Showing posts with label Vintage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vintage. Show all posts

Saturday, December 13, 2008

VINTAGE TOY GUIDE BOOK REVIEW - Wham-O Super-Book: Celebrating 60 Years Inside the Fun Factory!






As both a vintage toy collector ( & dealer ) I am always looking for good reference material to learn more about my favorite vintage toys & collectibles. One such book is a brand-new one published by Chronicle Books titled, "Wham-O Super-Book: Celebrating 60 Years Inside the Fun Factory". Written by Tim Walsh, this baby is packed with tons of great information, color photos, vintage ads, illustrations, & much more all about the super-classic toy company, Wham-O! We have all at one time had a favorite Wham-O Toy. I mean, they have been around for over 60 years! They're famous for making the Frisbee, Hula Hoop, Super Ball, Slip 'N Slide, Silly String, Hacky Sack, Monster Magnet, Superelasticbubbleplastic, & much much more! Shown here are just a few of the many photos seen inside this wonderful book. I also found a YouTube video of the author explaining the book. Overall it's 192 well-written pages that will totally bring back the good memories. As a toy collector I found that it reminded me of many toys I used to love but sadly forgot, like "Magic Window"! My sister & I used to play with that thing all the time, ha ha! As a toy dealer the book is also a great reference for time lines, different issues of packaging for the same toy, when they came out, etc...it's just loaded with tons of great photos too! So, it's seriously a great book that I can reccommend to everybody who loves vintage toy history.



Sunday, November 18, 2007

THE BIG WHEEL Riding Toy By LOUIS MARX and COMPANY






Anyone who grew-up in the 1970's has to remember this classic toy, It's the BIG WHEEL by Marx! I remember that, as kids, we all learned that if you got a lot of speed, sort of went into a slight turn & hit the hand brake then WHOOOSSSHH! You would spin-out like crazy, ha ha! Ahhhh, good times. This was a really great ride-on toy. The Big Wheel was created by Louis Marx Toys and unveiled to the public at the 1969 New York City Toy Fair. The Big Wheel immediately became a national success! One of their early sales brochures reads as follows, "The Big Wheel by Marx. Adjustable seat. Easy-reach handbrake for quick stop/start action. Large plastic front wheel for lots of pedal power. New extra-wide rear racing slicks for "drift-action" turns. Modified long-horn handlebars. "Engine roar" can be turned on and off. Flashy decals and detailing on fork. Hot red, blue, and yellow plastic and steel construction. 38 in. long x 201/2 in. high. For ages 4 to 9." Here's some photos to enjoy ( I love the classic Vintage Ads, especially the one with Cap'n Crunch ) & remember to watch the YouTube Vintage Toy Commercial at the end. Also, the large picture of the BIG WHEEL, with the bright-white background, is actually a HUGE Desktop Wallpaper. Click on it, then add this Classic Vintage Toy to your PC Desktop or put it in a MySpace layout!

Friday, November 16, 2007

Vintage Cereal Box Collectibles: BOO BERRY By General Mills










One of the many things I personally collect are Vintage Cereal Boxes. I even buy new ones that come out but my favorites are the ones from my childhood, mainly the 1970's. My favorite cereals as a kid were Quisp, Cap'n Crunch, Pink Panther Flakes, & Freakies! One character I really love is BOO BERRY! He was a part of the monster cereal group that also included Frankenberry, Count Chocula, Yummy Mummy, & Fruit Brute. Shown here are a few examples of older BOO BERRY Cereal Boxes & some premiums. I've even included a few brand-new items to show that people still really love this character. One item that's pretty cool is a Boo Berry in Car Bobble-Head Nodder made by Funko, enjoy!


Wednesday, November 14, 2007

2 RARE Vintage BICHI Batman Toys of Batmobile & Batboat



We have another vintage toy blog called The BAT-BLOG & this was a post from there done about a year ago. Included in the pictures above are 2 extremely RARE Batman Toys both made by a foreign toy company called BICHI. They make toys in Argentina! One is a very cool 1960's style Batmobile ( like the one designed by George Barris for the 1966 TV Series starring Adam West), shown with original box. The other is an extremely cool Batboat that is a battery operated bump-n-go vehicle, also with original box. I love the graphics on the boxes but the Bat-Boat's box is my favorite, see the explosion & there's a dead person in it....awesome! Both vehicles feature Robin The Boy Wonder ( Burt Ward ) riding shotgun. Ya gotta love that! Remember to click on the small pics for larger photos. Be sure to visit the Bat-Blog today!! CLICK HERE To Visit The BAT-BLOG BATMAN FAN SITE!

PHOTO: Vintage 1960's UNIVERSIAL MONSTERS Soaky Bubble Bath Bottles


In the early 1960's the Colgate Palmolive Company came up with the idea to put children's bubble bath in plastic bottles shaped like favorite cartoon characters. They made quite a bit of them & I have collected them for years. I'm not sure why I started to collect them but I bet it's because I loved them as a child. At my grandmother's house she still has the Mr. Magoo one that I used to play with. They have done many characters including, Felix The Cat, Superman, Tweety Bird, Mickey Mouse, & even the Beatles. I have about 65 of them that I will share later but right now I wanted to focus on these four, The Universial Monsters. This complete set of 4 bottles are quite RARE. They made Frankenstein, Wolfman, Mummy, & The Creature From The Lost Lagoon! The Creature Soaky, in this picture above, is shown with it's original "packaging", a RARE cardboard sleeve that it fit into.

VIDEO: Vintage DR. SEUSS SUPER SEE AND SAY Mattel Toy TV Commercial

Here's a blast from the past! This is a Vintage Toy TV Commercial for the DR. SEUSS SUPER SEE AND SAY Toy made by Mattel. As a small child the Cat in The Hat Seuss Books created a true joy of reading for me & I'll always love them for that...Enjoy.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Welcome To My VINTAGE TOYS AND MEMORABILIA Blog Page


Greetings & Welcome! Thank you for checking out my new blog. My real name is Tommy but I am known as Tomstoyz. I just started this baby but I'll have it jam-packed with tons of fun stuff very soon so stay tuned. I have been a Vintage Toy Dealer for over 20+ years & a very serious collector for even longer. With this blog I plan to share the experience I have learned & spread the joy of collecting. One day about 20+ years ago I drove by an antique store in my hometown of Oklahoma City named THE ANTIQUE STOP. I had driven by it a few times thinking how neat the place looked. One day I stopped & went inside. While there I found an old metal lunch box, the Incredible Hulk ©1978. I also found a Vintage 1960's Fisher Price Bumble Bee Pull Toy that is kind of common but I used to have one as a kid & it brought back a lot of fond memories. I ended up buying both items & this was the start of something big. I then spent the next 20+ years going to garage sales, thrift stores, flea markets, estate sales, etc...I have set-up at toy shows, indoor/outdoor flea markets, & was even an eBay slave for 11 years. I guess I've seen it all but even if you're in this business for hundreds of years I don't think you can, ha ha. That's one of the things I like best about this hobby. It never ends.