Toy Trading Teds

Like many collectors, I'm finding that today's economic challenges are making it more difficult to do all the buying I would like. That's why I'm so happy to discover more and more collectors, dealers, and toymakers are exploring the possibilities of toy trading.

A couple of weeks ago, Michelle Mutschler, a wonderful teddy bear artist from Canada, discovered my blog as she was searching for information on antique British teddy bears. I offered her a couple of my vintage bears, she offered me some of her handmade teds, and quick as a flash, two packages full of bears (and surprises!) were making their way through the international postal system.

My box of bliss arrived last night, with the contents beautifully wrapped.

 And look what was under all that enticing pink paper: five fantastic little bears!

 The tiniest two, in the lower left corner, are only three and a half inches tall, while the largest, in the upper right, is nine. Michelle's bears are made of vintage and aged mohair, velvet, and velveteen, and comprise a wide range of characters, from comical, carnival inspired clowns to primitives and antique-look bruins.

Here are the tiniest teds, "My Old Bear" and "Flora," unjointed itty bitty pocket bears.

 "Martha" is a dotty looking, primitive style bear made of two-tone velveteen wearing a lace doily collar.

 Martha has rather a prodigious schnoz. The other bears try not to stare, as she's rather sensitive about it.

"Grizelda", made of vintage white mohair and red velvet, reminds me of antique clown and harlequin bears.

 Such a sweet face on this one...don't you just want to kiss that nose?!

And last but not least, "Ted E."  has one of the  craziest heads I've ever seen on a bear. Just look at that profile!

 Thanks sooooooo much, Michelle, for your fab teds! 

Michigan's Antique Yard Sale Trail Report: August 13, 14, & 15 2010

Last weekend, we followed the Antique Yard Sale Trail, an annual 200 mile secondhand shopping adventure along Michigan's Lake Huron, St. Clair River, and Lake St. Clair shoreline that stretches from Algonac in the south all the way around the tip of Michigan's "thumb" to Sebewaing in the north. Besides enjoying the beautiful scenery from the bluffs along the lakeshore, we saw lots and lots of amazing things for sale, including old gasoline pumps, vintage televisions, and a taxidermied alligator (the highlight of the sale, in my opinion.) And I found several treasures, of course (although I didn't buy the alligator.)

"Fumes," a taxidermied alligator smoking a pipe 

in a relaxing, and utterly unnatural position, was priced at $325.

Can't you just imagine all the decor possibilities?

 

A 1949 "Suitcase" Sentinel, the first portable television, 

was available for $199.

One table held a beautiful display of vintage hatboxes, shoes, and ladies' accessories, including this swanky faux leopard print head wrap and scarf. I was mightily tempted...

At the other end of the collecting spectrum, a dealer had a yard full of rusty treasures, including vintage sleds and this old Gulf gas pump:

If, for some reason, you needed a Greyhound bus sign, 

this dealer could hook you up:

And what did I buy? Something I've always wanted (who wouldn't?!): a vintage cast aluminum kiddie spring-rider animal from a playground. 

We mounted it on a piece of plywood cleverly embellished with fake grass for an authentic outdoor look. It now serves as an additional seating option in the living room.

Antique Child & Electric Eye Teddy Bear Photo

Some of my favorite non-toy collectibles are antique photos of children with playthings. They're wonderful items on their own, with the glimpse they give of history and the charm of the children, but they're even more wonderful when you discover you own a toy seen in a photo.

One of my favorite antique teddy bears is the Electric Eye Bear, a novelty item made around 1908. These large bears (21 - 24 inches tall) featured electric bulb eyes that actually lit up courtesy of a battery pack concealed in their portly tummies. They were constructed in an unusual manner, with non-jointed legs in a permanently standing position. Many were also accessorized for some reason as circus bears with collars, bells, and nose rings. I'm very fortunate to have found two such bears, one of which still retains his glass bulb eyes.

 I've seen many, many pictures of children with teddy bears (they were a very popular studio prop from the 1900s onward) but I had never seen one of these rare bears in an antique photo until I stumbled across this:

 The little girl is just adorable, and she caught my attention so much that at first I didn't even notice the bear. But when I did, I was stunned to find it's an electric eye: the profile is unmistakable. What a lucky little girl she was (and so am I!)

Antique Dollhouse Toast Rack

Last week I scored an antique dollhouse miniature that I've coveted for a long time, but I could never bring myself to pay its hefty asking prices. It's a tiny toast rack, complete with four slices of toast, made in Germany by Gerlach from 1915 through the 1920s.

 My 5 inch china doll has added the toast rack to her breakfast table.

The rack is made of a soft metal and the toast is a composition-type material. It's incredibly fragile and very beautiful.

It's an irony of miniature collecting that sometimes the smallest things have the highest prices. This tiny object, only an inch and a quarter tall, usually comes with a three-figure price tag! The only examples I've seen in the two years I've been looking were priced at $135 and $110, which are typical for this piece. I resisted these offerings, firmly telling myself there was no way I was going to spend $135 on an inch tall toast rack, and am I ever glad I did, because the one I found last week was somehow unknowingly priced at only $14.99! Sometimes, the toy collecting gods smile upon us, and things like this happen...thank you, toy gods, thank you.

Coming Up Next Week...

... the greatest antique dollhouse miniature find I've made so far, along with the rarest child-with-teddy-bear photo I've ever found, as well. Yippee!