Britains Merchandise Case

Here's a very nice vintage toy soldier case I saw at an online auction.  It was used by retailers to display Britains toy soldiers.  I could relate to it as I remember a similar kind of case at my childhood toy store that was for matchbox cars.  You could buy the neat little cars by number. 

The description from the aution site:

This edition of Old Toy Soldier can be viewed on line for free here.

This is the kind of Matchbox case I remember at Jason's of Woodhaven (Queens, NY). 

Dino Crossing Coffee Bird

Came across these cool phoshopped images recently.  Something about them being in black and white makes them seem more real. 

Fish Bulb

Source: Time of Fun

Came across this interesting image when I was searching for vintage light bulb images, as one does. 

British Campaign Furniture

I have long been intrigued by things that fold, hide and transform.  Have a look at these pieces of British Campaign Furniture.  They were designed for British military officers who had the luxury of travelling heavily with some of the comforts of home (most people would find it inconvenient to travel with filled bookcases for instance).

The leading book on this topic is  British Campaign Furniture: Elegance Under Canvass: 1740 - 1940  by Nicholas Brawer. It's out of print and is highly coveted, selling used for around $300.  I urge any benevolent readers with generosity streaks to feel free to gift it to this blog's author.  It will make you feel great.

A bit of history from Brawers website:

If you want to purchase original pieces,  check out the site of Christopher Clarke Antiques. 

Folding bookshelf in walnut

Campaign Desks

This very  beautiful campaign inspired  piece is by NY designer Richard Wrightman.  You can see other designs in the collection on his site.

More folding beds 

LincolnStein, T-Rex and more. NY Toy Fair Part 2

This is a really clever idea.  A smart entrepreneur from California is introducing Presidential Monsters.  A Lincoln Frankenstien, a Clinton Wolfman, a Nixon as a monster from the Watergate Lagoon and other good take offs (the only one who looks pretty good is Kennedy as the Phantom).  Heros in Action will also be introducing smaller dolls.  Check them out.  Presidential Monsters.

And toward the end of this post, see what I think was the strangest offering from the show.

Kind of looks like Kennedy and Nixon are holding hands.  Cute.

Here are Lincolnstein, Ronmy (Regan as the mummy) Wolf Bill and Barraula!

More from the Show:

Rocky, with blood coming out of his mouth, and that huge Russian guy from Rocky IV  (you can also see Apollo Creed in the background).

Fluffy: 

Not Fluffy:

Schleich introduced dinosaurs with moving jaws. This is a copy of a Papo (French company) innovation introduced a few years ago.

Schleich's booth this year was about one quarter the size of their display last year. 

A cool building from the Bachmann train booth.

Pan Am, Orangutans. Dexter Blood Coasters and More - The 2012 NY Toy Fair - Part 1

I spent the last two days at the Toy Fair at the Javitz Center here in NYC.  This isn't exactly a review as I didn't see the whole thing - however it is a collection of some of what I thought was interesting or visually pleasing.  Overall it was a blast.  The show is always fun.  The upstairs, the main chamber is devoted to the large companies, and the downstairs has a lot of cool small and entrepreneurial companies.  What I noticed this year (which is probably not a surprise) is there were fewer exhibitors and fewer attendees and as mentioned in a previous post, some of the booths were smaller.  Most said business was ok, and only a few said it was great.  Here are some shots from the show.

Nice molded Orangutan from Safari LTD.  Safari is the company that makes those small around one inch animals called minis. Some stores sell them in bins, and some carry them in tubes - you've probably seen them.

Safari Ltd. minis

I took this picture because I liked these strange colorful beasts. 

Here they are mixing with the show attendees in the lobby.

Pirate graphic from Safari Ltd's booth

How cool is this.  A large track racing set.  It reminds me of the one Dick and Bruce had in their living room at Wayne Manor in the 1960s Batman TV series.

These two shots are from a company called Think Geek, which has some clever products.  Above is a coaster set made in the image of the microscope slides kept by serial killer (of bad guys) Dexter.  In the show he collects a few drops of blood from each of his victims before killing them.  He keeps them in a box like the one above, and hides them behind his air conditioner.  Just as clever is the Star Trek pizza cutter below.  

Remote control motorcycle.

Here are some dolls made in Vermont by the R. John Writght Dolls Inc.  Here's an interesting page from its site about how the dolls are made:  Dolls.

The POTUS, by Safari Ltd.

Very big man, or very small piano?  Shoenhut