Lacy Scott & Knight Toys & Models sale to be held on November 15, 2014

The Lacy Scott & Knight Auction Centre will be featuring a sale of amazing antique toys this month.

Shown here is one of the many lots included in the sale, a tin plate automaton featuring a clown an dancer.

From the description of Lot 3174:

Gunthermann, tinplate and clockwork musical automata entitled 'Clown and Dancer', comprising of tinplate clown seated upon drum whilst playing the clarinet, when in motion he nods his head back and forth whilst the opposing female dancer twirls, single fixed key mechanism in working order with 'plink-plunk' type music, later clothing has been applied to both figures

Despite its condition, the piece is estimated to bring from $900 to $1200. Toys were often well-used and many examples were eventually destroyed and discarded. They are therefore often quite rare.

To learn more about tin toys check out Pressland's Great Book of Tin Toys which features nearly 700 color illustrations of the toys that dominated the industry for a century.

[ Thanks Steve! ]

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Vintage battery-powered bowler coin bank made in Japan

If you are into vintage mechanical toys, I've got one that I've just posted on eBay.

The motorized bank features a bowler at one end of bowling alley. When a coin is placed on the two plates located on the floor by his side, an electrical contact is made which starts the battery power to the motor. This makes his hand slowly pull back, then snap forward quickly, causing a striker below his hand to hit the coin toward the bowling pins at the opposite end of the alley. If hit well, the coin slides under the pins and into the bank. Immediately after this, the pins all drop as a unit and the "strike" light illuminates above the pins.

Here is where you can see additional photos and bid on the vintage Japanese battery-powered motor bowler coin bank

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Joseph Walker mechanical toy features drawing artist

I've posted several times in the past about Vielmetter's drawing clown tin toy. Shown here is a toy very much like that one.

From the YouTube description;

The Drawing Artist made by Joseph Walker of Birmingham is a very rare painted and copper plated toy. Operated by winding the handle in the base, a double cam allows the seated figure to draw a portrait of a number of 19th century personalities -- in this case the cams that accompany the toy are of Gladstone and Lord Salisbury.

David Hall wrote in to provide some interesting information about the history of both toys. As it turns out, the toy shown here pre-dates the Vielmetter clown artist. It was made by Joseph Walker of Birmingham, England around 1880. It is thought that at some point in the late 19th century Vielmetter purchased the rights to the mechanism. Some evidence lies in the design of the toys themselves. Different cams can be loaded into the machines. The profile of the cam determines the picture that is drawn. The Walker drawing toy cams are interchangeable with the Vielmetter.

[ Thanks David! ]

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Improved video footage of the inside of a mechanical bird coin bank

I posted the other day about this mechanical tin bank that comes to us by way of mechanical master, Falk Keuten of the Spiel und Kunst mit Mechanik blog. He decide to reshoot the video to show the mechanism better. It worked. Thanks Falk!

If you prefer your mechanical birds to give rather than take, you might like the toothpick dispensing bird I referenced in that post. I use toothpicks in the workshop a lot. It just occurred to me that this would be a much easier and fun way to store and dispense them.

If you like this kind of thing in general, here's a list of posts on mechanical banks that I've done over the years. It could keep you busy for a few minutes.

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Looking for antique toys and automata? A new store hits the web!

Shopping on eBay for automata and antique toys can be fun; your never know what you may find. The down side is that you often have to sort through a lot of stuff that isn't exactly relevant. A new online shop has opened and you should know about it. Called simply Antique Automata and Toys, the store sells just that. They offer automata, American toys dating from the 1860s to the 1960s, European toys, toys made in Japan, and toys by the Schoenhut. There is a lot to see! Take for example this toy they are offering for sale: an early American Brower's Automatic Toy Dancer dated to around 1873.

From the clockwork dancing toy description:

This toy features a clockwork driven dancing black man performing in front of a paper on board background scene of a Southern plantation and the neighboring sharecroppers shack. The figure is dressed in his all original clothes. We believe the entire toy to be in its original condition....The clockwork mechanism is functioning well and when wound the gentleman will "dance" tapping his feet.

The toy has the original gold stenciling on the back side of the tin box which protects the clockwork mechanism. The printing reads "BROWER'S AUTOMATIC DANCER PATD SEPT 23 1873".

Here is where you can see 10 detailed photographs of the the Brower's Automatic Dancer Toy. You can also buy it directly from the site. Be sure to check out the rest of the site too!

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Inside the vintage mechanical bartender toy

You've probably seen them: the bartender toy that shakes a drink, pours it, lifts it as if drinkings, smack his lips, turn red, then blows smoke out of his ears. I have one that I plan to fix. My question is this: how is that smoke produced? The end of the video shows the mechanism with wires leading into it. This suggests that heat from the wires burns a little something. But these toys have been around since the 60s and many still work. Nobody seems to recall adding anything to make the smoke work, so it has been there since the toy was made. What on earth could last so long? Is it oil or wax perhaps? I'd like to know! Here is what the assembled toy looks like:

[ Thanks Aaron! ]

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Learn how to make cools things with tin can metal

Ever wonder what you could do with all those tin cans other than put them in the recycling bin? The answer to this question can now be found at a new site called Tinplate Girl. The welcome video shown above is just the start. The site features tons of free instructional videos about how to work with the tinplate. This alone is an amazing resource.

Tinplate Girl also offers a variety of nifty projects you can download as PDFs. The image shown above is a steam-powered toy boat you can learn to make. The project PDFs feature step-by-step instructions for a variety of skill-levels. There are tinplate projects for beginners and advanced tinplate artisans.

Check out this great new web site all about working with tinplate!

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Walking Martian tin toy... and terrified humans!

I am glad that Schylling still makes toys like this walking Martian Tin Toy. The term "walking" is probably a bit generous. The 9 inch tall alien moves forward (slowly) by wiggling the two central feet. From what I gather, the design was inspired by toys produced during the 1950s. That being the case, I think the Martian toy can be enhanced by pairing it with the horrified B-movie figures shown below.

Put them together and you can have your very own 1950s sci-fi movie display and reenactment!

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