model bandwagon. Early on, they set their sights on wealthier people by promoting their products’ snob appeal.

In 1891, Märklin began producing wind-up toy trains that ran on expandable sectional tracks and the following year created a sensation by making the first figure eight track layout. It also established a track gauge settings numbered from 0 to 4, which it presented that year at the Leipzig Toy Fair. These track gauges soon became international standards. Märklin began producing 0 gauge trains as early as 1895 and H0 scale in 1935. In 1972, the company rolled out diminutive Z scale trains, the smallest in the world in competition to  Arnold Rapido's introduction of N gauge.

Märklin’s owners noted that toy trains, like doll houses, offered the potential for future profits when, after the initial purchase, owners would expand by purchasing accessories for years to come. So, the company offered additional rolling stock and track with which to expand its boxed sets.

Electric trains became commercially successful by 1897 when the Cincinnati, Ohio, firm of Carlisle and Finch manufactured and sold a two-gauge unit for only three dollars, It also was the first to issue a model railway builder's instruction manual.

Many consider the years prior to World War I to be the "Golden Age" of quality model trains. As the war approached, manufacturers converted their factories to produce war monitions, rifles and replacement parts. The Depression that followed the war precluded many of these operators from coming back and many disappeared.

But Märklin continued producing toy trains until May 11, 2006 when Kingsbridge, a London venture capital company, took it over. The company filed for bankruptcy on February 4, 2009, but on February 5, 2010, after purchasing the rival LGB Company, announced it had returned to profitable state. Many consider Märklin's older trains highly collectible today.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about "Lady Luck" in the 2024 Fall Edition, online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

The World in Miniature

 

QUESTION: My great grandfather made a dollhouse for his daughter, who passed it down to her daughter, my grandmother, who passed it on to her daughter, my mother, who then passed it on to me. It’s a grand house, all handmade of wood. He styled it to the Victorian houses of the time. Over the years, each owner furnished it differently using both commercially made and homemade furnishings. When did little girls begin playing with dollhouses? And does my dollhouse have any value?

ANSWER: Dollhouses, in one form or another, have existed for centuries, most likely beginning with the ancient Egyptians. Archaeologists discovered the earliest known examples in the Egyptian tombs of the Old Kingdom, created nearly 5,000 years ago. They placed small clay replicas of their houses and belongings in and around burials to provide the comforts of home to the deceased in the afterlife. Although today’s dollhouses are different from these ancient ones, they include purposes other than play. Over the last five centuries, dollhouses have evolved from elaborate displays for adults, to household teaching tools, to objects of imagination  for children. 

Today's dollhouses can be traced back to the 16th century’s German baby house display cases, later found in The Netherlands and England. Known as a “dockenhaus,” meaning miniature house, “cabinet house,” or “baby house” (because of its size), these handcrafted items were not initially made for children to play with—they served as display cases for wealthy adults to fill with miniature furniture, fabrics, and artwork that reflected their own taste and lifestyle. 

One of the earliest examples of a dollhouse  was the Munich Baby House. Albrecht V, Duke of Bavaria, commissioned it between 1557 and 1558. It consisted of a cabinet display case made up of individual rooms. Dollhouses of this period showed idealized interiors complete with detailed furnishings and accessories. Artisans built cabinets by hand with architectural details, filled with miniature household items. The baby moniker referred to the scale of the houses rather than them being for babies. They were off-limits to children and were meant to house trophy collections of wealthy women. 

In the early 17th century, baby houses took on a more practical purpose. Nuremberg houses and Nuremberg kitchens, named for their primary place of manufacture in Germany, emerged as educational tools to teach young women how to decorate and care for a household. These versions of baby houses were less ornamental than their predecessors, typically made entirely out of metal and sometimes consisting of just a kitchen. But they were no less meticulous, featuring tiny handcrafted brooms, kettles, copper cooking pots, and mini masonry hearths at the heart of the kitchen. 

Between 1686 and 1710, gentlemen often possessed "cabinets of curiosities" to hold collections of various objects they had acquired in their lives and travels: indeed such a cabinet would often reside in a small reception room. In the Amsterdam of the Dutch Golden Age, their wealthy wives similarly created dollhouses as status symbols. 

By the 18th century, baby houses had become popular in England. The term “baby” in the baby house came from the Old English word meaning doll. These structures commonly had detailed and realistic facades, including doors and windows, informing what we commonly think of as the classic Victorian dollhouse. Craftsmen often modeled them after the owner’s home, and although they still functioned as displays of opulence, caring for them and decorating them also became a beloved hobby for women. Until the mid-18th century, dollhouses were unique, one-of-a-kind creations.

Most people know dollhouses as toy houses made in miniature. Since the early 20th century, dollhouses have been primarily for children, but the collection of them is for  adults.

Originally, dollhouses weren’t made to scale. By the time manufacturers began to mass produce them, the scale of 1:12 or 1" scale became the standard.

Germany produced the most prized dollhouses and doll house miniatures up until World War I. The doll houses were produced in Nuremberg, Germany; which, since the 16th century, was coined as the 'toy city.' Their baby houses were thought to be the origin for the basic standards of contemporary doll houses. Notable German miniature companies included Märklin, Christian Hacker, Moritz Reichel, Rock and Graner, and others.

The Bliss Manufacturing mass-produced the first dollhouses in the United States in the 1890s, even as the U.S. imported them and miniature furnishings from Germany. Despite becoming more mainstream in the early 1900s, dollhouses didn’t become affordable for most families until after World War II. The postwar economic boom, along with increased manufacturing materials and abilities, made them fixtures in playrooms throughout country.

The TynieToy Company of Providence, Rhode Island, made authentic replicas of American antique houses and furniture in a uniform scale beginning in about 1917. Other American companies of the early 20th century were Roger Williams Toys, Tootsietoy, Schoenhut, and the Wisconsin Toy Company. 

After World War II, manufacturers produced dollhouses in factories on a larger scale with less detailed craftsmanship than before. By the 1950s, the typical dollhouse was made of painted sheet metal filled with plastic furniture. Such houses cost little enough that the majority of girls could own one.

In the United States, most houses have an open back and a fancy facade, while British houses are more likely to have a hinged front that opens to reveal the rooms.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about "Lady Luck" in the 2024 Fall Edition, online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

Doing the Monster Mash

 

QUESTION: I guess you can say I’m a Halloweenie. I love Halloween. Every year I begin decorating in September. Over the years I’ve amassed a collection of monsters—toys, masks, costumes, etc. Collecting them has been fun, but I really don’t know much about their origins. What can you tell me?

ANSWER:  Along with the usual array of ghosts and witches parading the streets on Halloween, look closely and you're bound to see versions of monsters from yesteryear—Frankenstein, The Wolfman, and Dracula. All are as much a part of Halloween as pumpkins glowing on front porches. Even though these films date from decades ago, the classic Universal Studios monsters are still among the most recognized images to come from the silver screen. While Universal designed those early film monsters to simply scare moviegoers, the creatures moved into the toy and collectibles world during the 1960s. Today, the demand for classic monster collectibles has generated a thriving market with prices that might frighten some beginning collectors as much as the monsters would have scared their grandparents.

It was in 1931 when all horror hell broke loose for Universal. One historic release was James Whale's frightening screen version of "Frankenstein," portrayed by the then struggling actor Boris Karloff, the haunting, supernatural appearance of the Monster terrified unsuspecting audiences. Sewn together from the bodies of harvested corpses with electrodes protruding from his neck, the Monster looked like a hideous creation reanimated from the dead. Released in the same year was Todd Browning's chilling adaptation of Brain Stoker's Dracula. Originally intended for Lon Chaney Sr., the role eventually went to Hungarian-born actor Bela Lugosi after Chaney's death in 1930.

Frankenstein was such a screen success that it spawned a long line of wonderfully frightening sequels, featuring some of his relatives, starting with The Bride of Frankenstein. Others that followed in the 1930s and 1940s included Son of Frankenstein, Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, and House of Frankenstein.

“The Creature from the Black Lagoon," Universal’s last monster, came along in 1959. Among collectors, he’s the most popular. But as the 1950s waned, so did interest in the monsters. With increased competition from home and abroad, Universal just couldn’t keep up.

The Beginning of Monster Merchandise
The Aurora Plastic Corp. was one of the first companies to produce a line of classic monster merchandise—a model kit of Frankenstein. The model was so successful that Aurora released 12 more monster kits in the 1960s including all of the Universal mainstays. After Aurora's efforts proved successful, numerous other companies climbed aboard the Monster Express with their own offerings.

Among the most impressive and collectible are their battery-ops. Specifically, the battery-operated Frankenstein, which if in excellent condition, is one of the most sought out of all monster collectibles:

To meet the demand for monster inspired merchandise, a multitude of companies began to produce a variety of products.

Though interest in monster collectibles continued its downward spiral during the 1970s and 1980s, monster collectible sales continued to be brisk. The 1970s gave way to the action figure, which dominated the toy scene and monsters became a big part of that sensation.

Among the most collectible monster figures from that time are the 8-inch AHI figures produced from 1973-1976. Of particular note are those monsters that sport actual cloth clothing: Mego also introduced its own line, Mego Mad Monsters, comprised of 8-inch figures available in individual boxes as well as on cards. In 1974 and 1975, Lincoln International created a line of 8-inch articulated figures, particularly noteworthy for their cartoonish look. In the 1980s Remco manufactured a set of 9-inch figures that have proven very desirable among collectors. Also popular was their release of 3 3/4-inch Mini Monsters on cards that featured pictures of the monster as he appeared in the original film. Remco also offered a Mini Monster carrying case with this line. In 1986 Imperial added its own 7½-inch rubber figures packaged in bubble packs.

Not surprisingly an early 1960s survey of young people by the Aurora Plastics Company showed the interest in monster mania generated by old films, which had begun to be shown on TV. Aurora took a big chance in releasing its monster models. It began by only releasing its Frankenstein kit to test the public’s acceptance.

By late 1961 Aurora's boxed Frankenstein assembly kits were in stores and instantly sold out. A second mold was quickly made to keep up with the demand, according to Breugman, and soon the plant was in production 24 hours a day.

World famous toy maker Marx noticed the excitement and added their own Frankenstein toys in 1963, including a plastic monster figure. Another Marx offering was a large remote control model of the monster, and still another was a wind-up Mechanical Frankstein with plastic head and metal legs.

Other related toys from that era included the Frankenstein wind-up with a plastic monster figure in a four-and-a-half-inch-tall antique car, and a boxed battery operated litho tin Frankenstein Monster. Both came from Japan.

During the 1970s, Aurora continued their early kit success by including Frankenstein in their Monsters of the Movies series. However, there was more interest in already constructed five to eight inch plastic monster figures, and soon other makers flooded the market. Mego sold a Mad Monster series starting in 1974 which included Dreadful Dracula, Human Wolfman, Horrible Mummy, the Mad Monster Castle, and Monster Frankenstein. Others with similar figures on the market included Ace Novelty, Lincoln International, Kenner, Remco Industries and eventually Imperial.

One of the last of the battery-operated Frankenstein figures came in the 1970s from Poynter Products. The 12-inch monster was almost entirely made of plastic.

The latter part of the 1990s witnessed the release of a hord of monster action figures. In 1993 Telco released a set of Universal Monster motionettes that included The Wolf Man, Frankenstein, The Bride of Frankenstein and The Mummy. The Mummy from this set is very collectible . and will most often sell for more than $100 There was somewhat of a lull in new classic monster merchandise until 1997. In that year, the U. S. Post Office released a set of monster stamps as portrayed by the original Universal actors.

Also in that same year, Hasbro manufactured a set of impressive 12-inch figures in individual boxes. The firm based the bodies on earlier G.I. Joe figures. However, it gave more attention to the details with these figures and the faces bore a greater resemblance to the film monster than had been seen in some time. To add to the resurgence in monster popularity was a set of plastic 4-inch toys figures sold only as a promotional item at Burger King. Once again, toy departments displayed monster toys.

Of all the action figures produced, the ones released by Sideshow Toys in the late 1990s were the most realistic. Licensed by Universal and in agreement with the estates of Boris Karloff and Lon Chaney Jr., the 8-inch figures in the first series consisted of Frankenstein; The Mummy, and the Wolf Man. The success of the first series and the demand generated by collectors has spawned new Sideshow offerings. Series 4 figures include Son of Frankenstein The Mole Man and The Werewolf of London. The only figure missing was of Dracula, which Sideshow was finally able to produce after reaching an agreement with the estate of Bela Lugosi.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about art glass in the 2022 Summer Edition, with the theme "Splendor in the Glass," online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

Meals That Made Kids Happy

 

QUESTION: When my kids were very young, they used to love going to McDonald’s for Happy Meals. A lot of parents hated these packaged meals for the little toys included in them. And I wasn’t any different. But recently, I discovered a box of these little toys as I was cleaning out a closet. My kids are all grown up and have their own children.  McDonald’s still offers Happy Meals and many younger parents still hate those little toys. What can I do with them? Are they worth anything?

ANSWER: The answer is yes, but...and there’s always a “but.” To be of any value to a collector, Happy Meal toys need to still be encased in their packaging and not used. There are some rare pieces that have value even if out of their packages, but generally, as with other toy collectibles, mint in package is the rule.

McDonald's collectors aren’t simply food groupies picking up recent Happy Meal toys. Collecting McDonald's memorabilia can be a complicated affair. Categories are numerous and subcategories extensive. Items can be instantly available or hard to find. Prices range from a couple of dollars to thousands. As with any collectible, the law of supply and demand rules.

McDonald's memorabilia encompasses a vast amount of local, regional, national, international material-ephemera, advertising and print items, cross-collector character items, McDonaldland character items, restaurant pieces, books and comics, sports and non-sports cards, glassware , and plates, watches and jewelry, garments, vehicles, dolls, toys, and more. The list is almost endless.

The McDonald brothers started their fast food drive-in restaurant in 1948, so an item from the early 1950's could carry a hefty price tag.

A novice McDonald's collector could amass hundreds of Happy Meal toys in a very short time. For example, nearly 90 different toys had been in Happy Meals in 1996 alone, and millions of each toy had been issued. You can easily find toys from recent years selling for one to two dollars. A manufacturing variation or recall may create a toy of a little higher value, but even these are available in quantity. 

Happy Meal toys and related display memorabilia remain are the most popular items to collect. Each Happy Meal has a specific and variable number of toys, including a special U3 toy which meets special standards for children under three years age, some bags or boxes, a stand up display and possibly counter displays, as well as banners, posters, and signs.

McDonald's collectors are as fussy about cleanliness, condition and completeness as any other collectible collector. Since McDonald’s had many of the items produced in the millions, prices for most packaged items remain low, and the package must be perfect. Loose Happy Meal toys have little value, especially once they’ve been tossed in a box, as the paint rubs off and are lost. Paper items need to be pristine and unmarked to bring top dollar. 

Figurine Happy Meals toys are the most popular, especially those which feature well-known characters. Special packaging can also increase the desirability. The April 1996 Walt Disney Masterpiece Home Video Collection Happy Meal is a McDonald’s collector’s Holy Grail—eight nicely made classic figures, each in a fitted half-size videotape box, with well designed color cover artwork and McDonald’s logos. Dumbo is the U3 toy in the set. A single Happy Meal bag completes the set.

Happy Meals which feature books, buckets, or. little-known characters are usually of lessor interest to collectors, but there are exceptions. The four small soft cover Beatrice Potter Peter Rabbit books from a 1998 Happy Meal, in mint condition, complete with the Happy Meal box are worth about $80 as a set. The Peter Rabbit Happy Meal was a "regional" which had limited geographic distribution. Any books that have been in children's hands are hard to find unblemished. Usually, this happens moments after opening the package as little ones’ hands are often sticky from eating fries and the like.

Elusive, scarce items can bring big dollars. The growing interest in fast food collecting has helped many wonderful older items to surface. However, many may or may not be valuable. Experienced McDonald's collectors look for complete older items in excellent condition and newer items that might be unusual or limited.

Most non-Happy Meal McDonald's collectibles feature the company name, one of the corporate logos, the trademark “M,” or recognizable characters.  Remember that a copyright date is only the year of first issue—a seemingly early piece may still be in circulation.

Early and scarce are the key words in McDonald’s collecting, although they may not occur simultaneously. Look for design features and characters no longer in use, such as Archy McDonald, the early character Speedee, items with the golden arch logo with a slash mark, and items related to the old style "red and white” restaurants. A 1966 Ronald McDonald costume with slash-arch logos, complete with makeup and wig, surfaced at an unclaimed storage locker auction. Needless to say, a collector paid several thousand for that hot item.

Most people think the same toys appear in all McDonald’s Happy Meals. In fact, they vary from region to region and country to country. This brings the total issued into the millions. And the more produced of any collectible, the less value it eventually has. 

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about art glass in the 2022 Summer Edition, with the theme "Splendor in the Glass," online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

There’s Nothing So Liked by a Small Boy Than a Toy Truck

 

QUESTION: As a kid, I loved playing with three little cast-iron trucks. It’s only recently that I learned that they may have been made by the Kenton Toy Company when I saw one of the trucks I had at a small antique show at the local volunteer fire company. The dealer said she believed that the truck had been made by Kenton. Can you tell me anything about Kenton’s cast-iron toys?

ANSWER: At the turn of the 20th century, the Kenton Hardware Company promoted itself as "the largest factory in the USA exclusively making cast iron toys." The factory produced a variety of toys that were miniature versions of fire engines, circus wagons, carriages, banks, trains, and stoves. From the 1890's to the 1950's, the town of Kenton, Ohio, was a center of American cast-iron production.

F. M. Perkins founded the Kenton Lock Manufacturing Company in Kenton, Ohio, in 1890. The firm first produced high-quality, elaborate bronze and brass locks, and coat hooks. 

Perkins didn’t begin manufacturing toys until 1894 when a series of patent disputes caused Perkins to change the name of his company from the Kenton Lock Manufacturing Company to the Kenton Hardware Manufacturing Company. Kenton’s line consisted of banks, horse-drawn vehicles, and stoves. The production of the Columbia Bank, a souvenir of the World's Columbian Exposition, which provided a successful launch into the U.S. toy market.

What followed was a wide range of toy vehicles—hansom cabs, sulkies, surreys, chariots, fire-patrol carts, sedans, racing cars, buses, blimps, air-planes, milk wagons, bakery wagons, bandwagons, dump trucks, lumber trucks and circus trucks. Also, mechanical and regular banks in the forms of teddy bears and polar bears, the Statue of Liberty, the Flatiron building, radios and other playthings such as cap pistols, ranges and miniature sadirons.

Kenton constructed its toys from several parts, each of workers cast in a mold into which they poured the hot, liquid iron. After a short cooling period, they opened the  mold and removed the part. They then assembled the separate parts with rivets or bolts. Because of their rough surfaces, cast-iron toys couldn’t be lithographed like tin ones. Workers then hand painted or dipped the toys in two or three bright colors.  

Kenton became part of the National Novelty Corporation combine in 1903. It marketed its toys under the Wing Manufacturing brand. Fending off a series of takeover attempts, the toy division survived as a separate unit within Kenton Hardware Company. It continued to manufacture cast iron toys from 1920 to 1935.

Like most other businesses, the Kenton Hardware Company suffered during the Great Depression, so much so that it was in danger of going bankrupt. Then, just as Shirley Temple saved the Ideal Toy Company and Mickey Mouse did the same for Lionel trains and Ingersol watches, another popular icon came to the rescue of Kenton. Gene Autry saved the day with the Gene Autry toy pistol.

Vice president William Bixler persuaded the company to manufacture a copy of Gene Autry’s pearl handled six-shooter. Autry sent one of his guns to Ohio to assist in the creation of a child’s size model. Joe Solomon made the master mold in 1938. By 1939, over two million Gene Autry Repeating Cap Pistols had been sold.

Introduced in December 1937, it became a huge success in both the U.S. and then the world. One million were sold from February to August of 1938 alone, keeping the factory going night and day.

The peak of cast-iron toy production extended from shortly before the turn of the 20th century until the 1940's, when lighter-weight models that were less expensive to produce and transport superseded them. Kenton ceased production of horse-drawn toys in the early 1920's, except for a beer wagon made in the 1930's, but in 1939 the firm introduced a completely new line of horse-drawn toys, which continued through the early 1950's.

Most of these toys, except for the early banks and stoves, weren’t marked. Company catalogs, the first of which appeared in 1892, can help with identification. Prices for authentic early pieces in good condition can sell for four figures for some horse-drawn Victorian carriages and fire vehicles.

Kenton ceased operations in 1952. 

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about the "Antiques of Christmas" in the 2021 Holiday Edition, online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.