Yard Sale Trail Finds

The end of summer is approaching, and in my part of the world, that means its time for the Antique Yard Sale Trail, over 150 miles of treasure hunting along Michigan's beautiful eastern shoreline.

This year, we only had time to travel about 25 miles of the route, but that was enough to score some great finds.

First spotted was this toddler's rocking horse from the 1950s, done in a cheerful circus pony theme.

The back of the seat features a cute elephant illustration and the name of the manufacturer, The Delphos Bending Company of Delphos, Ohio. "What was the Delphos Bending Company?" we wondered, "and what exactly did they bend?" Well, originally it was called the Delphos Hoop Company, and they made barrel hoops, starting way back in 1900. In 1934, they added children's furniture and riding toys to their line, and this became their mainstay through the 1970s. The rocker above was called the "Teetertot Shoofly" and it was made in various styles for over 30 years. You can see a catalog picture of it here.

More vintage 1950s goodness was grabbed up at the next yard sale: this fantastic lucite box purse filled with starry glitter, made by Dorset Rex. I just bought this because I liked its kitsch quality and obvious vintage goodness, but it turns out lucite purse collecting is a huge hobby. Some purses sell in the hundreds of dollars, making this a giddy yard sale find. You can see lots more lucite bags and learn about their fascinating history here.

Sparkly!

As our trip was winding down, two different sales turned up a plethora of vending machines. I took home these two: a toy capsule machine still loaded with prizes (bonus treasures!) and an unusual candy bar dispenser. Needless to say, once these were loaded in the car it was time to head back home, as we had no more room and my travelling companion had endured all the shrieks of "Wait! Turn around! You just went past a good sale!" that he could take. Still, he did a great job of hauling these things, so I can't complain.

The leaves are already starting to turn their autumn colors here, so the yard sales are pretty much over until next spring. In the meantime, you can see reports of past Yard Sale Trails here and here and here. If it's still Yard Sale Season where you are: happy hunting!

Vintage Playground Spring Horse Ride

When I visited playgrounds as a child, I always raced to the spring animals before anything else. The slides, the swings, the monkey bars...I passed them all by in my mad dash to claim a spot on my favorite animal ride. I've no idea why they appealed to me so much, other than perhaps the imaginative possibilities they offered, as I can remember pretending I was riding them to some far-off adventure. I do recall desperately wishing I had one at home, and now, a few decades later, I do!

This vintage spring horse by Playworld Systems of Lewisburg, Pennsylvania is made of cast aluminum with a steel base, and measures 36 inches tall. In his original paint, he is a very cheerful palomino pony.



The playground pony in his new habitat, the living room library.

A small herd of spring animals has been slowly forming at my place. To see the first one I acquired  (a duck), click here. Another is currently in restoration, and I'll post him once he's finished.

Antiquing Trip to England: Day One, London

Our day in London was a mad rush; we had just a few hours to ourselves to see as much as we could, before the tour officially started with a group dinner that evening. Since the tour itself was devoted to antiquing, we decided to focus on sights in London instead of shopping.

We started out at the British Museum. Wow. We could have spent our entire vacation inside the Museum, I think, and still not have seen everything. As it was, I studied the floor plans and carefully plotted our visit on a guide map beforehand, and we limited ourselves to 2 hours here (not counting gift shop time. There was some shopping, of course!)

First we toured the Egyptian Statuary room.
I particularly liked this red granite sarcophagus lid.
The face was somehow different from most other ancient Egyptian sculpture I'd seen, sort of comical and friendly.
He had an amusingly big nose and sticky-outy ears:

Next were two of my favorite pieces in the Museum: giant winged lion statues from ancient Assyria. These guarded the doorways of a royal palace built in 710 BC, and were believed to be imbued with magical powers. They were gigantic: you can get an idea of the scale from the protective lucite screen that surrounds them to a height where hands can't reach. (These were so cool, I bought a miniature version in the gift shop.)

Next to the lion statues was a very interesting photograph taken during their excavation in the 1850s, showing them in situ:

Another interesting piece related to the lions (and one related to toys as well) was this rough gameboard, scratched into the surrounding stone gateway by bored sentries. It was incredible to look at this game and imagine people playing it almost 3,000 years ago.

This placard described how the game was played,
and how similar versions have been found on other
ancient structures:


My very favorite pieces in the Museum, though, were the famed Lewis Chessmen. These iconic toys were discovered under  mysterious circumstances in a sandbank on the Isle of Lewis, just off the Scottish coast, in 1831. Carved from walrus ivory in the 12th century, probably in Norway, the pieces depict kings, queens, bishops, knights, and rooks with intriguing expressions.  The little characters are very captivating figures.

The queens are some of the most intriguing pieces. Holding hands to their faces, they appear anxious, fretful, perhaps worried about the outcome of the game:

Our visit to the British Museum ended with a tea break in the cafe, complete with our first scones, along with cream and jam. (I became addicted to these by the end of the tour.)

After the Museum, our next destination was Hamley's Toy Store, a 5 story wonderland founded way back in 1760, making it 250 years old!!! On the way, though, we were distracted by this lovely old umbrella shop, established, as the sign says, in 1830. We were told people come from all over the world to purchase umbrellas there. It was an appropriate detour, as it was raining at this point...

A major delay was caused by this kitschy souvenir shop, where I had to load up on snowglobes:

All along our walk through London, we spotted fascinating architecture and amazing old buildings. My favorites were those I have now christened "Squished Houses," impossibly narrow structures that seem to fill in every available space. For a sense of proportion, the lady on the sidewalk gives an idea of just how tiny this particular Squished House is:

Finally we made it to Hamley's:

The teddy bear shop sign hanging from the ceiling sent me nearly into hysterics. I had to be reminded that our tour had actually not started yet, and cautioned to not spend all my money here.

 
And so my purchases were pretty modest, considering I was in "the finest toystore in the world!" I chose a little Paddington complete with his suitcase and wellington boots. I also got a little wooden London playset: it has a tiny Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, No. 10 Downing Street, London Eye, and Big Ben inside, plus some double decker buses, phone booths, and post boxes. As the package says, it's "London in a bag...build your very own London!" Cool.

If money (and luggage space) had been no concern, I would have gotten this: a jaw-droppingly beautiful handmade rocking horse, from an old and esteemed line of British toymakers. Price? $3,000. Not counting shipping.

Coming up next: Day 2, the beautiful riverside town of Henley-on-Thames, featuring my first British antique store (in a building dating from the 1500s!), a specialist teddy bear boutique, and an old dollhouse found in a charity shop...

Antique German Convertible Rocking Horse

This Christmas I received one of my most long-sought antique toys: a "convertible" German platform rocking horse circa the early 1900s. The horse, made of a wool or brennessel type material over a carved wooden frame, stands 28 inches high, and still has his original saddle, bridle, and reins, along with his real hair mane and tail. The horse is mounted on a wheeled platform, which was then attached to a rocker base. It could be ridden as a rocker, or removed from the base and pushed about on its wheels.

The original saddle has lovely detailing, in very Christmasy colors:

 Here's a close-up view of the carving on the horse's head:

And here's a close-up of the platform base, with its great old cast iron wheels:

Don't you just want to take him for a ride?

Vintage Rocking Horse

This rocking horse was the first toy I found at an antique show last weekend. Although its design is quite simple (just a flat wooden cut-out horse, like those used on shoofly rockers), it has a certain primitive charm, and it's in amazing condition with all of its printed detail still intact.

The horse measures 35 inches long, including the rockers, and was made in the 1930s by Mengel Playthings of Louisville, Kentucky. The company was originally a manufacturer of playground equipment, but they became famous for a Lone Ranger's Silver rocking horse they produced in the late 1930s. 

Antique Shoofly Rocking Horse

On my birthday antiquing trip this past weekend, I found two old rocking horses, this 40 inch long shoofly rocker circa 1900, and the 1930s homemade spring horse shown in the previous post. Like most old shooflys, he's been painted over, although it looks like this was done long ago. I'll probably strip and refinish him, since the repaint covers all his impressed details, including his mane and tack. Still, I thought he was a nice horse, and he was a steal at $20. The teddy bears are going to enjoy riding in him.

Old Folk Art Spring Horse

I found this unusual spring rocking horse while on my birthday antiquing trip this past weekend. The wooden horse is 34 inches tall, and looks to be homemade. The giant spring appears to be from a chair or sofa. He's pretty ingeniously constructed. I'm guessing he's from the 1930s, a Depression-era daddy-made toy.

Mattel's Blaze Horse

It's been the month for finding horsies: first two antique wooden rocking horses, then the fab 1950s Harry the Hairless Horse ride-on, and now this: Blaze, the talking, galloping horse made by Mattel in the early 1960s. 

At first glance, Blaze looks like just another variety of the ubiquitous spring horse (the kind most of us children of the 70's remember for their tendency to flip over during exuberant riding and pinch our fingers in their springs), but he's got a few features that take him to a whole new pedigreed level.
First off: no springs! Blaze is mounted instead on an "untippable", according to Mattel, tubular steel frame. Secondly, as you ride Blaze up and down, his legs move independently in a quite realistic horsey gallop. As if this wasn't enough, Blaze also talked, courtesy of Mattel's patented pull-string technology. He said several phrases, including "How about some hay?" He also whinnied and neighed.
Naturally, the price for all this innovation was steep: $48 (that's a lot for a kid's toy now, let alone back in 1961!). Consequently, no one I knew as a child had Blaze, and I'd never seen one in the horseflesh until last week, when I found this one.

Mine no longer talks, as is typical of most Blazes found today, but he gallops great. We haven't tested the "untippable" claim, but if I crash, I'll let you know. I've installed my Blaze next to my dining room table. Guests can now pull up a chair, or a horse, as they prefer.

Blaze was heavily marketed on TV, and his original ad is now considered a classic. Click the link below to watch it, courtesy of  TV Days: it's fantastic:

Mattel's Blaze Commercial

And here's a print ad for Blaze, in which he apparently helps capture an evil fire hydrant:

Harry the Hairless Horse

I found this adorable little rocking pony at the same time I discovered the antique wooden horse in the previous post. I have a very small car (a tiny Chevy Aveo hatchback), and the horses more than filled the back seat. As I drove down the expressway, little horsie faces peered out of each side window. 

It was also the day I found a huge double gumball vending machine on its original stand, and that was propped in the front passenger seat, with a bit sticking out the window. Visibility, needless to say, wasn't great...on the drive home, I kept envisioning a policeman making out the accident report: "driver decapitated by gumball machine and/or rocking horse." Fortunately we made it home safely, and a hernia later were all ensconced in my increasingly crowded living room. 

 

Made in the 1950s by Moulded Plastics Inc. of Maple Plain, Minnesota, this little guy is called Harry the Hairless Horse. Odd name, odd-looking horse! Perhaps he was marketed to allergy sufferers. He measures 30 inches long by 22 high, and his body is fibreglass while his legs and rockers are wood. He's so cute and portly!

Here's a close-up of his label:

And here's an original ad I found for him and some other products,
all proclaimed "Harmless Fun For Young and Old".
Can you imagine getting shot with the "Air Fire Thunder Gun" that
"Shoots Standard Table Tennis Balls"?! Ouch. Perhaps you could make a quick getaway on Harry the Hairless Horse...

Folk Art Rocking Horse

Found another old rocking horse: a small stable is taking shape in my living room! This one is not quite as old as my other one. He's probably from around the 1920s, and is American-made. He measures 37 inches wide by 30 inches tall, has a "galloping" movement, and is quite the colorful pinto pony. I need to replace his mane and tail, but that could take awhile, and I couldn't wait to show him:

Antique Rocking Horse

Today I found one of the toys of my dreams: an antique rocking horse. As with my mechanical coin-op horse, I've wanted an antique rocker forever, but their typically large size has always been a problem in my small, crowded place of residence. Now, however, I've found this little beauty: a kiddie sized American horse, probably made by Whitney Reed, dating between 1900 and 1915, and measuring only 28 inches high by 31 inches wide. It's the perfect size for a large teddy bear, and I have several who are already lining up for their turns.

Here's a close-up of his beautiful head, with its real hair mane:

Update, one week later: I've just found some original advertising for my horse! 

It's a huge bonus to find documentation for an old toy, and here's what I've found about this guy. (Thank you, interlibrary loan service!)

It turns out his frame design was patented in 1878 by Philip J. Marqua and Brothers, a family woodworking firm in Cincinatti, Ohio.

The Marqua design was known as a "swing stand", with this variation called a "center swing horse". It was created as an alternative to the bow shaped rocker of the classic rocking horse, and was intended, in the words of its creator, to prevent "the objectionable features" from these traditional horses "now in use -- these objections are noise, wear and tear of carpets, liability to upset, and too much room taken up for operating or packing for shipment."

These were all common problems with large horses on traditional curved rockers, which made a racket as they swept back and forth along wooden floors, eventually wore a track into carpets due to the same motion, took up a large amount of space, and frequently flipped over during energetic rocking.

Here's the company's advertisement for the horse, as seen in the 1912 Sears Roebuck catalog. This one is a bit bigger than mine; they offered the same horse in several sizes:

And here's a photo of a horse on the same frame, dating from 1914. This horse is different, it looks like it may be a skin horse, but the interesting thing is that the frame is just like mine: painted and stencilled on the large central support bar, but not on the side rails. I had wondered if my side rails were replacements since they didn't have the red paint of the rest of the frame, but this photo answers that question. Based on this ad and photo, I think my horse is all original except for his stirrups, which I'll be removing.

Here's another ad for my horse, this one from the 1914 Butler Brothers catalog. This horse is attributed to Whitney Reed, and is almost identical to mine.

Vintage Lithographed Rocking Horse

I love old ride-on horses. They're wonderful toys in their own right, but they're also fantastic display props for old teddy bears. This is one of my favorite rocking horses, made by the Gong Bell Company, probably in the early 1940s. The American-made horse is beautifully lithographed paper over wood, with a metal frame and wooden rockers. Underneath the horse is a little bell that rings as the horse is rocked. (Consequently, this is not a good choice to ride if you're pretending to be a wild west lawman sneaking up on the bad guys...)