Toy Show Finds

Just got home from one of my favorite vintage toy shows. It's an annual event that happens each January, which really seems like a lousy month for a toy show, coming as it does right after Christmas. This year I planned strategically: when my family asked me what I wanted for Christmas, I said "money for the toy show please!" Here's what I spent it on:

There were all kinds of toy treasures, including a tin litho grocery store playset made in the 1950s by Wolverine; a scarce (and creepy) Hugo, Man of 1,000 Faces from the 1970s; a two-headed Doublenik troll from 1965 along with a tiny vending machine troll; a Weinermobile whistle; a bunch of 1950s space guys; Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon newspaper comics from the 1930s-1940s; a 1960s Batman puzzle; Barbie's original convertible; and a 1950s tin wind-up robot. I'll post properly about them later, but here are some quick pics and sneak peeks.

The robot has some rust, but he also has lots of character.

1950s space guys.

A Doublenik two-headed troll from 1965,
with its gumball prize friend.

Hugo, Man of 1,000 Faces, was a bizarre toy made in the 1970s. It's essentially a creepy looking guy's torso and head, along with a package of "disguise" accessories, including false chins, fake scars and warts, various noses, glasses, an eye patch, and hair pieces. I'm guessing it was inspired by spy films, but who knows. It's weird and now rather rare.

Hugo, Man of 1,000 Faces with some of his original accessory pieces.

Barbie's convertible, made by Irwin in the 1960s, was her first car.

The two shelf units on either side of this tin litho grocery store fold inward to close up the playset. Originally it would also have had a separate counter with accessories like a scale, but these are usually missing. The center span features great imagery of a 1950s supermarket.

The iconic weenie whistle.

The 1930s Buck Rogers newspaper comic above is complete, while the Flash Gordon strips below are only portions (but they feature a fantastic alien giant squiddy monster) :

These two mechanical bears were made in Japan in the 1950s. When wound, the bear on the left turns the pages of his book, while the one on the right wipes his glasses before holding them up to his eyes.

Toy Show Trollapalooza

One of our favorite toy shows takes place every January. Each year at this event I seem to find lots of one particular kind of toy, as if an unplanned theme runs through the show. For example, one year I found lots of vintage cereal premiums; the next year, it was robots; after that, old dollhouse dishes and tables. This year's show turned up loads of vintage trolls, very early ones made by Dam of Denmark in the 1960s, along with a couple of rarities. It was a veritable Trollapalooza!

The first finds were these two very early Dams, made in heavy European vinyl with glass eyes. The larger troll is the seldom-seen 5 inch size, and retains her original clothes and hair bows. Her mohair wig seems to have begun separating itself into dreadlocks.

The next finds included another 5 inch Dam, this one with short hair (which some early Dams did have), wearing a sweater lovingly knitted by his original young owner.

A troll biology tip---this one is a boy: you can tell by the pointy ears. Dam girl trolls have round ears (see above).

A particularly fine rooted hair troll.

At a nearby table the smaller 2 1/2 inch troll was spotted, a scarce rooted hair version with fabulous long locks and premium quality eyes.

What is a rooted hair troll? Well, most trolls were manufactured with swatches of mohair simply shoved and glued into their hollow head cavities. This was quick and therefore cheap, but not particularly secure. Rooted hair trolls had their hair inserted strand by strand through the vinyl, the same way a doll's hair is rooted. This made the hair very secure, but it also made the manufacturing process much longer and more expensive. Soooo...not a lot of rooted hair trolls were made, and if you find one, you should definitely scoop him (or her) up. These photos give a clearer sense of the difference between the two troll hairstyles.

My last find was an odd, rarely seen toy that was a knock-off version of the popular trolls. Itty Bitty Fings were made by Diener Industries of Sepulveda, California, in the early '60s. About 1 1/2 inches tall, the Fing is made from a rubbery substance similar to old pencil erasers. The hair is mohair, glued to the Fing's head. There were several different styles of Fings, all rather creepy looking. This one is still in his original bag...and he'll probably stay there, as he makes me a bit nervous.

An Itty Bitty Fing.

Troll House and Family

I already had a couple of these vintage 1960s troll cave houses, but when I saw this one still filled with its original owner's much-loved trolls, their extensive wardrobe, and even a pet elephant, I just had to have it. That's a lot of vintage troll awesomeness in there.

The trolls are a Dam wearing a wonderful felt dress with flower applique; a Scandia House with beautiful green eyes and a charming outfit; and a tiny gumball machine prize troll in her original wrap and hair bow.

Dam troll with baby.

Gumball prize troll. She has a cool '60s bouffant!

Scandia House troll with bright green eyes, 

wearing a lovely pink and yellow ensemble. And shoes!

The troll sisters also had a pet: a blue troll elephant 

from a Japanese knock-off line called the Lovable Uglies. 

Uglie, and yet so Lovable.

Vintage Troll Planter

I stopped by a barn sale last weekend, and was about to leave after disappointedly poking about the rusty tools and old gardening things when I spotted this guy peeking out from behind a flowerpot. Yay: a vintage troll! I'm always on the hunt for those, and they're getting harder and harder to find.

Once I picked him up, it made sense that he was with the gardening things after all, as he is actually a planter. The ceramic troll, about 5 inches tall, is hollow, and was meant to hold a small plant, the foliage of which would eventually form his "hair." Brilliant, really...

1966 Troll Log House

There were many vinyl and plastic houses made for trolls during the height of their popularity in the mid-1960s. One of the rarest and most charming was this small log residence, just 6 inches long, made by Mattel in 1966. It features a clear front window, vacuum-formed interior, and loads of printed detail.

Front of the Troll House.

Back of the Troll House. 

The cozy interior has a molded stump table and chair and 

printed bed, nightstand, shelf, and candleholder.

A vintage troll still lived in the log house when I found it:








Printed trolls peek out the windows on either end of the log.

Shhh...this one is sleeping...

Antique Show Report: Tons of Tiny Treasures

The first antique show of the season arrived this past weekend with the stormy spring weather. I gathered up my pocket change and went to see what treasures I could find. My budget was very limited this time, due to an upcoming vacation, so I tried to look only at very small things. Fortunately, there were a lot of very small things! I found:

Some antique dollhouse "tobacco felt" rugs. These 5 inch rugs were given away as premiums with cigarettes and cigars in the early 1900s. In the same booth, I also got a nice old dollhouse plate rack, complete with its plates.

Next, I got a bunch of dollhouse grocery items, all made of wood with paper labels. The largest can is 1 1/4 inches tall, and they all date from the 1920s-30s.

Pigs in Clover, an absolutely impossible hand-held dexterity puzzle from the 1950s, was next:

And my favorite find of all was a little vintage 1960s troll, 3 1/2 inches high, wearing his original outfit and shoes, with very unusual rooted, variegated hair:

Hi!

Tiny Troll

One of the dealers at a toy show I went to last weekend had tables full of "grab bags" she had made, each priced at just $5.00. Each bag, a large ziploc type, was filled with an assortment of small toys of varying age and quality. Mostly junk, yes, as is often the case with grab bags, but occasionally harboring a treasure, as is sometimes the case with grab bags, making them always worth a good look. In one, amongst the single doll shoes, broken barrettes, and unknown action figures missing an arm, was this tiny, 1 1/2 inch pencil top troll, made by Scandia House in the mid-1960s. She still has her original outfit (possibly a clown costume) unusual purple eyes, and her blue mohair. A hard-to-find and pricey troll!

Marx Troll Village

A few months ago, back when I did my troll blog-a-thon, I mentioned my longing for the elusive 1960s Marx Troll Village playset. I finally got one for my birthday: yay! 

The Marx Toy Company made all sorts of playsets like these back in the 1950s and '60s: western ranches, medieval castles, army forts, family farms, and pretty much any other imaginative setting a kid could want, complete with tiny figures, buildings, and a box or case that held all the parts.

The Troll Village is one of their most unusual such sets, as well as one of their smallest. The box measures 10 inches wide, and the little trolls within are only 1 1/2 inches tall, the size of a typical gumball machine prize troll. The set includes trolls, animals, fences, rocks, trees and foliage, a little house, and caves. Originally it also had a printed vinyl playmat, but this is often missing from the set, as it is with mine. Still, it's a fantastic toy for troll lovers, and no good troll collection can consider itself complete without one.

 The village. As you can see, many pieces are delightfully
out of scale with each other.

The little troll house is just 4 inches tall, with a crazy roofline.

Hangin' out in the troll cave...

Two of Troll Village's denizens.
As you can see from the troll in the back,
the village is not officially a nudist colony.

For a sense of scale, a Troll Village troll is on the right,
next to a standard-sized, 3 inch troll
also made by Marx. Their trolls have a very distinctive appearance.

Vintage Trolls

Found these two fab 1960s trolls at an antique show last weekend. They're early DAM trolls, in the scarcer 5 1/2 inch size. Both have mohair wigs and their original clothes. The guy in yellow has glass eyes, while his blue-haired friend sports a purple "spiral" pair.

It's always a thrill to spot good quality old trolls at a show or shop. They're really not that easy to find, which seems strange, considering the vast numbers of them made in the 1960s. But they got a lot of play back in the day, and their materials (early vinyl, felt, and mohair) tended to not hold up too well. Save 'em if you see 'em!

Iggynormous Troll

Too bad I didn't have this guy in time for my Troll Blog-a-thon back in March: he is definitely the highlight of my collection. Made by Thomas Dam in Denmark at the height of the 1964 craze, this was one of the biggest trolls available. Standing a formidable 12 inches tall, he dwarfs his standard-sized 3 inch companion. These huge trolls were named "Iggynormous" and came in a wide variety of hair, eye, and clothing colors. This one is in minty condition and still bears his original ribbon and tag.

People who already dislike the trolls tend to be especially disturbed by Iggy. The impact seems to be intensified by the size. My friend Ron took one look at him, stopped short, pointed at Iggy accusingly and said, "THAT is really terrifying." I actually had to put him (Iggy, not Ron) away for awhile.

Trolls, trolls, trolls...

I'll wrap up this month's tour of the trolls with a chorus line of vintage Thomas Dam pieces, all made in Denmark in the early 1960s. Averaging 7 inches tall, these showcase the design variety inherent in the earliest trolls.

The slightly larger and darker troll on the far left is extra special: he was made for the European market. Such trolls are distinguished by darker, softer vinyl, heavier weight, and dark brown glass eyes. He was actually the first vintage troll I ever bought, discovered in a pile of junque at a rather shabby antique mall. Several years passed before I learned precisely what he was. Quite the find he turned out to be (if you're into trolls, I guess that is. If not, then I suppose he's not especially appealing.)

European-market troll on the left, American on the right.